August 30, 2007
~ escape from the heat ~
Yeesh, this has been a long day. Or, perhaps it seems that way because I almost fainted from a low-blood sugar attack not too long ago. Either way, I would appreciate a nap.
My class the other night was fabulous! I am excited about many aspects of it, including the fact that I am previously acquainted with all of my classmates and am fully comfortable with chatting with them and speaking about an academic subject with and in front of them. Which is handy, considering that we, the students, are going to be presenting the class material to each other. I decided to get two of my six presentations out of the way immediately, however, I am anxious because the presentation that I will be giving next week is going to be on an EXTREMELY BORING AND GOD AWEFUL DULL article. And part of the evaluation of our presentation is going to be our ability to make the presentation interesting.
My second class is this evening, and I think that having my two classes spaced apart, with one day in between, will work much better for promoting my mental and physical health.
In other news, I officially never want to work with the public in a customer service fashion again. On some level of regularity at my job, I am obligated to work in a customer service function with the public. And it's not that I am antisocial or have no human empathy, but in general, every member of the public tends to aggravate me. Half of public interactions involve asinine questions and comments, three-quarters of them involve a member of the public being rude to me, and most all of the interactions involve questions or concerns that the public could have answered and solved on their own if they engaged in a small amount of independence. I have often felt, in this position, that by offering customer service, we are enabling the public to not learn how to do anything for themselves. The problem with eliminating the customer service function, unfortunately, is that occasionally someone does have a legitimate and good question or concern. Bah! Then again, I am the sort of person who does not tend to utilize customer service available to me. I prefer to be independent about my affairs and not bother anyone. So, perhaps it is more that I am not the sort of person who should be involved in providing customer service since I am not a user of customer service.
August 27, 2007
~ the mean tambourine ~
I absorbed a bit too much sun this weekend during the annual beer and bicycle festival. The intoxicating effects of the sun most likely were responsible for inducing me to volunteer to participate in a bicycle race that involved costumery and public displays of sillyness. As my team member was adorning me in a mullet wig and applying mascara to my face in the form of masculine facial hair, I almost fell off of the podium and blamed my imbalance on the multitude of beers I had consumed, which resulted in laughs from the contest coordinators. I also acquired numerous bumps and bruises on my person as a result of my intoxicated efforts to master all of the kooky custom bicycles available. Luckily, I do not have testicles.
In other news, over the weekend I netflixed the film "The Fountainhead" by mistake when I actually meant to netflix "The Fountain." What is up with me and my mixing up of titles.? sheesh! So, I snuggled up with some knitting last night, anticipating some sexy shirtless scenes of Hugh Jackman, and found myself viewing an Ayn Rand adaptation. God, Ayn Rand...blech. Anyway, I'm enjoying the film much more than I was expecting. I only made it through about halfway due to its length conflicting with my bedtime. And even though the sweaty bulging muscles of Gary Cooper in the quary aren't quite as suggestive as a ripped hairy chest, I'm looking forward to finishing the movie this evening.
Speaking of knitting, you may or may not recall my knitting a certain Nantucket Jacket, and how much joy I found in that project. THE ONE THING has been that I haven't really cared for the way that it fit on my person. I recently finished knitting my latest project and found myself at a loss about my next project. I gave some reflection to the Nantucket Jacket, remembered both how much I enjoyed working on it and how much I dislike the fit, and I decided to unravel it and knit it again. I spent a good chunck of time redesigning the pattern, deciding to work it in the round, making it a pullover instead of a cardigan, making it much more fitted instead of loose and baggy, with long sleeves instead of three-quarter length, and with a completely different neckline.
And finally...I get to go back to school tomorrow. I'm not exactly thrilled by the impending constraints on my time, but I'm looking forward to the intellectual stimulation and the possibility of blending of my work with my school.
August 23, 2007
~ brakes for the lightweight rider ~
I have experienced what can only be described as a moment of pure genius in the form of a great epiphany regarding bicycle brakes.
As you may recall, I purchased a new bicycle this spring and the strong disc brakes made me consistently feel on the verge of propelling myself over the handlebars. After a number of crashes that resulted from the front brake locking up, I did some research about the possibility of "adjusting" the brakes to make them weaker. The modulation on the brakes was minimal - - if I depressed the brake lever a milimeter, I would brake some, and if I depressed the brake lever two milimeters, I would come to a screetching halt. After not having any luck with finding information on how to adjust the modulation on the brakes, I entered an online mountain biking forum and posed the question to some seasoned mountain bikers. Despite my over-articulation of the problem, my lack of mechanical knowledge most likely made the online dudes assume that I didn't know what I was describing. They insinuated that I didn't know the first thing about riding a bicycle and said that I needed to learn to control how much power I was exerting onto my brakes.
Since then, I have been reverting to riding beginner trails in order to "get used" to my strong brakes with no modulation. This has had varying degrees of success and has taken a lot of the joy out of biking for me. Perhaps there is something wrong with me, but I tend to not have much fun when I am overwhelmed with terror. As I have been going through the process of "getting used to my effed up brakes," I have been wondering about the responses that I got from those online mountain bike dudes. At the moment, I am wondering if perhaps THEY have never actually ridden a bicycle, and I have half an inclination to send them a piece of my mind. And I'm not going to because I expect that they would just make fun of me again.
