Devil's Porcupine

Finally...

2012-01-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

The New York Times has caught up with my style.

Reject!

2011-12-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

For the sake of blog honesty I'll continue my clothes documentation even after an itchy and uncomfortable day. But that's the point, right? I'm actually self-conscious about posting pictures of my outfits because I'm so critical of other "fashion" bloggers. I am not pretending I'm fashionable, or even well dressed, the purpose is that I'm just trying to recognize reasons for the clothes I collect. All that aside, I totally cringe when I see pictures of a blogger trying to look stylish in a boring outfit, sexy-posed for a self portrait in a cluttered second bedroom or sewing nook. Of course I've elevated myself out of that scenario by taking pictures of myself in a cluttered kitchen wearing clothes from tenth grade.

Here I am, wearing my invisible cloak that does not see enough use.

No really.

On Monday I broke out a pair of brown tweed wool pants from the Gap that I got in my sophomore or junior year of high school. I liked them very much and I fancied them resembling the great slacks outfits of Katherine Hepburn. I wore these a lot throughout high school and then into the early years of college and I probably haven't touched them since. After Monday's wear, I still like the idea of them a lot, they're a solid winter pant, but the execution is almost unbearable. First, even through two tucked in shirts, the wool waistband itched and itched and itched. Secondly, the waist was up near my ribs. Even with this feature the zipper was much too long and the crotch had a billowy, balloon-like quality. In the back, the high waist also brought a balloon-like quality to an area that doesn't need the term billowy attached to it. Then there were the wide legs. The problem I have wearing wide legged pants is that they always make me feel short and I don't like feeling short. I can hardly stand these pictures and today I had to overcompensate by wearing all black.

As a result, the the 1997 wool slacks are headed to the Goodwill unless I decide I want to use the fabric for something else, or unless someone wants them after my glowing review.

**BONUS**

Ninja outfit

Two Things

2011-12-10T17:03:00.001-08:00

1. The rest of this week I've worn standard clothes. I did wear a shirt to yoga that I never wear and had forgotten I had. It was okay.

2. I'm assuming if I mailed you a christmas card last year, you'd like one this year. Yes? Let me know.

Over and Out.

Green on Green

2011-12-05T18:54:00.001-08:00

...for Ceri, because no one else is reading.

Also note the Gordon Matta-Clark installation to my left.

Initiative for the Initiative-less

2011-12-04T10:36:00.001-08:00

After online christmas shopping turned into a glut of personal clothes shopping, I'm using a rainy day to clean out my closet. Generally, I wear the same rotation of clothes each week; a couple of button ups, some knit-wear, and jeans with an occasional pair of fancy pants (ha!). The problem is that I have loads of clothes I never wear, but keep around because I like the material or color or it's a piece that fits into the life I wish I had--the one where I go to nice places wearing red lipstick, smoking cigarettes on long holders (obviously, this life also involves time travel). So my new initiative is to try to wear my entire wardrobe at least through several laundry rotations. I will wear everything and if I don't like it everything marginal is going to the Goodwill, then I'm going to establish my uniform and be done with idle clothes shopping.*

So that's that.

*Unfortunately, I found a really great pair of jeans and, of course, they're not sold anymore.

Travel Week 2: Kazakhstan

2011-10-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

Kazakhstan is the seventh largest country in the world. It only has two major cities and apples originated in the foothills of the Tien Shan mountains.

The Tien Shan mountain range separates Kazakhstan from China and when we flew into the old capital of Almaty we were about a four hour car ride from the Chinese border. But we had flown east to go west and we were in Almaty trying to catch a train. We arrived in the early morning after an all night flight from Kiev over the steppe where I couldn't sleep and even looking down in the dark I had seen strange things all night. We rushed through customs but by the time everyone was through and had gotten their bags it was decided that the -best- thing to do was to pile into ten taxis and take a mad dash to the next train station with the hope of catching our missed train. So four of us piled into a car. In Kazakhstan there's an informal network of taxis, basically if you have a car you can pick people up and charge them money for the ride. I ended up in an aging Mercedes without the ability to communicate with our driver who was also reeking of vodka after, what can be assumed, was a ~~hard~~ normal night out. I unfortunately ended up in the middle of the backseat where the seat belts were nonexistent. And so we headed out into the countryside.

The highway near Almaty was four lane and new and as we drove west we paralleled the mountains. It was a beautiful morning, but then the road narrowed down to two lanes and the ride became more and more terrifyingly video-game like. Obstacles would pop up in front of us, like the old slow-moving dump truck or the semi truck with three trailers trained together. Our driver's method for addressing these things was to zoom up behind them as if they weren't there and then drive in the other lane without actually passing. He'd stay mostly in the other lane until we approached a curve or a hill and then he'd accelerate and try to pass. Inevitably we would meet another car, truck, or tank head on and he'd have to downshift* and swerve behind whatever we were trying to pass. But human adaptability is really amazing and instead of clutching at the front seats the entire trip I relaxed into the ride and started recording the landscape whipping by.

After a long drive, what I'd estimate to be an hour (?) we got to the next train station where the first taxi of our convoy, without surprise, saw the train pull away from the station. It was about nine in the morning and we were stuck in Otar without much of a plan. Out of the 40 people in our group only two people spoke Kazakh and one spoke a kind-of Russian and where we were no one spoke English. Somehow it was arranged that the afternoon/evening train would have an extra car attached for us. So we waited seven hours in the dusty train station yard for our 30 hour train ride west to the Aral Sea.

The Aral Sea used to be one of the four largest lakes in the world, but since the 1960s Soviet irrigation projects it's been shrinking at an alarming rate. The plan was to spend a day driving from the former shoreline across the now dry lake bed to the new shoreline; with 4x4s it would have been a four hour one way trip. We got into the Port of Aralsk the evening of the next day and because we were a day late because of our missed connections we spend the evening poking around the former port. We had a group meeting to decide the next course of action: take the 4x4 trip to the new shore or take an all night bus ride to catch a rocket launch the next morning. It was a hard choice but the rocket launch won. So after the sun set we took cold showers in a dumpy hotel had a quick dinner and loaded on the bus.

Now, this wasn't a typical all night bus ride. First off we had a Kazakh driver, who had a similar driving style to our taxi driver. Secondly the entire trip was on either a dirt road or a gravel "highway." Because we were heading to Baikonur, Russia's spaceport, the organizers put a DVD of Carl Sagan's Cosmos PBS series and looped it most of the night. I'd wake up periodically to feel the bus swaying and bumping as if the carriage was separate from the axels and Carl's soothing voice describing stars and galaxies.

We arrived at Baikonur in the early morning and headed to our hotel. When we pulled up to the front it took me a while to realize that we had actually arrived at a hotel and not just another abandoned building. On the plus side I can now say I've stayed in a former Soviet housing block. We, for some reason, unloaded our luggage from the bus into one room and then got back on the bus to head out to the launch pads. The rocket was an unmanned Zenit set to lift off at 08:00 hours. It was, we were told, carrying a weather satellite into space. It launched, it was awesome, and then we headed back to town. By the time we got back to town the officials knew we had changed our plans, gotten there early, and had just watched the rocket launch. This upset them and they revoked our permits to tour the launch pads and other miscellaneous spaceport infrastructure. After a few bribery attempts we were left to tour the museum and spend the next two days in town not doing much.

The last leg of the protracted trip getting back to London. We left Baikonur in the early afternoon to drive three or four hours in an unair-conditioned bus to the nearest train station. This was a horribly hot ride with periodic, unexplained stops where we would all pile out and stand in the shade until the bus started again. I don't know the town we ended up in, but we had enough time to eat dinner and buy food for the other 33 hour train ride east to Astana. When I first heard we'd be on a train for 60+ hours I was dreading the confinement, but the train rides were my favorite parts of the trip, especially this leg to Astana. Our route was more or less diagonally northeast through the entire country. We rode for hours (yes hours) next to a lake where half of it is salt water and the other is fresh; two completely different ecologies in the same lake!

We were on the train a night, a day, and then another night arriving early in the morning. Astana was cold and I was exhausted. We went to a hotel and took showers and quick naps before taking another series of ad hoc taxis to the Pyramid of Peace and Reconciliation. We spent the rest of the day talking about the projects we were to have been working on during the trip, it was a mobile studio after all. Dinner was planned at a yurt on the bank of a river with a sheep slaughter, but we got rained out and ended up at a fancy restaurant in the new part of town. Our flight out the next morning was so early that we would have to leave the hotel at 02:00 a.m. so we decided to stay up all night. We did and got on our flight from Astana to Kiev with a brief layover then Kiev to London. I was unconscious for the first flight and only remember waking up and seeing a box of food in front of me and then the next time I woke up it was gone. On the next flight I only remember being shaken away when the flight attendant put the next box of food in front of me. Then we were in London and everyone split up.

