December 28, 2006
~ Two New Wheels ~
I had not expected to actually purchase my third bike yesterday. Indeed, my plan was to go to the bike shop TODAY. Nevertheless, yesterday when I got off of work, I engaged in communication with a local bike salesperson who indicated that it might be a good time to look at some bikes. I rode my mountain bike to the bike shop and parked it outside. Inside, I proceeded to investigate the selection of cruisers, and most especially the new Electra Amsterdams. As you may recall from my fantastic post of yesterday, I was interested in a red Electra Amsterdam sport, not the blue Amsterdam classic. However, as I stood in front of the row of cruisers, one ladies blue classic, one men's black classic, one men's red sport, and one men's black sport, I felt myself gravitating towards the blue classic. Firstly, the blue is really something. It's not your normal everyday ho-hum blue - - it's this fantastic blue that I would imagine being on some old-fashioned dental equipment. So awesome! Secondly, the classic is more distinctive than the sport. There is a rack on the back, and I LOVE it. I am ambivalent about the skirt (which I removed upon purchase), but the rack is so wonderful that I could just lick it. And the sport has no rack. Also, the classic has a neat light with a tire-rubbing-generator-dealie - the sport does not. Sure, the classic is heavier (being steel instead of aluminum), BUT the classic also came with a BELL!!! No bell on the sport, yo. Seriously, how's the sport gonna ring my bell if it has no bell? pfft!!!
Anyroad, before I had actually become all excited about the blue classic, I gave it and a red men's sport a trial ride (there weren't any women's sports in stock because apparently these bikes haven't even been officially released yet). I did notice that the sport was much zippier, but yea, no bell, no rack, no light w/ generator, all dealbreakers. And as I shifted my gaze from the red sport (truly, a beautiful red and a good looking bike - - such a hard decision!) and the blue classic, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something really special about the blue classic.
Then, I started to consider the logistics. Of utmost importance to me in having a cruiser was to place a basket at the front of the bike. The light on the blue classic limited all basket capabilities. I couldn't even get the basket onto the bike because the light was right in the way. What a stupid place to put a light on a cruiser! Everyone knows that people like to put baskets onto their cruisers. Anyway, I then began a discussion with my local bicycle connosieur about the possibility of moving the light. He examined the way that it was installed and we wheeled it over to a mechanical area. I exercised my mechanical muscles by removing a mud flap attached to the front fender (stupid, ugly, and dumb) and Josh rewired the light. He was able to move it down to just above the front fender, below where a basket would go (so that light and basket would exist in harmony), and we worked together on fastening the extra wire with some zip-ties. Please see the detail on the light and basket area. Another modification that I made was to remove the skirt attached to the back fenders. In theory, a skirt would be a fantastic addition (helping to prevent things being caught in the spokes as well as looking awesome), but in reality I wasn't very impressed with their functionality. The cheapo latches for them didn't fasten tightly to the fender and they kept popping off. I think that if one made the latches a little longer that it would work better, but after I removed the skirts entirely, I decided that I actually liked the way that it looked without them anyway.
Josh suspects that someone recently tried to steal my mountain bike because on my lock there is a suspicious point of damage. While I was at the shop last night, I decided to invest in a super expensive mini kryptonite u-lock. Of course, because I'm sleeping with one of the bike shop employees, I get a discount so everything was much more affordable for me. I did spend some good time thinking about whether to get some side bags to attach to the back rack, but I did not at all fancy the reasonably priced ones (mainly because they were ugly, and a big part of why I got this bike was because it was so beautiful - - so why would I adorn it in ugly accessories???) and there were some nice looking ones, but I didn't feel justified in spending $114 for them. So, no bags for me just yet. But maybe later when I save up my pennies and nickles.
Now, the hard part is thinking of a name of my beautiful blue wonder. I am entertaining suggestions. Another bike shop employee suggested Blue Betty, but I quickly shot that down.
December 27, 2006
~ happiness is self-induced intoxication ~
I have reached the conclusion that the ONLY way that I shall survive being a graduate student and maintaining the high quality lifestyle to which I am accustomed is to procure for myself a red Electra Amsterdam sport bicycle. This is the ONLY thing that will keep me from falling into the stressfull hell that would be my existance without said red Electra Amersterdam sport bicycle. Allow me to elaborate...