As I see mountain biking, it is an activity that involves a lot of multitasking. When one is successfully mountain biking, one is constantly engaging in a variety of activities. One is ensuring the proper form, positioning, and balance upon one's bicycle. One is adjusting that form, position, and balance depending upon the conditions of the trail. One is always looking to the future, ahead on the trail, anticipating upcoming moves and reactions. One is being aware of other lifeform entities on the trail that might provoke the necessity of ninja-like reponses. And behind all of this, one must have an intuitive sense of the physics involved in mountain biking. Mountain biking is not, as opposed to what those online mountain biking assholes were implying, merely an exercise in using one's brakes. Brake usage is one of many many facets to the mountain biking experience, and while it is true that one must have good control over one's brakes, one must have control over the entire operation of the bicycle. There is so much going on with mountain biking that it is ridiculous to have to exert so much of one's mental energy on one's brakes, making sure to depress the brake lever one milimeter instead of two - - such focus on the brakes not only requires one to take one's focus away from other aspects of the mountain biking experience, but it also makes mountain biking much less fun. And I ask you, what is the point of mountain biking if it is not fun?
The process of "getting used to my effed up brakes" has seemed like an exercise in futility, as I have continued to crash over and over and over. Slowly, I have been able to understand that the fault is not entirely my own. Granted, there has been plenty of rider errors involved, but I firmly believe that much of the rider error has been the ultimate result of me riding in a state of tense unease and fright, rather than calm and relaxed as is important in mountain biking. Nevertheless, I have been extremely frustrated that there is no "adjustment" to make on disc brakes. Part of the problem in this experience is my lack of alternatives. The market is saturated with disc brakes and it is near-to-impossible to find a full suspension bike with v-brakes anymore. Also, my particular bike has a specific geometry that is prohibitive to installing a v-brake compatible fork. So, while I have longed for the weaker v-brakes on my old hardtail bike, my options have been limited to simply getting different disc brakes. And I have had zero interest in that option.
In a sense, I understand why disc brakes might be popular with some people. However, the reasoning behind disc brakes does not apply to my situation. If disc brakes are ideal in wet locations, that rationale is voided for my riding in the parched desert. If disc brakes are ideal for people who have trouble getting enough braking power from v-brakes, that rationale is voided because I have never had too little braking power with my v-brakes. Disc brakes are heavy and expensive and they make all kinds of horrible squealing noises, yet if one mentions to 99% of the mountain biking population one's favor for v-brakes, one will face a barrage of ridicule.
Despite the total lack of adjustment properties to disc brakes, Josh took up the mission of fixing my brakes, and after consulting with some bike mechanics, carved some deep grooves into my brake pads. With my limited understanding of the way that disc brakes work, the flat and smooth surface of the brake pads grab onto the rotor, so the act of destroying the surface of the pads was aimed at reducing the pads' ability to grab onto the rotor, thereby reducing braking power. This worked well and has made a big difference in my feeling on the verge of flying over the handlebars, however, because this is apparently an unheard of procedure (trying to lessen one's braking power), Josh was fairly conservative in his destroying of the brake pads.
So then, about a month ago, I was riding along one of the easiest stretches of trail on the Boise front. For whatever reason, possibly the knowledge that I was riding on an easy section of trail, I wasn't paying complete attention to what I was doing. Randomly, as I was riding over a hump, I grabbed my brakes hard and flipped up and over. This was by far the more beautiful crashing experience, as I flew upside down farther than I ever have before. And it was absolutely and completely 100% my fault that I crashed. As I have been rehabilitating my knee, doing less dangerous activities like road biking, I have been pondering this crash quite a bit, reinforcing to myself over and over the importance of paying full attention to what one is doing when mountain biking. At the same time, I remember very distinctly how quickly and securely my front brake immediately locked up. And I know that I would have crashed if I had had weaker v-brakes, because I simply deployed my brakes when I absolutely should not have, but still.
Since all of this crashing started, I've begun to develop a relatively high level of anxiety with regards to more intermediate and advanced trails. For example, there is this one section of Trail Four that, as it turns to the left, is sandy and washed out, with ruts and a washboard effect, and is off-camber and slopes towards a cliff. And I have vehemently avoided riding on this trail at all costs because of how terrified I was feeling about it. Just by thinking about riding on that section of trail, with the fear of my brakes, I would develop such a high level of anxiety that I would feel sick to my stomach. Which is a good example of how fear can take the fun out of mountain biking, because I cannot tell you how many numerous times I have ridden down that section of trail with absolutely no problems.
The other day, while Josh and I were doing some maintenance on my bike, Josh removed the front brake pads and proceeded to further destroy their surface with the intent to weaken them a lot more. By the time that he was done, the front brake was so weak that the wheel could still move with the front brake fully engaged. And this was exactly the way that I wanted it to be. Yesterday, I went on a mountain bike ride with these new wonderfully crappy disc brakes, and there was not a single moment when I felt the possibility of flying over the bars. Even as I was riding down some moderately steep terrain, I was able to brake like it was normal and all was perfect! I cannot begin to articulate how amazingly relieved and happy I am about this! My front brake is weak and crappy and I feel that I can live again, finding the joy again in mountain biking!