Pictures are here.

*I'm pretty sure his brakes were mostly unhelpful.

Travel-Week One

2011-08-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

I used to like how my blog roughly chronicled my grouchy life, then I actually started being fairly content and everyone knows blogs get boring when bloggers are happy. So not much is happening.

It's also hard to manufacture things to write about when my job, while not sensitive, isn't something I can really write about. I guess I can write that I write reports all day, some days I draw plans and make maps. I like my job and that's boring too. My work is generous with vacation days, which meant this summer I cashed out all of this year's vacation for two weeks in Chernobyl and Kazakhstan touring atomic and cosmic sites with a group of forty other architects, landscape architects, artists, film makes, photographers, and graphic designers.

From home I flew to Chicago to connect to London and immediately my flight was delayed three hours. Luckily I was still at home and could have lunch-dinner brought to me because in Chicago I had 15 minutes to run through O'Hare to connect with my international flight. Not my original flight, but the rebooked one where I ran up to the gate panting trying to ask if my bag would make it. The flight attendant could fortunately make out what I was trying to say, hurriedly reassured me it would make it on, and forcefully told me to get on the plane. Oddly, there were four people from my Champaign flight getting on the London flight and I was only the second to last person on the plane.

Week one was in Ukraine. We flew out of London at mid morning and although we got to Kiev in the late afternoon ended up hanging out at the airport for two hours because someone's dosimeter got stolen off the airplane.* With a stolen dosimeter setting the stage we headed out to our hotel. The hotel was nice, but strange. We got there late in the evening and missed dinner because the hotel's two bars and one restaurant ran out of food or they wouldn't make anything for us. The people who stayed up late found out that the hotel turned into a brothel at night.

The next morning we got on the bus for the two hour ride north to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. I'd done some reading and there's a lot of images online, but I didn't really know what to expect. The group organizers had made us packets including orange suits, dust masks, and safety glasses and had recommended we pack shoes and pants we could throw away. We got to the Exclusion Zone in the early afternoon and after going through passport control we were allowed in. What I didn't know is that the Exclusion Zone is a pretty busy place, and it has always been since the explosion in 1986.

Apparently, after reactor 3 melted down the authorities decided to keep reactors 1 and 2 online where they continued to operate until 2003 when they were finally closed. Back then more people were in the Exclusion Zone, but now the daily total is around 5000. From the main gate to the reactors is about 15 km and the drive cuts through overgrown grasslands, forests, and the occasional pocket of lived-in high rises. Heating pipes are above ground and arch over the roads. The towns were originally constructed this way, but now, because of the radiation nothing can be buried or disturb the soil. We stopped at the town of Chernobyl where our hotel was and got a safety briefing, signed papers saying we would never sue the Ukrainian government for our future cancers, and got a brief history of the explosion and migration.

Driving toward the ground zero from the south the first thing you see is the plants cooling towers, these are of the stereotypical nuclear power plant variety and then you see the unfinished reactor 4. Reactor 4 was under construction when reactor 3 blew and so it still has cranes and other construction equipment forever frozen around it. Being relatively uninformed everyone thought this was the famous reactor 3 and so we were shocked when the bus turned and parked at a building close to it. We were told to get off and directed to walk down a road its sides crowded with overhanging trees and shrubs. At the end of the lane was the cafeteria where we were given a lunch of mystery meat with dill, lots and lots of dill. Outside the open windows we could see the construction workers building the new sarcophagus over the old one that was allegedly containing so much of the radiation.

Even by that point we were becoming desensitized to the idea of radiation. The next stop was Pripyat the town north of the reactors that was one of the first places to catch the fallout from the explosion. The Soviets built it as a model town illustrating how safe nuclear power plants were and there all the workers lived with their families. Now, the buildings have trees growing in them and everything is wearing away. Standing on the ground it's hard to make out the impressive boulevards from the main town square. Here, in front of the culture center, is a plaza that had fountains, limestone stairs, and benches. Visibly plants have taken over, but we have to stay with our group because there's a very real danger of running into wild boars, which, when startled, will gore you to death. It was hard to see because of the tree growth, but surrounding the main nucleus (if you will) of the city are rows and rows and rows of housing blocks. The rumor was that wolf packs were now populating the lower floors of some of the apartment complexes, but we didn't see any.

We didn't actually stay too long the first day we were there, just climbing through the public buildings before heading back to the town of Chernobyl for dinner and to stay the night at the Hotel Chernobyl. The authorities like to have everyone at the hotel long before sunset so no one can sneak out and, I guess, spend the night in the abandoned city. I'm not picky, but dinner was gross. It was hot that day and we had been wearing long sleeves and pants under safety suits and at dinner we didn't get water just a strange smoke flavored tea. It tasted like smoked sausage and wasn't refreshing, but I kept trying it to see if it would get better only it just got worse and worse. Afterward, we spent the evening listening to presentations about psychology of long-term space travel and how to design environments for it and how to make dark matter in your bathroom sink (I'm still a little unclear on the actual results). Hotel Chernobyl is more of a barracks than a hotel, but they did have beds, which was counter to the rumors being passed around.

Breakfast the next morning was plain dill pasta, another piece of mystery meat, and bread. And then we were out for a full day in Chernobyl, which meant spending more time in Pripyat. But this time we got to climb to the roof of one of the tall housing blocks for an unparalleled view around. From the roof we could see the arrangement of the housing blocks, the town center, and the river; everything, though, was grown up with trees with the buildings emerging from their canopy. Later we saw giant catfish in the river and got really close to the sarcophagus. We were told we could only stay at reactor 3 for five minutes, but we were there longer.

In the late afternoon we headed back to Kiev where we would fly out of the next evening. The next day was spent at the Chernobyl museum, the grocery store, and being rejected from touring a former military ammunitions factory.

Our flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan was supposed to leave at 7:00 pm arriving in the early morning. There we would have two hours to clear customs, get luggage, and make a connection to our 33 hour train ride. Of course, in Kiev the flight was delayed for two hours and left at 9:00, ruining the schedule.

Kazakhstan is a big country.

*Kiev's airport is strangely laid out and there I've enjoyed the shortest bus ride of my life. They also had the best wifi for the next two weeks. It was also free.

Cosmos

2011-07-26T05:54:00.001-07:00

More over here.

Drive-by

2011-07-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Things I've Never Thought Before and Never Thought I Would Think

2011-05-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the light to change at the intersection by the local Christian vacuum store I thought about how nice it would be to have a good vacuum, one that would work on both wood floors and the area rug. Then I thought how nice receiving a vacuum for my birthday would be, sigh.

What's happening?

"Welcome!"

2010-12-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

I promise you a groovy happening today.

Question

2010-12-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

Is it strange that I have the littlest bit of a crush on Will Rogers?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T05:59:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!, originally uploaded by Landscapes for Better Living.

Now for the lamest excuse ever

2010-12-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

So I got an iPad awhile ago and the thing is, is the iPad doesn't really get along with blogger. While you can navigate to the post-creating area on blogger.com, one can't actually input anything using the iPad.* I really do like it though and it isn't just about consuming content; it's easier for me to upload photos to flickr with it and I have a really cool drawing app. Plus it works well with dropbox.

And that's why I've let this blog go; I'm too lazy to use my real computer! On the other hand I've been posting more pictures on flickr.

Also I've read that if you want a cheap Android tablet the new Barnes and Noble Nook can be rooted for it. If I hadn't received the iPad as a gift, I might have gone this route.

*I'll turn a blind eye.

A Gratuitous Retelling of My First RAGBRAI

2010-08-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

First off, I joined a bike club in Burlington, Iowa who takes a group of riders on RAGBRAI. This meant that they would haul me across the state to the starting point, haul my luggage across the state, find camping spots, and provide water, beer, and Gatorade in the evenings. Since the ride is popular and getting a general spot requires entering a lottery system, going with a club not only secured a spot, but also took a lot of hassle out of logistics planning. The following is daily recap, but if you want the short version: everyday I woke up early and rode my bike, I grazed throughout the day, and then I camped at night. The end.

-Saturday-

Sioux City, IA

Even through a six or seven hour bus ride west across Iowa I still hadn't realized that for the next six days I'd be on my bike all day. Visions of eating pie and home churned ice cream, stopping to take pictures, and meeting like-minded cyclists were as far as I got, never connecting pie stops with a way to get from one to the next. I was also having a hard time imagining 10,000 people.* When we got to Sioux City we were dumped in a park near the Missouri River where we rushed to set up tents, put together bikes, and then sat around. There was something called The Expo, which we went to and found out that it was essentially a bicycle-themed street fair. I got a free pair of sunglasses from the Trek booth.