Currently, almost everywhere that I go on a week-daily basis, I have to lug about a variety of items - - from my general purse items, to my lunch for work, and my gym clothes for a workout right after work. I anticipate that when I start school in two and one-half weeks that I will need to lug about with me, in addition to those items I listed above, a dinner to eat in between work, the gym, and school (I refuse to get into the habit of eating out for dinner, a habit that could be very easily formed considering my love of eating out), as well as my school crap. Now, that seems like a good amount of lugging. At present, my transportation is my mountain bike and the lugging method is an unfashionable outdoorsy backpack. Which is perfectly fine and servicable, except for that I have decided that I dislike backbacks. In an ideal world, I would head out to work, having placed my items into a basket at the front of my bicycle, and calmly peddling to work, sitting upright and comfy. The impediments to this ideal include the positioning of my mountain bike (in which the handlebars are parallel to my seat), the clip-in peddles, the lack of fenders and chain guard (without which I am splattered on and in danger of shredding my pant cuffs), the central bar preventing my bicycling while wearing a skirt, and my cycling-enthusiast of a boyfriend who might never speak to me again if I installed a basket onto my mountain bike (in addition to how a basket would not look good on this bike). Therefore, the ONLY solution is to purchase for myself a cruiser-style bike, on which I can ride in comfort, sitting upright, shoes and peddles existing in harmony, and items placed tenderly in basket.
AND, I did recently rearrange all of the furniture in my wee apartment so that a third bike would fit easily. If by "easily" you mean that bikes have plenty of room to rest and I have little room to move.
SOME PEOPLE may think it ridiculous to consider owning THREE bicycles, but I ask you, what is the alternative??? After all, this is the ONLY solution.
Additionally, I have a plan for the phasing out of the backpack. I have been working tirelessly on my knitted/felted messenger bag with lining and zippered pockets (except that the project was on hold due to some holiday knitting committments) which I feel would be a more fashionable alternative to the bulky North Face blue and black backback. While this messenger-style bag will be fine for riding a bicycle, but because it is knitted it is less durable and sporty than normal messenger bags. Indeed, as I ponder on this, I realize that the perfect home for the bag in transit would be nestled gently in a basket at the front of a bicycle. Further proof that a red Electra Amersterdam sport bicycle is the ONLY solution.
Of course, I haven't actually test-rode one of these bikes. I do, however, have it on good advice that it's a great bike from a person whose judgements on all things cycling I trust blindly. I will be heading over to the bike shop tomorrow to spend some good time with it before making my final determination. Also, I've been reading some online reviews which have reinforced my tentative decision about this. That review, incidentally, is of the classic and I do not want the classic because the sport version shakes my tail more.
December 20, 2006
~ Wednesday is a day ~
Some time ago I resolved to not get so incredibly irritated and annoyed with all of the idiot life form entities and their idiot behavior that I encounter on a constant basis. While in the quiet and calm of my own personal existance, I perceive the majority of life to be just fine and dandy...and then I walk outside into the world and this cloud of impatience and judgement places a shadow over me. I try...I try "so hard" to relax, but I get so annoyed all of the time. For example, I absolutely HATE how I am cut off and almost run over by big stupid vehicles, who have no concept of the pedestrians around them, every single morning and evening on my walk to and from work. I HATE how so many drivers seem to think that the designated bike lane is a turning lane for cars, and how they think that pedestrian crosswalks are parking spaces. I also really hate all of the public displays of enthusiasm over the local sporting team - - especially now that said sporting team is going to participate in some special sporting team event - - all of the editorials and public announcements about the importance of supporting our sporting team, it's another version of patriotism and school spirit that just makes me want to throw up everything I've ever eaten. And, you know, I can't actually express my true feelings in the public sphere because everyone is so caught up in this weird groupthink sporting team feverish frenzy that they would either hurt me or my feelings (I don't know which is more tender). So anyway, I had resolved to try to be less annoyed and irritated all of the time, but it's not going so well. Before leaving my apartment, I try to have a taste of serenity in my mouth in order to delay the advent of my irritation. But, no dice.
Yesterday, over my measley half hour lunch, I went on a hunt for holiday greeting cards and a few gifts. I was pretty disappointed with the selection afforded me at the three establishments I visited, but I did settle on a generic seasonal card with a snow scene. I suppose they're pretty, which is why I purchased a box of eight. I'm going to strategically distribute the cards to avoid looking like a duplicate-card giver. At the end of the day, the greeting card I find pointless, but it's one of those things that I was raised to do, so I do it. I'm not much of a rebel when it comes to greeting cards, but my lackadaisicalness is clear.