It has taken me this long in this blog to get to the flash of pure genius that I experienced. As I was riding down the mountain, employing my brakes in a way that was comfortable to me, I was pondering how I simply don't need strong brakes. Period. Even with my weakened brakes, I was confident that I would be able to come to a full stop when needed. And as I was pondering this, I gave some thought to the size and weight of most mountain bikers in relation to myself. Now, even though there are quite a number of female mountain bikers, mountain biking remains a predominantely male sport. And males tend to be bigger and weigh more than females. And as I was considering this, I thought about how I weigh a little over 100 pounds. And since my bike weighs about 25 pounds, this means that I only weigh four times more than my bike. And if you add a few pounds for water and some gear, this means that there is only about 140ish pounds for my brakes to bring under control. Compare this to a male who weighs 160-180 (is that an averageish weight for a male???) with an average bike weight of 25-30 pounds, and suddenly the ratio of rider to bike weight is a lot greater, and there is a lot more total weight for the brakes. If you were to place Josh and I on equal weighted bikes and have us ride down a hill, there is absolutely no question that Josh would travel much faster than I. You know, gravity. In this way, it doesn't take a physics master to understand that the heavier a person is, the stronger braking power they will need. As far as I am aware, brakes are not modified based upon the weight of the rider. There are brakes, and they are installed onto bikes irregardless of rider weight. So, one can imagine that if one takes a pair of brakes that have been tested to stop a 200 pound rider, that they might be too strong for a rider who weighs half as much. Therefore, there ought to be brakes available for the lightweight rider. If I am any example of other lightweight riders, I am a female participating in a predominantly male sport, and I perhaps don't have the same kind of no-fear attitude as my male counterparts, and I can be prone to feeling more scared and discouraged (and, gasp!, might consider selling my bike and engaging in less dangerous recreational activities) if I suffer a series of crashes and terrifying moments. And I have to wonder, if there is so much activity involved in developing women's specific equipment for mountain biking, why is it that there appears to be no move for women's specific brakes designed for the lightweight rider?
~ holiday recounts ~
Even though I had a lovely holiday, I am actually happy to be back at the office on this morning. One thing that I have learned from my holiday is that I ought to take holidays more often. Another thing that I learned is that I ought to carry my camera with me at all times, as I engaged in many photo-worthy activities without a camera. So, let's see if I can remember what I did on my holiday...
On Saturday, Josh and I pretended to be tourists. We visited the tourist information center and got some ideas of touristy activities to do. We wandered down to the park and rented the peddle-powered paddleboats and terrorized ducks and fish. Then we went to the Discovery Center and learned about science. We had lunch of some calzones at a pizza place neither of us had before been to. In the afternoon, we went on a hike at Dry Creek. That evening, we attended a dinner soiree at a house in the East End and made BLTs with the fresh garden tomatoes available. That was a lovely experience - - I enjoyed being social and sampling the different varieties of tomato. After dinner, everyone made their way to the Balcony for some dancing, and I got really trashed.
I was hungover in a lethargic way, and not a nauseous way, all day Sunday. At the moment, I can't recall what I did that day. I remember feeling extremely tired. And wow, I have no memory of Sunday...weird.
On Monday, I went on a huge hike with Elizabeth on the new Eastside Trail at Bogus Basin. I feel terrible about my failure to participate in any of the trail building events to get this trail up and ready for use, but I was delighted at the end product of the trail. I had wanted to hike it before biking it, as I have seen numerous photos of the trail online and it looked pretty technical. Elizabeth and I were only anticipating going on an hour's hike, but we had the foresight to over-prepare with plenty of water and snacks. The Eastside Trail was much awesomer than I was expecting and we were having a great time hiking it. I thought that it was a loop, which is why we just kept hiking, regardless of the time. At some point, we came upon an unmarked fork in the trail and we weren't sure which way to go. We hiked up a way to get above the tree line in order to ascertain our location. I normally have a bad sense of direction, and because of all of the switchbacks along the trail, it was nearly impossible to understand where we were in relation to where we had started. Once we had a good view, I noticed some radio towers which were not native to the area near to where we had commenced our hike, and I deduced that we were not where we wanted to be. Luckily, because of that radio tower, we were able to get cellphone reception, and we called 411 to connect with Josh at the bike shop, and he was able to consult a map and advised us to turn around. The trail does kind of form a loop, but a much larger and more complex loop than I realized. I have since purchased a map of the area, and am very excited about the new and improved trail opportunities in that area.
That evening, I hung out at the bike shop after hours being a bike mechanic. Since my last crash, my bike has needed a good tune up. My knee has sufficiently healed and my ego has sufficiently calmed that I felt comfortable taking Elizabeth on her very first mountain bike ride on Tuesday. Before that ride, however, I wanted to get my bike all tuned. And me, I have not had the proper mechanical skills to tune a bike. And Josh is a wonderful personal bicycle assistant, but I have been wanting to develop a level of self-sufficiency with regards to basic bike maintenance. So, there we were, in the mechanics' area of the bike shop on Monday night, and I got a big tutorial on and successfully adjusted the shifting on my bike. So now, if anyone needs some assistance with their derailleurs, I'm your man! While we were there, Josh took the opportunity to "adjust" my front brake. You may or may not recall how Josh shaved down the front brake pad a bit to make it less grabby, and how much that has helped. The brake still has been pretty strong for me. And even though I have strongly asserted to Josh that my last crash was all rider error, I think that he was a bit traumatized by the experience of taking his crying girlfriend to the Emergency Room, that he went a bit bananas working on my front brake on Monday night. He was filing the pads down to make them a lot weaker and was exclaiming all about how my front brake was going to be really "crappy" in a good way. My next blog post is going to be all about a huge epiphany I had about my brakes on a ride last night, because wow!, I have had a major realization about brakes.