-Sunday-

Sioux City to Storm Lake

Getting out of Sioux City was a nightmare. Everyone was nervous and riding close together and stopping at every food stand with a lot of getting on and off. A couple of people crashed beside me, but fell away, instead of toward me.
I made it through the first day, which was the test. I hadn't really trained for a week of riding and I hadn't ridden farther than 35 or40 miles at a time before leaving. The first day was a scheduled 68 miles, which I took at their word. Unfortunately milage is calculated from the generalized town edges meaning that by the time we got to our campsite we'd done close to 80 miles. I was exhausted and was barely able to lift the post-ride gel pack to my lips. Later, standing in a shower line with some older women, they told me after the third day everything would be fine. Getting to the third day, would be another matter.

-Monday-
Storm Lake to Algona

I think Algona was the town that ran out of food. We went to the Knights of Columbus dinner and I was, literally, the last person they allowed in the door. Our feelings of satisfaction were quickly wiped away when we realized we would get the last scrapings of the pans. And they were gross, not because they were the last bits, but because the whole meal started out bad. Anyway, we weren't hungry because everywhere else was running out of food around the same time. Like, the grocery store was out of food.

-Tuesday-
Algona to Clear Lake

It was really hot with the heat index around 105. But we had a great tail wind on a few stretches, which meant we were cruising fast. Fast is fun, fast without working that hard is beyond fun. But what we thought was a straight shot into town was actually a turn and another 10 miles to town, 10 miles into a horrible headwind in the afternoon when it was really hot. We ended up stopping and hanging out under some trees at a farm house. While taking it easy into town I over shifted and my chain popped off my front ring and got wedged between the crank and frame. It would not budge and the options were, fix it somehow, walk, or wait for the sag wagon. Waiting for the sag wagon would have meant a long sit by the side of the road while feeling pathetic. We were, after all, very close to town and I could have walked, but it would have been a long walk in cycling shoes, which are not designed for walking. It seemed like fixing it was the only option. Luckily, I have newer cranks that bolt on to the spindle. So we pulled one crank arm off and pulled the other one out to free the chain.

-Wednesday-
Clear Lake to Charles City

The rest of the week was a blur of food stands, food stands, and food stands. Towns would shut down the day the ride would go through them. Everyone from town would have at least a cooler of water to sell. The really ambitious had tents, friers, and PA systems. Going on the ride meant we were going to miss the county fair and were a little disappointed, until we realized we were a parade riding between fairs. The first pork sandwich was good, the next became a necessity, and soon the sight of smoking pork gave me heartburn. But you eat today so you can ride tomorrow, or whatever they tell you to keep you stuffing your face.

-Thursday-
Charles City to Waterloo

I can't really remember this stretch. Was this the one where we stopped at the corn stand? At one place there were farmers out shucking corn and boiling it as fast as people could eat it. It was good.

We stayed on a community college campus it was nice. Real toilets and unlimited food that wasn't fried, or gross.

-Friday-
Waterloo to Manchester

Friday sucked. It started raining as soon as we left the community college campus where we stayed the night. It was cold and the best way to beat the cold was to ride fast. I was really having a great ride despite the rain. I was going fast, being aggressive, and doing things like accelerating up hills. To stay warm we didn't stop much and hoped to out ride the storm. Somewhere between one small town and the next a woman rode up next to me and offered me five hundred dollars for my jacket. I looked down at my soaking sleeve, realized it looked dry, and agreed to the deal. But then I had to get honest and confess it wasn't a rain jacket. When we stopped for lunch we got insanely cold. Wet, skin tight clothes are no protection against a stiff wind. After huddling around for a long time and trying to warm up by the BBQ smoker, Stephen grabbed the last two trash bags the Tyson Chicken woman was handing out. Which meant I rode wearing a garbage bag to keep the rain off and the wind out. I was so cold.

This was the day I ruined my camera. Even though I thought it was save in its zip-lock bag, it wasn't. At the end of the ride when I pulled it out I could see water between the safety plastic and the LCD viewing screen. I hoped that when it dried out it would be fine (right? Electronics can get wet, you just have to let them thoroughly dry). It wasn't.

-Saturday-

Manchester to Dubuque

This was a fun, short day. There was a hill that had a 19 percent slope (that's really steep) that I walked up; even walking up left me out of breath. And while I was riding up another steep hill over shifted and popped my chain off into my wheel. This causes instant panic. Not only did I have to coast over to the side of the road dodging other riders and making sure people don't hit me all the while I can't pedal which also means clipping my shoes out of the pedals is awkward. Did I mention I was going uphill?

Anyway, this time I was riding alone and was faced with the same set of options as before, except walking was out of the question and I didn't have any extra fixing hands. I didn't want to wait, so I set to pulling my chain out of my wheel. But of course, it was wedged between the spokes and the gears and I couldn't pull it out. It seemed impossible and this time I couldn't take my wheel apart on the side of the road. While I was pulling and tugging on the greasy chain, telling myself that if it got on there was some way it could get off, a guy rode by. He didn't stop, but he had his hand out. He was holding ten dollars and said he thought I had dropped it back there. I stopped to counter him, saying I didn't think I had lost any money, but then realized I was getting ten dollars for fixing my bike on the side of the road. And then, somehow, the chain came loose and I could put the wheel back on, check the brakes, make sure it's shifting all right** and then ride. Then, of course, down the road I was confronted with the steepest, longest downhill I've ever ridden down. On the way down, I kept double checking my wheel fixing skills. -Really, how tightly did you clamp the wheel back on?- Is the rear wheel wobbling?- Did you close the brakes?- At the bottom the hill was fun, but not going down.***

Then we all got on buses and went home. Really, you stop riding, load up your bike, and then ride home. And on our bus someone smelled so bad near where we were sitting we had to chance seats.

So that was RAGBRAI, two months late.

*I'm still having a hard time imagining that since there was way more than the limited number of 10,000 riders.
**Obviously it wasn't shifting all right. I'm pretty sure I have a 10 speed derailleur on a nine speed cassette, blah, blah, blah.
***One of the people we were riding with said he hit 50-something on the way down without using his brakes. I was using my brakes and was going around 34 mph. At that speed, I can't help but think of the worst possible scenario.

Cameo

2010-07-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

I won't retrace the path that led me to the National Park Service website for Scotts Bluff National Monument, but I was looking at it remembering my visit a few years ago. Beside the heading Things To Do a picture of a woman in a bonnet standing by a chuck wagon explaining pioneer provisions jogged my memory of standing by the chuck wagon listening to a woman in a bonnet. And then I realized that's me in the picture and Scott, who I went with, was over there on the left side.

I mean, how crazy is that?

50/50

2010-06-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Not that I entertain the thought, but I can now imagine how people compete in triathlons. After running yesterday for the first time in years and then, with aching legs, rode my bike. The bike riding didn't hurt at all. Unfortunately, today I could hardly walk.

My new bike is almost done. Just in time to ride across Iowa.

Summer Baseball

2010-06-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

I went to a Cardinals game. This is all I saw.

The Wormhole.

2010-05-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm spiraling down:

Trouble

2010-05-05T11:55:00.001-07:00

I broke down and ate my lunch at 9:40.

It's going to be a rough afternoon.

Not to ring my own bike bell, but...

2010-05-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

...it's national bike to work day and I rode to work.

Let's unpack. First this means I woke up in time to get ready for riding* and then the actual ride. I think my bike computer said 8:36 as I was rolling out of the driveway and it was 9:04 when I got to work. Even though I was a little late, I still managed to get in the group bike-to-work-day photo; I'm sure I look awkward. In other news, I definitely had the hotest bike. Second, I haven't really ridden my bike since November and I'm getting soft from the office job. The ride really wasn't bad. Unfortunately I probably won't ride the rest of the week because it's supposed to rain and I have to babysit.

*This just involves eating breakfast at home instead of a snack at work.

sigh

2010-04-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

I ended up not getting anything. The bag is on the backburner, the shirt is still really expensive, and the bike is my dream bike, which I added as a joke because it's so expensive. I did get some thrift store shirts last weekend, but not with my christmas money.

In other news, I'm rendering with xylene-based markers at work. They give me headaches and stomachaches; it's like huffing spray paint all day. I love the smell, but not for eight hours. In other news, I get to color for my job!

Question.

2010-04-10T15:11:00.001-07:00

I have a gift card from christmas that I need to use. What should I buy?

Maybe that bag, or that shirt, or books or music. Or bicycle stuff.

2010-03-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

This is tempting.

New-Old

2010-03-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

I got my first solicitation from AARP this week.

I just don't know where the last 20 years have gone.

Little Christmas Angel

2010-03-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

Spring

2010-03-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

you might think
this is too washed-out

however, you'd be wrong
the sun was fantastic

wishing and hoping

2010-03-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

But my cart remains empty.

the winter took a turn for warm

2010-03-11T15:49:00.001-08:00

planning

2010-03-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

And all of a sudden it was spring

2010-03-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Today
Hi: 65

Intervals of clouds and hazy sunshine, breezy, and mild. The high 65.
The wind from the south at 10 to 20 miles per hour.