In other news, I am opening up myself to the idea of trying again to knit a sweater. I've got a couple of issues of Vogue Knitting in which I regularly fantasize myself wearing one of the sweaters, and today I was DROOLING over the latest Rowan magazine. My thought is that I should knit a cardigan, possibly with vintage buttons. This weekend, I discovered an amazing antique store with reasonable prices. At the antique store, they had a bin of unused vintage sewing patterns for one-to-four dollars each. I purchased three of them, two were of mid-1970's McCall's patterns and one a Vogue pattern for a ridiculously silly pair of men's shorts (there's no date, but it has to be from the 50's or 60's). Oh, these shorts are fantastic! The waistline extends almost to mid-torso, they're short-shorts (for guys, a style I wish would make a hasty return), and they have a really odd/awesome package area. I may actually make a pair for myself, and perhaps a pair for Josh and we can be twins! in ridiculous shorts! ...The antique store also has all of this old homespun wool (and a few spinning wheels) and several cones of old store-bought wool. I spent some time admiring the vintage buttons, which were so cheap. The store is quite large, having been transformed from several establishments in an old strip mall, and they had an entire room devoted to vintage fabrics and some clothing. I didn't price everything, but it was a crafter's rummaging-paradise. Aside from the patterns, I also purchased this amazing end table for $15 with a shelf and drawer that has greatly improved the quality of my life in the short time in which I have owned it.
December 19, 2006
~ the drinking of martinis ~
I awoke this morning feeling great - - well rested, having slept for seven whole entire hours! Recently, I made a list for myself of things that I need to make a point of accomplishing everyday...sleeping is on that list. While I recognize that insomnia happens, and seems to happen to me frequently, it is crucial for me to make sleep (and the getting to sleep) a priority. I apparently need at least one good solid hour before going to bed in which I completely wind down, drink warm milk, read a completely mindless book (currently reading a selection in Anne Rice's vampire chronicles), and relax. The problem is that I have filled my apartment with things that I love - - books that stimulate my intellectual curiosity, music and a musical instrument, crafty activities such as knitting and sewing projects, etc., etc., and I tend to lose track of time while engrossing myself in them. Anyway, so I feel good today.
I've begun work on a new sewing project. And by "new" I refer to my attempt to remake and improve upon the skirt that I completed a few weeks ago from a Vogue Sewing pattern. Thusfar, unlike for the first try, my seam ripper has been feeling all lonely and unloved. Sad seam ripper. Additionally, there are various things about the pattern that don't fly for me, and during my previous go at the pattern, I tried to ameliorate said "things" and, in the process, created other flaws. I feel that I now have a better sense of the skirt that I want to make, regardless of the pattern. Yesterday I had the time to make the pleats on each panel and they came out beautiful - - much better than the first time. For reasons unknown to myself, the pattern called for cutting off the extra fabric from the pleats - - and perhaps an experienced sewer could make this look quality, but my end result simply looked amature and tacky. Screw the pattern! I sewed the extra fabric to either side to make it neat and tidy, and what an improvement!
In other news, over the weekend I helped Josh to win $100 at his work's Christmas party. Yea, I rock. The party was at not-my-favorite sushi place and they were playing various biking movies, including the 1986 bmx movie Rad which is now on my list of movies that I need to see the entirety of, and with the volumne turned on. Watching it in minute-length increments at a sushi party with the volumne turned off was awesome, and all, but I'm intrigued. At one point, I did watch it for about five minutes at once when there was a dance contest and the bmx-guy and the bmx-girl decided to compete in the dance competition while performing bmx tricks. Naturally, they put the preppy kids to shame!
Also, there's finally snow on the mountain and snowboarding this weekend was fantastic. Josh and I got up there fifteen minutes before they opened and the lifts were already operating. We had one of the best snowboarding experiences - - perfect conditions, not too many people, good skills & confidence in our riding. The mountain is going to open up for night skiing this week and I'm looking forward to that.
And I am not at all prepared for the holidays. As usual, I am totally stumped about what to get for people and am way way behind on my holiday knitting. I can't say that I'm really feeling the holiday spirit, or whatever. I really need to get my hinie in gear, knit and bake cookies.
December 15, 2006
~ nutjobs at the gym ~
Last night at the YMCA, I was watching a thrilling episode of CSI: Miami (my favorite workout program) when I became totally discumbobulated from the fanatical workout demon-man on the eliptical next to mine. There I was, wondering how Horatio was going to solve a double murder and inmate escape, when I became aware of some strange movement in my peripheral vision. I was working out on an eliptical among a row of elipticals in front of a window. Since it was dark out, the window was acting like a mirrow. So I looked up into the window to view the reflection of the person next to me, in an effort to figure out the strange movement in my peripheral vision. What I saw greatly disturbed me.