With my bike all tuned up, I took Elizabeth on her very first mountain bike ride on Tuesday morning. For those who are not in the know, Elizabeth is riding my old mountain bike. When I decided to go full suspension, I was worried about what would happen to my old hardtail, and I wanted to make sure that it went to a loving home. As Elizabeth was going to be moving back here and didn't have a bike, it seemed the perfect solution. On Tuesday, we toodled around the Lower Hulls Gulch area and then rode up Your Mom and to the end of Freeway and back. I was extremely proud of how well Elizabeth did. She successfully rode up the whole way on Your Mom, which is a pretty challenging hill, and rode Freeway with no problem. She also seemed to be having a lot of fun on the downhill. Unfortunately, her handlebars are too low for her and she developed some severe neck and back pain. I'm going to take it as my personal mission to ensure that we get the bike perfectly set up for her, because even though there is general discomfort in mountain biking, there should not be pain involved.
That evening, Josh and I went over to Elizabeth's house for a bbq, which was simply lovely. Except for the part when a bird shat on my head, it was a great time.
Wednesday, I had most of the day to myself. In the afternoon, I met up with Elizabeth and we went on a big walk around downtown. We walked to the university where I purchased my school books, and then we walked over to the bike shop to procure some bicycle-related items. That evening, I went on a mountain bike ride with Josh, had a total and complete blast! and experienced my divine epiphany regarding brakes.
August 18, 2007
~ cornfields ~
Day One of my VACATION was wonderful. Thursday evening, Josh and I celebrated by going swimming at Barclay Bay right when I got off work. I was rather disappointed by the lack of water in left in the Bay from the dam and could not jump off of my normal jumping off spot because the water was a good thirty feet below my preferece. Also, the water was cold, too cold, and unfortunately, by "swimming" I mean that Josh and I acted like big weiners as we inched our way into the water. I made it down to my waist when I decided that it wasn't worth it. Josh was the brave one and fully submerged himself. I occupied myself by snapping some photos of the brave man. Soon after that, we decided to go swimming in the pool at Josh's apartment complex. And there we had a grand time splish splashing around!
Friday morning, we met up for coffee at the Flying M and had our Saturday morning on Friday. We then wandered around downtown. I pondered some expensive footwear and some expensive jeans, being most interested in the former which were on sale. Josh pondered eyewear. We decided to have lunch someplace where we had never before lunched, which was a difficult decision as we have mostly exhausted our downtown possibilities. Finally, we remembered The Milky Way which I can't believe I have never been to before. It was wonderful!
Then we got all organized and headed out on a road bike ride. We drove past Caldwell, parked the car on Weitz Road, and rode along the zig zagged Boise River Road. Weitz wasn't very great, especially since it has just been chipsealed, but once we got onto the Boise River Road section, it was great. We were riding through all of these different farmlands, cornfields, hopsfields, mintfields, and maybe some people don't understand the aesthetic beauty of these areas, but I found them quite lovely. Also, the day was not too hot - - the stars must be aligned perfectly on my vacation, for the temperatures are only supposed to be in the 80's during this time, which is WONDERFUL.
WARNING: The next paragraph contains details on something very GROSS. Depending on your sensitivity, you might want to skip to the following paragraph or refrain from eating and drinking.
There we were, about ten miles into our ride, when all of a sudden I get a little rumbly in my tumbly. I patted my stomach and said to Josh, "...hrm, all of a sudden, my stomach feels a bit off." About ten seconds later, I realize that I am experiencing MASSIVE gastro-intestinal distress and that I needed a restroom IMMEDIATELY. Which was convenient, considering that we were MILES and MILES from civilization. It was the sort of pre-diarrhea GI pain that sent me into excruciating paralysis. And I found that the actions involved in riding my bike and riding up and over little humps and bumps in the road only served to aggravate my symptoms. I litterally thought that I was going to shit myself. And I was so upset about this, unless you have experienced something similar, you have no idea what kind of stress and anxiety I was having. Josh, being a big map person and having a good sense of distance and direction, was certain that there was a town a few miles up the road, IF ONLY I COULD WAIT UNTIL THEN. And I wasn't sure that I could, but I wasn't fond of the alternatives. One alternative, shitting my shorts, wasn't appealing for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I didn't want to ruin my brand new grey cycling shorts. The other alternative, shitting in the cornfields, also was not appealing. I gave careful consideration to that alternative, however, as it was an incredibly desparate situation. As I was imagining the logistics of that alternative, I became overwhelmed with anxiety as I was imagining the possibility of a corn farmer CATCHING ME IN THE ACT of having explosive diarrhea on his cornfields, and I wasn't sure that I could survive such embarrasment. Additionally, it took me a bit of time before I realized, apparently I wasn't in my proper intellectual state, what with the serious diarrhea situation on my hands, that cornfields grow FOOD that humans including myself EAT. And I was having difficulty with the ethics of causing diarrhea to be on these fields. Sure, perhaps there's plenty of other types of crap on the fields, and pesticides, and the corn is high up in the air and engulfed in husks, so maybe my diarrhea would not have damaged that crop, but I wondered if I would ever be able to enjoy the taste and texture of corn again if I went diarrhea on a cornfield. SO CLEARLY, that alternative ceased to be an option for me. Which implied that if I did not find a restroom soon, I would return to option number one. FINALLY, we arrived at the town of Roswell, a town so small that I couldn't find any information on it in the US Census Data website. It was about two blocks long and I did not have much hope that there was a public restroom available. There was, however, a single convenience store and the relief that began to spring into my heart was palpable as I realized that it was open, despite the outward appearance. I threw the door open and calmly asked if they had a public restoom. At hearing the affirmative, I RAN AS FAST AS I COULD, and it was wonderful. Actually, it wasn't entirely wonderful because as I was struggling to lock the door, I noticed that there was a big gap in the door allowing all kinds of noise and airflow directly into the shop, so I was a bit self-conscious about the obviousness of my emergency, but as they say, beggars can't be choosers, and it wasn't really the time and place to be upset that the people in the shop might know that I was having a catastrophic diarrhea emergency. Afterwards, I was a bit hesitant to get too far away from the only known restroom for miles and miles, so I suggested that we take a bit of a break and have a snack from the shop. I ate a bag of Cheetos, which probably wan't the best thing for my stomach, but wow, I sure enjoyed them! Before we left Roswell to continue our ride, I contemplated stealing an entire roll of toilet paper from the convenience store, because they did not sell anything portable, and I almost offered the store clerk a dollar for a roll, but didn't think that I had room in my jersey pocket to carry it. Josh ended up swiping several squares of tissue just in case. And so we continued our ride...