This forecast is
provided by
WILL-AM 580 METEOROLOGIST ED KIESER -- 8:42 AM WED MAR 10
2010

Monroe

2010-03-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

a startled cow looks on

2010-03-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

old-timey crowd watching the earth rise

2010-03-04T14:37:00.001-08:00

hard to believe evidence that spring might be around the corner

2010-02-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

Of course the local NPR meteorologist has been cautioning the audience that while the climatological spring is around the corner, our temperatures are going to be staying around freezing for a long time.

Except,

Case A: Bulbs were witnessed poking out of the ground near a friend's house.

Case B: The snow is melting, slowly.

Case C: There just might be a hint of green tinting the grass.

Case D: When I left work late yesterday, it was still light outside.

Case E: The air smells different.

Case F: I want to be outside.

But then again, snow flurries are predicted for tomorrow evening.

Thanks nytimes.com

2010-02-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

Changes

2010-02-18T15:10:00.001-08:00

I wouldn't mind this career change.

Is this ramble because spring is almost here?

2010-02-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

For reasons I can't really explain I found myself in Macy's this past weekend and although I was only there for maybe five minutes I had to fight the urge to buy a handbag. In the short walk from the doors to the escalator, I began doubting my previous choices in catch-all accessories. Mind you, I still like my daypack, my messenger bag, and my small over-the-shoulder bag, but currently I'm carrying a reusable grocery bag to and from work.* Really, I don't have to walk far and the bag only holds my coffee thermos, lunch, and a scattering of post-it notes, but now I'm thinking it could be so much more.**

Not that I've done much to revamp my wardrobe in the past ten years,*** but now that I don't have any excuse to not be a respectable adult I've been rethinking my fashion sense. My fashion sense, up to this point, has been to buy things I like and then try to mash them all together, but this strategy only leads to a lot of t shirts, sweaters, and jeans wearing.**** I still want to keep things easy, almost to the point of uniform, and to mix in technical wear,***** and to keep things relatively cheap. To prepare, I've been spending time reading one of strovska's favorite clothing-related blogs and generally feeling that I'm going to have to devote way more time to this then I'm probably going to do. My sister is going through this too, although I couldn't find her post about trying button front shirts, I just hope that she'll start sending me her cast off shirts in the mail.

*It does happen to be from our food coop and has a very nice graphic on it, as far as reusable grocery bags go, it is quite nice.
**Quite a lot more, actually.
***or ever
****The week between christmas and New Years I wore the same thing everyday. Gray sweater, jeans, and ducks. I've worn the ducks everyday since I've gotten back from christmas in Oklahoma too.
*****I splurged on an awesome new coat. It's waterproof and windproof and I've wanted it for a few years now.

Diversifying My Online Portfolio

2010-02-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try to post more on my flickr stream.
Let's be friends...if you want.

People Doing Stuff

2010-02-14T20:03:00.001-08:00

Snow Day!

2010-02-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

Apropos of nothing my boss came by my desk and said I should go home and "read or something." I was sitting with a design guidelines document in my la,p thumbing through it looking at the pictures, and thought he was commenting on current activity. I hummed and hawed not knowing exactly if this was going to turn out good or bad, so he said, "No, really, it's getting bad out there you should work at home this afternoon." And then, in my classic awkwardness I said, "Are you kidding me?" I'm having to fight my inner third grader and remember that I'm still at work, but now because the roads are slick* and it's supposed to snow all day, I'm at home.

*Actually, the radio reported that a high schooler died this morning because of the slick roads.

Lotion Mouth

2010-01-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

I did it again this morning, switched the order of steps getting ready.

Earlier in the week I had to suffer through a day of what I'll call Lotion Mouth. This happens when I put moisturizer on and then brush my teeth. The contamination happens when I cup water to my mouth* with the hand that has the recently applied lotion still lingering. The taste settles in for the day in the back of my throat and no amount of trying seems to banish it. Apples, granola, spicy peanut noodles, Vitamin C drops, are no challenge to what I've come to imagine as the petroleum sludge scraped out of tanker ships. And here I am again, on my day off, thinking about the toxins leaching into my lymph nodes. In this state I should just go out and take a few sips from my gas tank or run my tongue over the oil leak in the engine; death by a sort-of carbon sequestration. Or maybe I'll forget after writing about it and go out moss collecting.**

*Oddly I can only do this with my left hand; the right is useless, holding less and spilling most of the water before I can get it to my mouth.
**It warmed up, rained, and now the snow is gone. I spotted a big patch near the neighbor's sidewalk.

Lately,

2010-01-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a lot like this.

It was related to this

2010-01-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

The Knockman Family

2010-01-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

East Central Illinois

2010-01-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

This morning the local NPR station has dedicated an hour to a program discussing cornbread. They're saying it's about quick breads, but really everyone's just talking cornbread. Right now two old guys are discussing the whole process from growing the corn to the proportions of the recipe; there was a little confusion over when the caller should have added the baking soda.

Now he's writing down a recipe for oat scones from a caller.

I am now Lame and Boring

2009-12-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

I'm so boring I was bored by my own dreams last night; something about midgets, exquisite hand drafting, and organic chemistry.

Hard

2009-11-16T13:15:00.001-08:00

I guess I can't write too much about my new job, but here's the short of it. I'll be writing reports about historic military sites.

I'm pretty excited about it; except that before I actually start working I have to have a background check and not just a lightweight one either, no, a military one. And among other things they're checking my medical, financial, and criminal histories and I have to fill out a form with every single place I've lived for the past seven years along with everywhere I've worked, including periods of unemployment.* I got finger-printed today and the official parking sticker for my car. Once I get cleared then I have to go through a training about how to be official at work.

On the downside my commute will be 6.2 miles and I'm going to try to ride through most of the winter. I've mapped my route and found a way to get there that doesn't involve too many busy streets, except that I'll have to go around the mall.** On the plus side, I get to go past the mall! I can shop whenever I want.

*I'm taking a break because my head has started to hurt from all the forms.
**Imagine any mall in America and you'll get the basic picture.

What in the what.

2009-11-11T21:39:00.001-08:00

I just got a job.

I want to go to there

2009-11-09T12:57:00.001-08:00

On the middle bay door there's a hole to run the car's exhaust out, on the inside of the glass someone has written "mail" with an arrow pointing to the hole. Of course on the outside, and one would assume to the mail carrier, it shows up as liam.

It's empty, a sign on the door says they're out of business because of "no work." I'm already designing what my office will look like there.

It's been a long time, baby

2009-11-02T10:15:00.001-08:00

Last night I went over to the bike co-op and had some help getting the drive side bottom bracket cup pulled out. It involved a nasty chemical spray, an adjustable wrench, a blow torch, and then the bench vice; after all that it came out relatively easily. And so, I spent last night finally putting on all the parts I've been accumulating for this bike for two years. I think the bars look spectacular.

Here's the run-down, not that you care:

Old French frame, a Mercier Tour de France. I bought it already set up as a single speed.
The wheels are old Weinmann's back when they were made in Belgium. The rims are unusual because they're concave instead of convex and have an interesting spoke pattern.
No name 18 tooth freewheel.
Original leather Agda saddle.
Sturmy-Archer stem.
Nitto Promenade B-601 handle bars.
Paul Components Love Levers.
Cork grips; sanded and shellacked.
Dia-Compe center pull brakes (They just started remaking these. Also I had to rebuild the front one because the bolt was too short for the fork.).
Stainless steel braided brake cable from Velo-Orange.
107mm French threaded bottom bracket from Velo-Orange (they just started remaking these as well).
What I think is a Solida crank I bought off of craigslist. I like it because it has "Made in France" stamped on it.
MKS track pedals, but I might switch these back to the original touring pedals that came with the bike.
Continental Ultra tires.
Bontrager tubes.

Dinner Conversations*

2009-10-30T10:44:00.001-07:00

"One of the only times I've been truly mortified was when I kissed the abbot on the lips."

"Wha...Didn't you know not to kiss him on the lips?"

"It's a long story."

"But it kind of goes without question that, in front of a crowd, you don't kiss the abbot on the lips."

And with a shake of his head we moved on.

*There were more noteworthy comments, but I'm actually censoring them out since they dealt with orifices and inhuman amounts of bodily waste.

Retail-Therapy

2009-10-26T15:08:00.001-07:00

Prompted by an email from Ceri I've been mentally listing all the things I've bought recently. Even though I'm unemployed and a little embarrassed by the list, I'll share. Of course I'm excluding food, drinks, and general merrymaking; and to think that I might dedicate a year to not buying anything new...