On the eliptial was an otherwise generic-looking middle aged man (who, in any other circumstance, would look totally normal). Yet his normality was undermined by the sheer intensity with which he was working out. For a point of reference, when I workout on the eliptial, working out at a good intensity, the eliptical's digital display usually points my caloric expenditure per minute at 12-13. Granted, this totally depends, and some people workout much harder than others. Even still, this man next to me, was burning over 20 calories a minute, which points to the fact that he was putting in a serious effort. The eliptical was actually shaking around. Yet that isn't even what I found most disturbing. His face, a face that would otherwise look normal, was contorted into this freakish demon sneer, eyes bulging out of their sockets, mouth pulled way open, teeth and gums fully exposed, and this crazy look about him. If I had seen just his face and not associated it with him being on an eliptical, I would say that it was the face of a demon-possessed serial killer hacking away at a body. Of course, once I noticed him I was unable to really concentrate on the CSI:Miami television program and kept wandering my eyes and feeling very weirded out. I ended up giving him some thought, and I decided that he probably has some kind of autism where he has absolutly no concept of what he's allowing his face to do in public at the gym. Anyway, it was very strange.
December 14, 2006
~ rooftop fliddling ~
The fact that I start my masters program in one month's time is crazy-feeling-making. My financial aid has been delayed for reasons unknown to myself and I need to spend some good time working hard on a proposal to convince my workplace to pay for my graduate degree. While I have received assurance from people with money-power that it shouldn't be a problem, I still need to do some good solid work on the proposal.
Yesterday, I took a halfday off and went snowboarding with my Dad. An amazing thing happened to me...I became a real snowboarder! - - I finally learned how to board straight down the catracks. Heretofore, the catracks have been something of a bane of my existence due to my proclivity to fall and injure my person on them. I have watched other more experienced snowboarders on the catracks, boarding straight and fast, and had absolutely no idea how they were able to do that without catching their edge and falling. I kept thinking in astonishment to myself, "It looks like their board is almost flat on the snow!" unable to comprehend. And finally, yesterday while I was practicing my catrack skills, it hit me: their boards ARE almost flat on the snow!!! Once I experienced this epiphany, I eased my board off from an extreme toe-edge, to flat on the snow, redistributed 80% of my weight to the front leg, faced the direction that I wanted to travel, thereby willing the board forward, and utilized my back leg to pick my board ever so slightly onto the toe-edge. Suddenly, I was flying down the catrack, going fast and straight just like everyone else. It was amazing. I did this over and over and it never once failed me.
Another epiphany that I had was to never listen to skiers. You know, skiing and snowboarding are two entirely different winter recreational activities. And I am always listening to skiers tell me all about what the snow conditions are like, when to go, when not to go, etc., etc. And I need to ignore them, because what are poor conditions for skiers can be great conditions for snowboarders. Like yesterday - - the snow was a tad sloshy (a mixture of fresh powder and a little slosh, to be exact) and all of these skiers were talking about leaving the mountain right after they arrived because of the conditions. Well, I found the conditions great. Not perfect or anywhere near to ideal, but still I had great fun! Plus, since I went on a weekday instead of a weekend, there was nary another person on the mountain. Many many times, I would approach the edge of a ridge or whatever, and I would be the only one around to enjoy it. I rode the lift many times by myself (while Dad was off checking out the backside) and it was a lot of fun.
At one point, I decided to take myself down what is called "The Bowl", one of the milder black diamond runs. The Bowl was filled with almost a foot of fresh powder and had hardly been touched since the snowstorm. I manoeuvered my board into it and began a journey into some deep fresh snow. At first, it was so much fun that I wanted to do it over and over. It was more akin to surfing than to snowboarding. But then, I started falling alot (re: the black diamond steepness aspect) and I began to feel frustrated. The falling didn't hurt, but I was exceedingly frustrated because of my difficulty in getting back up. As the snow was fresh and fluffy, there was nothing to press down upon to push myself up. I kept sinking deeper into the snow. I ended up becoming very hot and sweaty from this exercise (who says that snowboarding isn't cardiovascular!!!) and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to get out of the Bowl.
And then last night, Josh and I had a date for sushi and I thought that it was excellent. Afterwards, we went to the large bookstore where I read celebrity news magazines and Josh read bicycling magazines.