The rest of the ride was wonderful. I was feeling like an entirely new woman, between that and my knee being fully functioning, I kept exclaiming about how great I felt. We rode up onto a plateau and had great fun on some rolling hills. One of the rolling hills I got a bit freaked out on as I approached what appeared to be a crazy steep drop off before me, with the bottom not visible because it was so steep, but it was loads of fun! We did have a couple of run-ins with some dogs trying to chase us - - seriously, I do not approve of these rural folk not restricting their viscious dogs' ability to chase unsuspecting cyclists. Another wonderful aspect of the ride was the fact that, despite being in goathead and thorn territory, we did not have a single flat tire.
That evening, we went swimming at the pool again, and I felt so relaxed and wonderful.
August 16, 2007
~ bon voyage ~
I am on vacation for a week! And I have no plans, which is fabulous! I did spend a bit of time yesterday brainstorming ideas of crap to do. These ideas include:
- swimming, playing, and general fun having at Barclay Bay;
- hiking the new Shafer Butte trail system;
- bicycle riding lengthy distances in scenic places;
- going to the theater;
- seeing and hearing a musical concert;
- designing and making costumes for the upcoming bicycle ballyhoo;
- going on an overnight wilderness adventure;
- canoeing on a lake.
I'm also hoping to finish a sweater that I'm knitting, finish reading my book, and partake in other joys of life. This will be my last hurrah before life takes a big turn for the busy and complex. School starts soon and soon after that I will transition into a new job, both of which will require a drastic increase in the utilization of my intellectual faculties. One of my hopes for this time off is also to find a new apartment. I know I've been mentioning this for some time, but well, it's a challenge to find housing that fits all of my pickiness. I've recently begun to consider the acquisition of a hip urban condo instead of a free-standing structure (aka, house). The only problem, obviously, is that I'm not ready financially. All I know is that I'm ready to move out of my studio apartment - - sleeping in my kitchen is great, but it's more about how the four bicycles overwhelm my living space. So yes, it would be great to move before school and my new job start. Speaking of school and job, this is WAY premature, but stuff in my life is inclining me to consider a PhD. Which is interesting.
August 13, 2007
~ and one more thing ~
Somehow, way back in March, my employment status had been reduced two levels without my or my supervisors' notice. This resulted in me paying about $40 more in health benefits every month since. When I finally realized that this had happened, it took another month before it was fixed in the human resources' system. So, my paycheck last week had an extra $230 on it, which was quite lovely. Rather than investing the money in my savings account, I decided to blow it on a shopping trip (see below post, re: purse). In all honesty, I haven't been shopping in some time, and because I have been extraordinarily responsible with my pennies and dimes these days, I decided that I deserved a treat. I purchased a purse (which I so succintly describe every detail of the experience below), a few shirts, AND! some wonderful cycling gear.
I've had another pair of cycling shorts on my list of things to buy for some time. My current favorite shorts are beginning to get a bit worn out, by which I mean that they are becoming see-through, which isn't so awesome on skin-tight spandex shorts. I've got some other shorts, but the chamoise aren't as good and my female areas get cranky in them. Also, I've had a dream for a new lightweight jersey for some time. The other day, I was having beers at Lucky 13 where all of the cyclists go for beer after their rides, and I saw a female who had a fantastic looking tank top-style jersey on, and I decided that I wanted one just like hers. So, yesterday I spent a great deal of time trying on every article of women's cycling clothing at the bike shop and finally decided on these:
The SheBeest Sultry Summer Tank in black. The jersey was a big decision. It was between the SheBeest and the Specialized Women's Dolce Tank. I found that the material on the Specialized was so wonderful and absolutely perfect, but the jersey had a ridiculously small pocket which would not have worked for me because I have to carry around all kinds of crap with me on rides. Also, when I first tried on the SheBeest jersey in orange, I was so weirded out by how visible the incorporated bra system was and decided that it would not be appropriate to wear in public. But the SheBeest one had a good pocket in the back and it fit better than the Specialized. This proved to be quite the dilemma until I located a SheBeast jersey in black, and in that color the bra system was not at all visible.