In no particular order:

Bike stuff from online (enormously large).
Bike stuff from the shop.
More bike stuff from the shop (enormously large, including ice-tires).
A cyclo-cross tire from co-worker.
Pants from Goodwill to make cycling caps. A pair of jeans to wear.
Sweater and pants from Salvation army to make cycling caps.
Mom's birthday present.
Mary's birthday present, which has yet to be mailed.
Commuter bike shoes. Shimano SPD pedals.
Auto paint; enough to put my own hole in the atmosphere.
New phone.
Pack of scissors. Straight pins.
Metal trays to put my house plants on.
Ted Kooser book.
Bread pan.

And I'm going to stop because the list is frightening me; I'm trying not to total this up.

Bite

2009-10-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Mono-perfect

2009-10-19T13:14:00.001-07:00

Since it was a gorgeous fall day I headed out for an afternoon walk.* I got to talk with some neighborhood characters, like the one-man band down the street. I've heard him all summer, a languid drum beat accompanied by an unnameable brass instrument. 'Turns out he's an old man with a long white beard and mustache and was playing a nice wooden drum with one hand while holding a bugle in the other. I didn't stop and stare, but it also seemed like he had cowbells hanging off the back of his pants. He said hi and commented on the day. He also mentioned that he was doing a sound check because he had a gig on Saturday. I'm pretty sure this is the guy who sits and plays on the curb at the farmer's market...

Down the block, I got hit on because of the weather.
--"It's a good day to be with someone."
--"Um... It is a nice day."

Then I was thinking about gardening and the astonishing variety of plants that were just growing wild in the alley I was walking down. Of course I thought about natural selection and how, as a plant picker, I select plants according to my whims of aesthetics. And then I wondered if I had to plant a garden in only one plant, what plant would that be.

I can choose a tree; Maclura pomifera, duh, but anything smaller than that kind of baffles me. A clover, perhaps? Sunflowers? Lilacs? What about a vine? To be practical, should it be edible? Runner beans? Anyway, I also found an apple tree where all the apples were rotting on the ground underneath it.

*I think I'm going to start my days with a walk.

Again

2009-10-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Yet again I got frustrated with Mark Bittman when I couldn't find any recipes for salmon in his cookbook. And then I remembered I have his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian...

Mixed Feelings

2009-10-07T08:27:00.001-07:00

Sunday I went to another 'cross race. I brought my bike and gear, but didn't end up riding because I was cold and, let's be honest, intimidated.* But while I was checking out the course I started talking with another woman racer. Two weekends ago was her first 'cross race too and she proudly confessed that she came in dead last. She raced with one of the Chicago teams and said that before this she had been doing Ironman triathlons. I can't remember now why she switched from Ironmans to cyclocross racing but she said 'cross was kicking her ass and triathlons were way easier. Of course, since I didn't come in last in the last race, this made me feel great; perhaps I too could race in an Ironman.

Anyway, the point is 'cross racing is fun and if you get a chance you should try it.

This morning I woke up early and then went back to sleep and had a horrible dream. I won't go into details but the best part about it was the spider crawling up my arm. It was set mostly in my grandma's bathroom and let's say I was working through some identity issues.

*I also came home sick, but at the time I couldn't tell if my throat was sick-sore or sore from yelling so much while ringing a cowbell.

It's a First

2009-10-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

A kid crapped on the ramp at work today.

That is all.

The Sunshine Grocery

2009-10-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

To battle my melancholia this evening I headed over to the grocery store* to buy some "cheap-ass wine" for dinner tomorrow night. The melancholy was perpetuated by the rain, nothing that needs to get done right away, and general lonesomeness due to spending most of the day reading** with intermittent cleaning jags. Walking to the grocery store was refreshing so I decided to extend my walk. After reading Rebecca Solnit walking makes me think about what I'm trying to accomplish. After a couple of blocks I decided that tonight I was trying to walk away from my current life problems and though about how easy it would be to keep walking and walking and end up like Walt Whitman or John Muir.*** Like a movie unfolding, it's easy to let my imagination get the better of me while walking and listening (thanks Leah!).

Headed home Emmylou Harris started playing and I decided that it would be a good idea to listen to Wrecking Ball from start to finish while drinking the left-over white wine and perhaps crying. That being said, it was a good evening to be out and alive.

*Not the Sunshine.
**Perhaps things I shouldn't have been reading.
***Too many PBS documentaries.

Lucky Number 287

2009-09-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Crossed Up

2009-09-21T15:21:00.001-07:00

I rode in my first cyclocross race yesterday in Chicago. My goals were to not be in last place and to not cause a wreck. Regarding these it was successful, however I have three blisters on my left hand and two on my right and overall it kind of kicked my ass. I'll post pictures soon.

I Should, but...

2009-09-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

I should download the photos off my camera and post some here, but I don't want to go hunting for the cable.

I should tell you about riding the big wheeled bike. It was scary and fun, but words fail me.

I should write about what I've been cooking, but it's not all that interesting.*

I'm getting close to being done with my French bike, but there's still so much more to do.**

I got stung by a hornet this week, but I doctored it with baking soda and it went away quick.

I went out for drinks with some work colleagues and while we were talking about the local characters we saw one head into the bar across the street (she was in drag).

I should make my portfolio website, but I'd have to have some work to put in it.

And on and on.

*The homemade pizza with cornmeal in the crust to make it crunchy was excellent.

**Okay, okay, I'll bore you with this one. I've been painting her this past week. A dual color metallic blue. Even though it's spray paint it looks pretty fantastic (I did have help, though, since I've been labeled as a horrible spray painter). I ordered the French threaded bottom bracket and got it today with a chrome chain guard, so now I have everything except the brake levers.

Oh.

2009-08-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

And yesterday, I got to ride one of these things.

Anniversaries

2009-08-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

As my sister pointed out, both I and the Sony Walkman are turning 30 this summer. She commemorated this milestone by sending me an updated version of the Walkman, which was terribly sweet and made me cry a little.* Today is my actual birthday and among other gifts the staff meeting at work was canceled, although I and a few others didn't know that until we showed up for it.

*I'm getting sappy in my old age.

Hobbies, Everyone Needs One

2009-08-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Bikes used to be my hobby, but now I work in a bike shop and they've become serious business. And because this serious business is the nicest bike shop in town I've gotten to meet some of the local town characters. There's two quirky regulars that usually happen to stop by the shop on the same day, but never at the same time. That is until yesterday when worlds collided while we watched David and Downtown Debbie interact.

I met David on my second or third day working, he was looking for a tire pump that he could pump his air horn up with. He had recently had cataract surgery and was wearing dark glasses; he mentioned this several times. The air horn is on his tandem bicycle, which is his and his wife's primary source of transportation. On the back it has an orange flag and an American flag on a tall stick. When David talks it sounds like me might be deaf, although he can hear us. He works at Staples and yesterday came to the shop on his lunch break to see if we could fix the bottom bracket on his tandem. David likes to talk but does so with long awkward pauses in the flow of his stories.

I met Rick* on my second or third day on the job too. He was wearing brown polyester pants and a short sleeved dress shirt with a brown tie that was too short. He's a lumpy, middle-aged man with a lazy eye lid. Our introduction was when I rounded the corner to hear him yelling into his cell phone. It seems that his mother wasn't answering her phone and he needed some money to get a flat fixed on his bicycle.** He was actually screaming, "Son of a bitch." completely without irony. We had a conversation about racing bicycles and how fast he was going to go when he saved up enough money to buy himself a racing bicycle. His current bicycle is held together with duct tape, it doesn't appear to have brakes and the seat gets knocked to the side with the slightest touch.

The second time Rick came into the shop he needed to have the crank arm put back on his bicycle. He had gone out for his bicycle ride at 5:30 Saturday morning when the crank had fallen off near the Kraft plant. Apparently he had waited anxiously for the next five hours until we opened to get it fixed. He was still in his workout clothes, a pair of sweat pants held up by a leather belt, a hip pack, and a tucked in orange t shirt. He was still sweaty.

Yesterday Rick came into the shop because the derailleur had fallen off. I'd been waiting for this visit, not that I knew his bike would fall apart, but because he's also the local cross dresser and frequently comes into the shop as Debbie. I was standing at the counter when Rick, now Debbie, came into the shop. His first question was "Do you recognize me?" in answer I said, "Looks like the chain came off your bike." His likeness of a woman is frightening at best, but complete with wig, make-up, hose, dress, purse, and what can kind of pass as a lumpy bosom. The shop employees play along and refer to him as Debbie and since business was slow most of us were watching as one of the mechanics inspected his bike. I was standing by her and after she asked a bevy of questions about the bike stand he turned to me and said in his slightly slurry language, "This is my hobby, everyone has hobbies, this is mine."*** I knew we weren't talking about racing bicycles anymore and because I'm not great in awkward situations, agreed that everyone did need a hobby.