Also, a good thing happened to me recently. Last week, while I was at the gym, I left a musical c.d. on the treadmill and when I returned to the treadmill to find it, it was gone. I looked everywhere for it, feeling particularly upset because it's one of my favorite musical c.d.s at the moment, and had a big conversation with the people responsible for Lost and Found. All to no avail. Since then, everytime that I remembered the loss of my c.d. I would feel that life as I knew it would be over, that I would never be happy again, and that there was nothing of value or good in the world. But the other day, while I was leaving the gym, I stopped by the Lost and Found and asked if they had found my c.d. With a doubtful expression on her face, the woman pulled open the drawer, and right on top was my musical c.d.! I was so happy and was once again able to find meaning and truth around me, knowing that life would continue, and that I would be able to have enjoyable workouts with my favorite musical c.d.
December 6, 2006
~ You Are What You Eat ~
One of the greatest injustices in life is that there are consequences to our actions. Far be it for me to direct this to the attention to our misguided world and corporate leaders, but for every time that one acts there will be something else that will kick in and react. I had the (dis)pleasure of learning the truth to this scientific adage during the last, oh, 52 hours or so. And let me tell you, it was not pretty.
On Saturday, Josh and I got up somewhat early, procured coffee drinks, and headed up Bogus Basin Road to go snowboarding. This, by the way, doesn't have anything to do with my discussion on "consequences" but I thought I'd throw it in for your personal entertainment, as a demonstration of my sidetracked mindset. After a reasonable haul up the road, listening to some public radio programming, we found for ourselves one of those amazing parking spaces that is near to the ski area, and not a good ten minute walk in snowboarding boots away. The first snow of the year and we were there. After insterting our persons into all of our gear and strapping our right feet to our boards, we "skated" to the Deer Point ski lift and waited for our turn to be scooped up the mountain. Once at the top, we breathed in the cool, crisp air, marveled at the view from the top of the snow-capped mountains, strapped our left foot into our bindings and sailed down Showcase. The first couple of runs were something of an experiment for both of us, as we tried to remember the art of snowboarding. I discovered (now that this is my third year of snowboarding) that it's much like riding a bicycle, it becomes intuitive and once you have the feel for snowboarding, you can just get back on that snowboard after many months without it and sail sweetly down the mountain. Yes, I fell a few times and it took me two runs to get into a full groove, but it was great.
We spent a good amount of time over on Showcase, using that lift rather than daring the treacherous cat-track (fie, cat-track, fie!), and soon we were manoevering onto some of the nearby ridges. We took a break at some point and ate some calorie packed munchies in the car and then returned to the mountain. By this time, the resort was crowded. While waiting in line for the lift, my impatience may have given me an incorrect perception of time, because I felt as though we had to wait for twenty minutes just to get onto the lift. We came down the frontside of the mountain on the Lower Ridge, which is one of my favorite runs. So fabulous! The snow was amazing and Josh and I were engaging in synchronized snowboarding. Near to the end of this ridge, it becomes absolutly perfect for me to pick up the speed and zig-zag down the ridge - - though, on this day the fresh snow had packed into some barely visbile mogul-things and my ride was a much less usual experience - but fun! We then went over to the Morning Star lift, where our ride down was...very interesting. The snow was not nearly as deep or packed as the other side and Josh and I kept getting stuck in bushes. Then we had several more runs and it was a big day of snowboarding.
Anyhoo, consequences. On Sunday, Josh and I decided to rent a movie and get some pizza. We ordered a rather large sized pizza and, due to poor critical thinking skills, I ate half of it - - which was a truly ridiculous amount of pizza for someone such as myself to eat. I awoke at 5a.m. the next morning feeling badly. I spent the next few hours bound up in the fetal position wimpering. At about the time that I needed to go to work, I was still debating whether or not I should call in sick. I didn't and I went to work. Once at work, however, I found that the constant running to the restroom and the searing pain in my abdomen was getting in the way of my being able to accomplish work. So, after barely over an hour, I requested of my boss that I go home. The day was a big, miserable, complicated, and annoying day for me, and I was constantly fearful of being without a restroom adjacent to my person. I spent all of that night in the fetal position again, wimpering and sweating through the excruciating abdominal pain, but I went to work in the morning (yesterday) and it was much better, except for the no-restroom-adjacent-to-my-person bit. In fact, the restrooms at work are shared by many people and can be sometimes occupied. So I found myself in something of a pickle, what with the ABSOLUTE DIRE NEED to use the restroom coupled with people OCCUPYING the restroom. Not to mention the slight embarassment of, you know. By this morning, after a good 48 hours of incredible pain and learning my lesson (52 hours after my misjudgement), everything seems to have gone away and I feel like I have a second chance to treat my digestive system right. Sigh of relief.