For the shorts, I went into the bike shop with the intention to get another pair of my favorite shorts, the Specialized Comp Shorts. This was a nice intention, except for that it failed to take into account the fact that the shop did not have my size in stock. I considered purchasing the lower-end version of the shorts, but in my experience I have found that going lower end on something that is supposed to protect the health and safety of one's female area is not something that one should do. As you may imagine, I was completely obsessed with this and I tried on almost every single pair of shorts available. Finally, after alot of hard thinking and consultation with a sales person, I decided to go with a pair of Adidas adiStar shorts. Browsing the Adidas website trying to find the exact pair of shorts I purchased was a horrid experience, so we'll have to make do with that Amazon link that has a drawing of the shorts instead of a photo. Anyway, the shorts are grey, which I feel is rather unusual, and they match well with the back jersey which has a grey curve/stripe. And the chamoise seems like it might be even better than the one in my favorite pair, so very awesome.
Last night, I took both Josh and my new outfit on a bike ride and it was a splendid experience. I am still only doing flat and mild rides because of the knee, but I'm back to riding at close-to-normal speeds. We did an hour last night and I had a wonderful time. I would have liked to go for longer, but we didn't manage to start the ride until 8:20 and there was barely an hour's worth of light by that time.
Isn't that interesting?!
~ tale of a new purse ~
I am not a purse - person. I have always maintained a conflicted perspective about purses and handbags...I need one to haul around all of the crap that I need with me at all times, but as a fashion statement, I have always felt rather indifferent to the purse. I find myself at a loss regarding some acquaintances who own, literally, hundreds and hundreds of purses and who do the whole "matching one's purse with one's outfit" thing. That is not me. I own one purse that I carry with me regardless of how it looks with my outfit. Though, I have strived to own a purse consistent with my fashion tastes and ideas on coolness, I am not one to match my purse to my shoes or trade out purses each and every day. Interestingly, despite my claim toward purse apathy, I have found myself to be all about judging other people's purses. For example, the previously-mentioned acquaintances who own hundreds of purses...they seem to buy another purse every week, and they always say to me, "Look at the new purse I bought at Walmart," and I have to hold my tongue and exert self control to refrain from saying, "Wow, that purse totally looks like some crap merchandise from Walmart."
Several months ago, I found a great purse for $1.00 at a thrift store. It is simple and tasteful, a medium-sized over-the-shoulder purse. It is a deep blood red, has great pockets, and hangs perfectly on my shoulder (interestingly, the quality of a purse hanging perfectly on my shoulder is rare indeed). It is cute and hip, and I have really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when I washed it (because I wash everything that I purchase from thrift stores), I failed to take into account that it would be a bad idea to wash red leather in a soapy hot water bath and then place it onto the radiator to dry. Now, it's kind of washed out and has random black burn marks on it. It's okay, I guess, to use and is totally functional and looks decently cool, and still hangs perfectly on my shoulder, but I've begun to feel more and more blah about it. Which explains why I have become totally obsessed about getting a new bag.
This weekend I went on possibly the hugest shopping adventure ever to find for myself a new bag. And wow...eghh. To start with, I apparently have impecible taste. As the only bags I could get excited about were at least $300. Anything under $300 looked like cheap fashion knock-offs. I understand that, ultimately, most everything available at retail has trickled down from the high-end fashion world, becoming ever more cheap and affordable to us little people, and this is one of those conflicts about fashion that bothers me, but I have a vehement bias against crap that looks like a cheap knock-off. I like to think of myself, not as being a snob, but as having good taste. And even though most everthing I own I purchased at very affordable prices, I feel that my personal style has no cheap knock-off qualities. Which is a challenge to accomplish, but a challenge that I enjoy. So anyways, bags...when one is looking at purses to buy at retail, $300 seems to be a threshold that differentiates the cheapo knock-offs from the decent.
I, however, not only cannot afford to spend $300 on a purse, but I do not believe in spending that much on a purse. Now jeans, I can see myself spending that much on jeans, but not a purse. Even though I regularly oogle purses that cost $1500, I would never spend that much on a purse, even if I could afford it (which I don't envision happening), because I'm just not a purse-person. But in terms of what I like and what I am drawn to, I have difficulty getting excited about normal purses that are less than $300. Which is a problem. And finding the right bag has always been a seemingly insurmountable challenge for me. This weekend, I was trying so hard to open my mind to more affordable purses. I inspected hundreds of purses, looking for something redeemable about them, only to be disappointed. I went to several of the retail-discount stores sifting through their selection. At some point, I was actually considering spending $150 on a purse that was reduced from $400.
And then I reminded myself, that I AM NOT A PURSE-PERSON! And that the very concept of spending so much on a purse, for someone who is not a purse-person, is ridiculous. As I pondered this incredibly important and profound dilemma, I began to realize that I was taking the whole thing way too seriously! There I was, trying to find a tasteful purse that did not look cheap, for inexpensive. WHAT WAS I THINKING! So instead, I changed my tactic. I decided to eliminate "tasteful" from my search criteria, and voila!, suddenly I located the purse of my dreams! I found this AMAZING (and possibly, silly looking) blue hobo bag and am in purse-joy. I had a great epiphany about how employing the word "tasteful" can sometimes lead one towards some very plain-jane items.