*There are many Rick/Debbie stories, this is just my introduction to him.
**He always refers to them as bicycles, not bikes.
***Apparently he would always come into the shop as Debbie until one day he came dressed as a guy. Again there was an off-handed comment of explanation of his now semi-normal wardrobe, "My parents are in town."

Great Day (almost all bike related)

2009-06-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

1. I got a road wheel set for the Masi; pretty good Shimano hubs and not very good rims, but they're way lighter, and therefore faster, than the cyclocross rims that were on it. I'd guess that with the skinny tires and everything the bike is about five pounds lighter. It's snappy in corners and takes off wonderfully; slowly this is becoming a great bike with a nice balance between lightness and utility.

2. Fixing the click in my rear derailleur by myself (derailleurs are intimidating). Also cleaning the chain and rear cassette.

3. Quick sprints tonight (see above) and cruising at around 17 mph. Admittedly I had minimal braking power on this ride because the road wheels are thinner the brakes needed adjusting and I didn't get around to it. The fronts weren't touching at all and it took the rear ones at least half a block to slow me down.

4. My Swobo jerseys from amazon got here in two days. I think this is my new favorite jersey; I love the arm bands.

5. Took my car in to get fixed and there wasn't anything wrong; I had been smelling oil burning. While there I had the oil changed; Bob said the oil didn't look bad, but the oil change tag said that the last time was in 2007.

with teeth clenched

2009-05-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

"I don't transition well."

Attributable to my roommate Lori who graduated with me this weekend. Said after all the badgering and questioning about what we will be doing next and without exactly knowing. I just kept saying, "I don't know." I don't know where I'll move, I don't know what I'll be doing, and I don't know exactly what it is that I want to do.

So I've started on the small things; there was a bike tire that needed switching around (it was on backwards), my room needs cleaning, and there's a new sewing machine to play with. I need to make thank you cards, but the weather has been so nice I spent the afternoon outside sanding down my bike (I WILL ride it this summer!). I also need to go on a bike ride, but I'm waiting for five o'clock traffic to die down.

Question

2009-05-11T10:00:00.001-07:00

How much is too much to pay for pants?

Official Invitations

2009-05-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

My mom made me get official university invitations for graduation; I wanted to make my own. But I lost that argument. Per usual, I ordered them late and am only now addressing them a full six days before my actual graduation (I'm not expecting anyone to get an invitation and then rush to be at the Allerton Park Walled Garden on Sunday morning). So if anyone, who reads this blog if anyone does anymore, wants an official invitation drop me a line; you'll probably get it next week sometime.

in pictures

2009-05-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

The guy who's presenting told me my new shoes were "sick." Unfortunately he had a sick presentation, but not in the way that he meant. I also like how the guy leaning on the door is doing what I'm doing. My roommate Lori took all the photos.

The dancer, David, and another girl I offered a donut to.

The woods.

Unfortunately Lori followed the wrong person and missed my favorite part of the performance which was standing on stumps in a grid of Bald Cypress.

Putting sticks in a telemetry tower.

Erich climbed the tower even though he hadn't slept the night before.

In the woods there are a couple of shelters built out of logs. The dancer was inside this one and I was handing her sticks through the wall.

Kevin's album cover.

This was my least favorite part, we were raking debris onto the log piles. We had to stay as close as we could to the pile which meant we were crawling through briers and honeysuckle and it was horrible.

The end.

the end of the semester

2009-05-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

My last semester in architecture school I was worried that I wouldn't graduate because of a couple of classes with low grades. This time around I seem to have all my paperwork in place; this means I've been celebrating for a while now. While I can't really remember last week I do remember downtown Friday night (and a cold ride home), a drinking game Saturday night, waking up early Sunday morning to be in a dance performance, and then throwing up out a car window Sunday evening.

Let me explain before you assume I'm reliving my lost undergrad days; there are some differences. For one it's not all about drinking (see casual reference to the dance performance). Well, I've tried to think of some differences, but there's not many; I'd like to think I'm more responsible now but throwing up out a car window doesn't really paint that picture. I'll skim over Friday and Saturday saying I probably drank too much, and that I got hit on by one of the reviewers who came in for my adviser's studio review (I was sober when it happened and there were outside witnesses so it's confirmed). The dance performance on Sunday was even more awesome though. My adviser was working with a grad student from the dance department this semester and they needed some volunteers for their final performance, so David asked some of his students. Essentially it was a walk through the woods, but there were stations that we were walking to and at each station there were tasks for us to do. For example, the first task I had to do was stand on tree stumps that were in a grid; the rest of the tasks were tree-oriented. I was also the leader of the performance by keeping time and moving on to the next task before any of the other performers. My roommate took some really great pictures, but I haven't gotten them from her yet.

Then Sunday afternoon the Weisses, David, and I went out for drinks to celebrate me and Andrew's successful thesis deposits (here's where the story diverges from the undergrad connections, 1. going out with one's adviser (maybe) and 2. going to a bar with a baby). In my defense I hadn't eaten since eight in the morning, but by the time we were almost at Andrew and Christa's I think I had gotten car sick, which meant I went ahead threw up out the window and then in their yard (not a highpoint for me). Then we had really great Indian food.

And I guess this is proof that my life is small right now.

Therapy

2009-04-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

I turned in my thesis yesterday, to the grad college, for good. I burned the DVDs and printed the labels* without a hitch. I walked down to the grad college with gray skies and a light sprinkle. I had to wait for the thesis checker, but not more then five minutes and then after a 30 second check he said everything was fine except I needed to buy a second folder. After listening to all the horror stories about this process and how I haven't had any problems I said, "That was anticlimactic." He then shook my hand, said congratulations and said that they hadn't installed the confetti cannon yet. I shrugged and left to go next door to buy the second folder.

And then I realized that, on this important day, I had left my wallet at home. The hurdle between getting my masters degree and not was about two dollars that I did not have. I knew my roommate was at school so I walked back to the architecture building to find her. Of course she wasn't in grad studio and no one had seen her for awhile. I headed up to junior studio to see if I could find anyone to bum a couple bucks from. Luckily David, my adviser, was printing and after listening to my pathetic story gave me five dollars. "It's a gift." And now I'm done.

Today I got the shoes I ordered on Monday. After looking at Asics Tigers for years my sister beat me to buying some, so I was provoked into keeping up. Turns out buying things makes me feel great. Now I just need to get my fixed gear up and running and then I can catch the tail-end of the hipster scene.

Last Saturday I went to Chicago; Hyde Park and the University of Chicago (where my debit card was mysteriously declined), the Midway to Jackson Park, the Museum of Science and Industry, and then down Wabash to a hostel near the Art Institute. We drove by IIT (Mies) and I got to see the new Koolhaas student center.

Hi Robie House. The tour of you was horrible, fortunately I didn't have to pay for it; also our tour guide had a mysterious lump on the side of his belly, like the size of half a cantaloupe sticking out there.

We also got into the Museum of Science and Industry for free because we got there an hour before it was going to close. I spent most of my time at the model railroad exhibit. Two thirds of it is Chicagoland with rest the expanse west to Seattle. In this model Seattle is pitifully rendered more or less as a backwater in comparison with the details of Chicago. That being said, every time I go to Chicago I love it a little more.

Across the street from Jackson Park.

*I did learn, however, that the new Microsoft Office does not have Futura as a font choice. I had to make the effort to accept that the font on my labels will never match the rest of my thesis.

Deadlines

2009-04-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize the first of May was coming up so quickly. It looks like its coming up on Thursday. It's also the deadline for graduate students depositing their theses for May graduation. I fall into this category so I should be paying attention but I'm not really. After I printed my thesis out I spent last week twiddling my thumbs about burning the accompanying DVDs. In usual form I'll probably run this down to the deadline. When I told my Dad that I had all the checking done before the deadline he asked me who I was. I'm trying not to let him down.

Savior City

2009-04-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Done-ish

2009-04-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

94 pages. One appendix, around 30 pages of text and 60 of images, one supplementary DVD, and quite a few glaring gaps in the project (there was one section where I forgot(?) to make any images).

I went with Futura* and a nice, sparse layout.

I did a find and replace for double periods.

InDesign is a miracle program. It kept track of all my figure numbers and even when I had to insert one at the beginning of the document it reordered all the rest.

Now it goes to our department for the departmental formatting check (nervous about this). Then on to the grad college for their formatting check. According to rumor, the grad college stops checking after the first mistake and you have to go back for more checks. Then you have to make sure to buy the right folders...and it seems like this process will never end.

*New favorite font.

Question

2009-04-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

So I've used pandora.com for awhile and have been mostly happy with the results.* But a few weeks ago I decided to give last.fm a try; they had Ryoji Ikeda's Dataplex album and I wanted to listen to it before I bought it (liked it, bought it). But here's my question, why when I try to listen to an artist's station do they play the artist I've selected only once? For example, I wanted to listen to Andrew Bird, I typed in "Andrew Bird" into their station finder and although the first song it played was Andrew Bird, it didn't play another one while I listened (probably an hour, if not longer). I'm just wondering if there's a reason for this, or if it's only happening to me.

*Except they have a proclivity on some stations** for playing U2 every other song.

**Not the U2 station either.

sometimes it just takes the right font

2009-04-09T00:52:00.000-07:00

David and I maxi-edited my thesis for five hours on Sunday. I had hoped for this; just one intensive edit instead of going back and forth for several versions. I wrote the conclusion Monday night and have been adding images and formatting since and then, and then, I'll be done. David thought I could have it wrapped up by Thursday at five, but I'm not so sure. I still have a lot of scanning to do and all the loose ends (citations I hate you!), but either way I'll be done by this weekend.

61 pages and counting.

we're so close to chicago

2009-04-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Last semester when I was TAing for the intro design studio one of the new grad students mentioned that he played in a band. Upon questioning he said he played the trumpet in a "marching band kind of thing." I didn't think anything of it until last weekend in Chicago, Erich another student, mentioned that Ben's band had been on Conan and the video was on youtube. Unfortunately it's not anymore but the band, Mucca Pazza, is featured in Andrew Bird's new video. Ben's not in the video because he had to be at school.

When I saw him tonight I had to ask where they found so many marching band uniforms. He said thrift stores and while on tour they would have to spray them with vodka to mask the smell.

Andrew Bird with Mucca Pazza - "Fitz & The Dizzyspells”

It was cold.

2009-03-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Lori and I went to Chicago this weekend, I suppose in a realization that after three years we hardly ever make it up there. We also had an invitation to stay with Rory at his girlfriend's condo (24th floor), which makes the trip all the better. We hung out with Rory some, mainly trying to find thrift stores, not succeeding and then going to eat breakfast to get out of the cold. Erich, though, was our planner ("Do you guys have plans? Let's get drunk!"). Chicago, consequently, is kind of a blur except that it was really, really cold.

Training for

2009-03-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Chicago tomorrow.

Decisions on the first Friday night of spring break

2009-03-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

Should the main text of my thesis be, 1. Times New Roman, 2. Helvetica, or 3. Courier New? Or wild card, Wing Dings?

Surprise Gifts

2009-03-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I need a break from my laptop I'll sit on the steps in the arena. The afternoon sun comes in the west windows and I usually bake myself, moving with it as it sets. I spend the time reading or drawing until the sun sets or the foam sword players come in. Yesterday I did this and when I went back to my office I noticed a strange notebook on the floor. My curiosity was peaked and I circled several times before picking it up. Did David come in the window, see I wasn't there and then leave with this notebook falling out of his bag?* I didn't think it had been there earlier so I left it on the table to ask about.

Later, as I was standing at the window watching the engineers fire tennis balls from their air cannon I saw Andrew walking across the quad. He explained that he had stopped by earlier and had tossed the notebook in through the window. I told him I loved it and that it had made my day.

It's made from a record cover.

*Often, if the window is open David, my adviser, will enter and exit the office this way. Apparently, when the department head came over to see the space she did this too.

ungh

2009-03-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

This weather is driving me crazy. I only want to be outside doing anything other than finishing my thesis. Granted my thesis work is fun, but there are gardens to plant, concrete experiments, and bikes to ride and work on.

Saturday from my office window I watched a game of football in the foreground, in the middleground was a game of Ultimate Frisbee, and in the far background a game of cricket was being played. Now some guys are out playing catch and talking about taking shots every five minutes. It's really hard focusing on my computer screen.

Next week is spring break.

Differences

2009-03-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

I can tell a distinct difference between my glove that is made with wind-stopping material and the one that isn't. After a cold ride home my hand that has been wearing the wind-stopping glove is functional while the other one isn't.

I hate cold riding.

Again

2009-03-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

When I'm not trying to graduate...

2009-03-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

...I'm thinking about bike paint colors.

My single speed, the old blue Mercier, has been disassembled for the past year and a half with her parts scattered between several garages and the back seat of my car. And after looking at the pock-marked paint on the stripped frame for so long I've been convinced she needs a new paint job. The blue that she already is is beautiful, but blue bikes are a dime a dozen it seems. So what color?

I've already got a scarlet bike and a black bike so I need a color that will coordinate with the others (obviously). The red Masi has gold accents (bottle cage!) and the Smoke has flat gray accents. They both have tan/cork bar tape. In my amassed collection of parts for the Mercier, I've picked up black bar tape, this was a mistake on my part because the bike came with a brown leather seat (Can I have black leather bar tape and a brown leather seat? I'm not sure...). Although she does have black lug working I've never cared for the combination of black and blue (there are some exceptions to this).

So, after all this deliberation I decided on either a matte gold, or a shiny, metallic green. But after LAH pointed out that if I included purple I could have a mardi gras bike I decided to reconsider. Also, the green I want is hard to find. Gold paint is easier to come by, but it would take a lot and thus be slightly more expensive then I'm willing to pay (this is getting really complicated and I'm surprised that you're still reading). So today after some research at Fixed Gear Gallery and winding up at a cycle clothing site*, I think I'm going to go with a creamy white, leaving the lug work its original black. I hoping for a classic look, a little used, but also cleaned up and ready for a night on the town.

And I guess this is a rather detailed explanation of where my afternoon went to.

*You have to look past the pants.

And...

2009-03-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

After spending two hours looking at my high school classmates I canceled my myspace account. I hope I never go back.

Eff You Facebook

2009-02-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

I thought the hardest part of deleting my facebook account would be the slight guilt of not knowing what my friends from high school were doing every five minutes (You just woke up from a nap? How interesting...). Turns out facebook only seems willing to let you delete your account. I've spent the last 10 minutes typing in captchas only to be rejected time and time again.

Plus I had to admit to my advisor that I had an account and he seemed hurt that we weren't friends. Back to the cryptic captchas.

Button Eyes

2009-02-20T14:06:00.001-08:00

Almost...

2009-02-11T13:36:00.001-08:00

When we unlocked the door for the first time David said, "If this works out, you'll have the best office in the whole town."

We're close, we've gotten the keys, the other guy's stuff just hasn't been moved out yet. We keep pushing it to the sides to make room for the router, the drill, and the saws.

Forgive me, my world is small right now, I really don't ever have to leave my house.

The project we're working on is a continuation of David's thesis from architecture school. There he assumed the thermodynamic properties of materials could be exploited in structures and designed around that hypothesis.

Now, we're working to prove it, and so far our experiments seem to be proving him right.

Uncomfortably standing around near a 115 degree radiator hoping not to fall down the stadium seating (or would that be arena seating?).

Pausing Winter for a Weekend

2009-02-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

It warmed up around here. Friday was in the 40s and Saturday it topped out at 63. And so the inaugural bike ride of 2009 was planned. We left town heading south and into the southwesterly wind and it totally kicked my ass. I was doing 8 mph and couldn't catch my breath. Most of the time I was gasping I was also thinking about pulling over to puke in the ditch, at only 8 miles per hour.* So I turned around. Going back up the gravel hill was hard (always a challenge, the highest hill around these parts) but after that I was flying. I rode in my drops and did a comfortable 18 until I hit the first stop light coming back into town. Today, I'm not that sore.**

*In the picture you can see that I'm doing 11 mph with no hands and taking pictures on a city street. If you ride to work, or school, you're doing much faster than 8 mph, that's how much I was sucking.

**I put fat, nubby mountain bike tires on the Kona for a workout commuting around town. And even though we were gone for half an hour, riding into the wind, and then fast on the way home commuting with fat mountain bike tires is hands down a better work out.

In the Face of an Economic Recession

2009-02-02T17:08:00.001-08:00

I'm looking at MacBooks. And aside from convenience, I have no need for a new laptop. My desktop is going strong after three years and my old iBook is still rock solid after seven.* But I'm mobile this semester and a brand new laptop would come in quite handy since I'm pretty much squatting in someone else's office for the time being. And even though this as yet unclaimed office is in a building with a dirt floor it has wi-fi.

So I hope I can either wrangle up some student loan money or convince myself I don't need a new laptop.**

*Although it won't play youtube videos and it doesn't have a DVD drive.
**They're gorgeous though.

Break

2009-01-29T20:10:00.000-08:00

Things and Other Things

2009-01-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

I got unceremoniously kicked out of my studio space this semester and so I've been alternating between my adviser's office and my house to work. I'm not getting much done because of this, but then again that's not unusual. In the meantime my adviser has been trying to get us a space dedicated to our (really his) project. It turns out that our department has lots of extra spaces around campus, but they're all being used by people who no longer teach at our university, are retired, or are stockpiling old and worthless computer equipment.