The end.
August 10, 2007
~ affordable panties ~
Last night, Josh and I went to the Open House for the Roadways to Bikeways project to make Ada County a more bicycle friendly community. It was a neat experience. As you recall, a few months ago the highway department conducted an extensive survey of bicycle opportunities and constraints, motivators and barriers, as well as available and needed resources in the county. Over 2,100 people completed the survey (which is good, but not so good considering the population of the county) and the highway department is using the public's feedback to create a Bicycle Master Plan. Last night, we had the opportunity to view the results of the survey (which may also be viewed in that first link up there), provide additional feedback, and converse with highway department officials and bicycle advocates. It was a neat experience.
Afterwards, we went for Indian food in the Glendwood shopping center, Mahduban, and enjoyed some very tastey masala. Even though I ordered my meal in the "Boise Hot" level of spiceyness, I was grateful that we were provided with an entire pitcher of water, which I somehow managed to spill repeatedly all over the table. After dinner, we crossed the very busy State Street and went to Big Lots! to peruse their selection of cheap and discounted goods. I was quite excited to find some Hanes Her Way underware in silly colors and a decent style for $0.75 per panty. I stocked up on six of those and bought some bath soap, all for $6.00, which I charged to my credit card. Josh purchased a ginormous package of toilet paper and a chocolate bar. And that is the thrilling tale of our evening.!
August 9, 2007
~ fool proofing ~
Yesterday at work, I was spending a lot of time editing a grant - you know, hacking, sawing, burning, rebuilding - when I came across the word "permenent." By this time, I was about to go cross eyed from working on the document for so long. And I was scratching my head at the word "permenent," which looked misspelled, but because I mentally exhausted I couldn't figure out HOW it was misspelled. And the spell checker did not indicate that it was misspelled. It was one of those odd experiences in which I suddenly forget my native language and had no idea how to spell basic words. I was, however, under the impression that there ought to be an 'a' in "permenent," though I was not clear on where the 'a' should go. I spent an embarrassing amount of time infusing an 'a' into the word at various locations, none of which looked like the proper spelling. What was making me even more confused was the fact that the spell checker was still not picking up that the word was misspelled. Strangely, it was highlighting other misspelled words in the document, just not that word. By this time, it was starting to seem like it should have been time to go home for the day.
So, I doubleclicked on the word and asked the spell checker to check that particular word. A dialogue box popped up and I assumed that it was the usual alert that there were no errors found in the highlighted area. My tendency to assume is probably one of my greatest weaknesses. For example, those dialogue boxes. Anymore, I don't even read them, I simply assume that I know the contents of the box and get one with life. As a system for working on a computer, this assumption process has worked surprisingly well for me. As hard as it is to believe, I can make incorrect assumptions.
This isn't the first time that I've had difficulty trying to spell a word and spell checker has been unable to assist me. Though, this inability to assist me usually has involved providing unhelpful spelling suggestions. In those past instances, I have employed other resources to help with spelling. Such wild and unheard of tools such as a dictionary and Google have proven to be very useful in my spelling adventures.
Finally, I jumbled the letters of the word to ensure that it WAS INDEED misspelled and could not believe my eyes when spell check continued to not identify it as a misspelled word. Again, I doubleclicked on the word and started the spell check. BUT THIS TIME, I actually read the contents of the dialogue box. Amazingly, it was not what I assumed that it was! I know, I know, how could I have been wrong?!!! In all of the wild and craziness that was my day at the office, I was flabbergasted to read the dialogue box and learn that a particular section of my grant document had been set to "no proofing" as its language. Has anyone ever heard of this??? While all the rest of the document had its language set to "English (United States)," this one section was set to "(no proofing)" - - and I have no idea how this would have happened without a manual intervention from some kind of lifeform entity.
In other amazing tales, yesterday I also encountered a wild and crazy recreational bike rider. In my efforts at knee rehabilitation, I took myself on an easy ride and made a 45 minute loop out Hill Road and back along the Greenbelt. Incidentally, my knee is almost fully recuperated! Which is wonderful. I do continue to experience the pinched tendon / stabbing searing pain that echoes throughout my entire person, on occasion. But, at present, I only have reason to rejoice rather than to complain. Anyhoo, so yesterday, I opted to ride my mountain bike with the clipless pedals because of it set-up comfort factor. Aside from my cruiser, my mountain bike is by far my most stable and most comfortable bike. However, due to the pedals, I was experiencing some painful moments trying to unclip and stop as needed.