The most recent development is that we might get the office of a retired professor. His stuff is still crammed into this spare office, but it doesn't appear that he has even set foot on campus in over a year and rumor has it he originally needed this office solely to park his recumbent bike. There's a computer (seems operable and it's a Mac) in the office and old student projects and slides are neatly organized on all the horizontal surfaces. There's also a thick layer of dust. If we're willing to risk the wrath of this retired professor and move all of his stuff we could maybe be in this space by the end of the week. And best of all the office is in the Stock Pavilion.* So this, if the office works out, is what I could look at when I eat my lunch.**

Although I'm afraid by gushing about this space working out that it might not work out at all. I'm still waiting with my fingers crossed.

*Is also wonderful because it smells like dirt when you walk into the building and the office has absolutely huge north facing windows.

**This is also an old picture that, I think, I've posted before (the Stock Pavilion being, like, one of my favorite places on campus). I thought I had another one with an odd grouping of a conference table and chairs in the middle of the arena, but I can't find it. Most likely I deleted it off my camera before downloading it.

!!!

2009-01-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

We have an awesome bus system*, we have a kick-ass library, and now Zipcar has come to town!**

*For a town this size.
**Although I doubt I'll ever use it.

Techno-biblio-phile

2009-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

I also* like how our library is willing to text you call numbers. I think this might have been around for a while, but I still like how it kind of breaks the stereotype of the nerdy librarian. Then again, it is kind of the ultimate in nerdy and geeky to have your library book call numbers texted to you.

*In addition to our wired-up buses.

Almost

2009-01-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

It took me eight minutes to get dressed yesterday. I know this because while still in my pajamas I checked the MTD's STOPWatch* and the 4W Blue was due in eight minutes. It passed as I was pulling on my sweater. I was waiting to catch the 4E which was due in nine minutes. I headed downstairs and approximately one and a half minutes later an east bound bus passed our house. I hate missing the bus, it means at least a half hour wait, and although I could ride my bike it was snowing and the weather was saying something about blizzard conditions. Mary heard my exclaimation about the bus coming early and offered to let me borrow her car**. Nine minutes later, as I was brushing the snow off her car, my bus drove past. The earlier bus that tricked me, and always trick me, must have been Not-In-Service.

Today I went to campus to resolve some of my clerical issues with the university. None were resolved, instead I have an appointment, online applications to fill out, and a buffer until I can sign up for classes.

I'm going to try to make Tom Kha Gai tonight. I only have about half of the ingredients, but I'm really hungry for it so I'll be experimenting.

I found the battery charger for my camera, now I just need to find the cord that will connect it to my computer. Then I can start posting pictures again. First on the list, the Slim Jim shirt.

*I really love this feature of our bus system, I kind of geek out over it every time I use it. Real-time information about where the bus currently is is piped to the internet, text-messaged, or widgeted from a GPS unit on the bus. So if you catch the bus at the corner of John and Elm, for instance, you know pretty much exactly when the bus will be there or if you're at 6th and Peabody and don't want to wait too long in the rain. Unless it has iced overnight and the bus is 45 minutes late in which case you'll catch the 8:00 bus at 8:48ish and then all bets are off.

**Because of the busted out window.

CSI: The Breakup

2009-01-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Oh 2009, it turns out that I don't like you very much. I had high hopes even though you were promising to make me make some very difficult decisions about living and working. I don't like making those kinds of decisions but I was willing to overlook this fault of yours. Dear 2009 it's going to be hard not to compare you with your cousin 2008. Although not an absolutely stellar year, 2008 did deliver some pretty great stuff. There was the whole thesis presentation thing, the new bike, getting into cycling proper, teaching some pretty cool students, new friends, good times, and on and on really. Granted 2008 and I didn't start off with much of a bang but it was a love that grew from our day to day trials. I'm not sure if I can ever love you 2009.

I was open to your advances even though you threw me a nasty cold as you rolled around, even though I have a weird itchiness under my left eye, and even though you've been remarkably cold and icy. I was even willing to work through the uncertainties of the current economy with you. But today you went too far and now my trust in you is ruined. Because, 2009, this morning when I went out to my car, guess what? The window had been shot out by some punkass with a BB gun. I know it was a BB gun because I can see exactly where the BB hit my window slightly above and to the left of the sticky residue left by the tow warning. Thankfully my windows are (were?) tinted and so the shatter was held in place, but now I have to crawl in from the passenger side and every time I hit a pothole I can hear more of the glass pieces as they make their way to the bottom of the door panel. It's shitty to get your window shot out, by the way, because not only is it highly inconvenient they're also expensive to replace. And almost worst of all is that now one of my windows, perhaps the most visible of the collection, will not have a bronze-ish tint on it. I, as the driver, will now be on display to the masses.

You'll have to do some groveling a more than a few late-night phone calls before I'll reconsider our relationship. You should know that I'm pretty forgiving, and let's be honest we've got a long way to go with each other before we can officially call it quits. Still I thought you might have let up on me today, but you didn't. I won't go into the details but I'll refresh your memory with "registration hold" and "student account."

So 2009, I had the best of hopes for you and me working out, but as the jilted lover I'm going to have to move on out. I do not wish you well.*

*Unless of course you start treating me well and then I'll be back all over you faster then you can say I'm-not-looking-forward-to-the-rest-of-this-year.

Snacks as Fashionwear

2009-01-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

For a long time I've been very anti-sweatshirt assuming that if I'm cold and need another layer I'll just add a sweater. Sweaters, even the ones with holes and those that have been accidentally shrunk in the wash, look more finished than the sweatshirt while accomplishing the same goals. A sweater is perfectly acceptable to wear around the house and while working on messy projects; ones made from wool have the added benefit of being flame resistant. And so for years I've worn holey and oddly shrunken sweaters instead of sweatshirts to look a little more put together while catching myself of fire.

In the past year I've twice broken my stance on sweatshirts by buying two of them. The first was really too awesome to pass up at the Goodwill. It's a brown hooded number with Helsinki spelled across the front in orange letters. Yesterday I broke my rule again at the same Goodwill. This time I impulse bought (because I can't foresee any situation where I might wear this shirt. Yes, even around the house.) a white shirt that's not quite your average sweatshirt. It's cut from a thinner material and is longer and leaner than usual and it still has a front pouch for keeping hands warm. The added length is needed because the entire front is filled with large black letters spelling out slim jim. I'd never paid close attention to the Slim Jim font and logo before*, but my goodness, it's really great typography. The slim is on top of the jim (no jokes) and the letters align in what could be called a perfect array. The s gets left out so that the j curves beneath the l, the i's are showcase creating the center line, and the m's are stacked on top of each other holding down the end. If this wasn't perfect enough, there's a registered trademark logo down at the corner of it all it's printed so that half of it is on the hand warming pocket and the other half is off. This half on and half off is almost nauseatingly wonderful and is what made my mind up about buying the shirt and breaking my sweatshirt rule yet again.

*I've never eaten a Slim Jim either, the recognition comes from going in to gas stations to pay for gas and the ubiquitous stand of Slim Jims by the cash register, back when going in to pay for gas was common.

In Love But Not at Peace

2009-01-05T10:20:00.000-08:00

Although there are quite a few things I fell in love with in 2008 this is by far my favorite little guy* of the year.**

*Not mine.
**I got him that monkey hat for his 1st birthday. Cute!

Devil's Porcupine

Finally...

Reject!

Two Things

Green on Green

Initiative for the Initiative-less

Travel Week 2: Kazakhstan

Travel-Week One

Cosmos

Drive-by

Things I've Never Thought Before and Never Thought I Would Think

"Welcome!"

Question

Merry Christmas!

Now for the lamest excuse ever

A Gratuitous Retelling of My First RAGBRAI

Cameo

50/50

Summer Baseball

The Wormhole.

Trouble

Not to ring my own bike bell, but...

*sigh*

Question.

New-Old

Little Christmas Angel

Spring

wishing and hoping

the winter took a turn for warm

planning

And all of a sudden it was spring

Monroe

a startled cow looks on

old-timey crowd watching the earth rise

hard to believe evidence that spring might be around the corner

Thanks nytimes.com

Changes

Is this ramble because spring is almost here?

Diversifying My Online Portfolio

People Doing Stuff

Snow Day!

Lotion Mouth

Lately,

It was related to this

The Knockman Family

East Central Illinois

I am now Lame and Boring

Hard

What in the what.

I want to go to there

It's been a long time, baby

Dinner Conversations*

Retail-Therapy

Bite

Mono-perfect

Again

Mixed Feelings

It's a First

The Sunshine Grocery

Lucky Number 287

Crossed Up

I Should, but...

Oh.

Anniversaries

Hobbies, Everyone Needs One

Great Day (almost all bike related)

*with teeth clenched*

Question

Official Invitations

in pictures

the end of the semester

Therapy

Deadlines

Savior City

Done-ish

Question

sometimes it just takes the right font

we're so close to chicago

It was cold.

Training for

sigh

with teeth clenched