On the return portion of my ride along the Greenbelt, I was a bit frustrated by an individual who forced me to react quickly and maneuver to avoid crashing and burning several times. He was riding a bike about to fall apart and he had no sense about the proper way to move in the presence of others. He was weaving madly around on the road, riding from the right side to the left side at random. He was a dude in his 20's, he did not seem drunk or otherwise intoxicated at all, and he appeared to be totally 'normal' - - he did seem really really...stupid. In spite of my not-perfect knee, I was riding much faster than all of the other cyclists on the Greenbelt and had been passing them left and right, so as I approached him I began to plan a strategy for how to pass. Suddenly, he slowed down drastically and swerved wildly, and I had to quickly brake to avoid crashing into him. We were approaching a blind corner and he suddently noticed that I was right there trying to get around him. He began yelling at me to go around him, but his riding continued to be so erratic (he was actually turned around looking at me and swerving wildly while over the center line, yelling at me to pass him around the blind corner) and I did not attempt to pass him until we had gone around the blind corner. After I passed him, I returned to my normal speed and went about my merry way. After a few seconds, I became aware of him expending great effort to catch up to me and pass me wildly, almost smashing into me. Once in front of me, he slowed down dramatically and continued to swerve around dangerously. He was riding much slower than I was wanting to ride, so I rode off the path and passed him again. This time, I went to a greater effort to go fast and get much farther ahead of him. A minute later, he was huffing and puffing like crazy as he ZOOMED past me, completely cut me off, I had to brake hard and hurt me knee as I turned to avoid crashing into him, and he grabbed his brakes hard right in front of me and continued to swerve around all over the road. It was so strange. I was fed up with his behavior and cut across the grass to find another route home. I still have absolutely no idea what was up with that crap.
In other news, I woke up this morning to find that the heat in my apartment had magically turned on and was blasting horridly hot heat into my already-overheated apartment.
August 6, 2007
~ no knees is good knees ~
I got up at 5:45 this morning to go to the gym to spin my knee out on a spin bike. I've never cried so much at the gym as I have the past several days, but it's all for the greater good of range of motion. The progress that has been made with getting my knee to bend again is incredible. A week ago, I couldn't bend it at all, now I'm spinning around. It's still really stiff, especially after being immobile during a night of sleep, but I bet it will be ship shape within another week. I'm also on day two of no pain medication. Hooray!
This weekend was not nearly long enough. I just got myself to a decently mobile state, and I have a full week of work ahead of me. And speaking of work, there was a vote in favor of expanding what I do last week, so I am happy. Though, I do wish that today were a holiday.
Anyway, I've been doing quite a bit of knitting lately. My enthusiasm for the knitting is quite high at the moment, in part because the Fall issue of my favorite knitting magazines are now available. Imagine my joy when I arrived home on Friday to find a new issue of Interweave Knits in my mailbox. I also threw down the big bucks for the 25th Anniversary Edition of Vogue Knitting and I've also downloaded several of the free patterns of past covers. I also had an epiphany over the weekend about how I loathe summer knitting styles. To me, knitting involves making these warm and bundly items, not summer tank tops. Sure, I still want to knit myself a bikini, and Josh a wool thong, but I have a very closed mind when it comes to knitting summer apparel. For example, if you consult the summer issue of Interweave, you will find several knitted tank tops which are reasonably tasteful and fashionable. The problem? With summer temperatures ranging from hot to ridiculously hot, I can't imagine that a knitted tank would be the thing to wear in Boise. I have decided to aknowledge and accept this facet of my personality, and only bother with the Fall and Winter issues from now on.
August 1, 2007
~ punctual my ass ~
Good news, my leg does not need to be amputated. Whew! In fact, the doctor said that once I can bend my knee 90 degrees, I should hop right back on the bike. I felt good that his attitude was significantly different from most everyone around me, who have been very liberal in sharing their opinions about how I should cease mountain biking. By contrast, the orthopedic doctor articulated a variety of notions about how great biking is, how it's generally good for one's knees (if you can stay atop the bike), and how great it is that I have found a recreational opportunity that I enjoy.
Numerous other people, mainly coworkers, have said such things to me as, "Jennifer, maybe mountain biking isn't the sport for you;" "Jennifer, it would seem reasonable for you to stop mountain biking;" "Jennifer, you shouldn't do something so dangerous and risky as mountain biking," etc., etc. And frankly, I am tired of that attitude. No one ever says to the severely obese person, "Sitting in front of the tv all day eating hot dogs is dangerous and risky," but I waltz into work with a splint on my leg and everyone goes crazy about what a dangerous lifestyle I lead.
Simply because I have crashed a relatively large number of times these past few months, it does not mean anything. It doesn't mean that I am a crap mountain biker, it doesn't mean that there's something wrong with my bike, and it doesn't mean that I should cease mountain biking. And considering all of the hundreds of mountain bike rides that I have gone on, the ratio of crashes to bike rides is so small as to make it utterly insignificant. I have experienced incredible joy and enthusiasm on most all these hundreds of bike rides, I have been able to get into and maintain really good physical condition because of biking, but I get a couple of boo boos and everyone around me is suggesting that I toss in the towel. I thought that the rule of thumb was that when you fall off your bike, you get back on and try again.
I feel that this directly relates to some of the themes presented in the Star Trek: the Next Generation episode "Tapestry" which I watched last night. The more that I live, the more I realize that all of life's lessons are tucked away into an entertaining piece of Star Trek.
Interestingly, at my last performance appraisal, my supervisors both praised me for what they viewed as "positive risk taking." While a sedentary lifestyle clearly would not be considered "positive risk taking," mountain biking and other forms of "risky" outdoor recreation are. They both articulated that my mountain biking and eagerness for adventure was directly related to my performance at the office job. And I feel that the episode of Star Trek explains why. Descriptions such as "punctual" and "reliable" are clear markers for a need jump out of one's comfort zone and try to infuse a bit more creativity and initiative into what one is doing...and taking positive risks is a good way to shake stuff up a bit.
