Feb 7, 2010
Total distance: 0 miles
I started on the $30 bike stand today. First, it is not $30. It was more like $75, plus the 1 1/4″ drill bit that I didn’t have. But that’s ok, because it makes the kind of stand I want, the kind that holds the bike by the seat post, for $75 which is half or less of what it would cost. I found it on Nashbar for $150, I’ve seen it elsewhere for $200. The other kind of bike stand, that holds the bike by the bottom bracket, wouldn’t work for my bike. It’s a geometry thing.
I painted the base, and used the 2-ton epoxy to attach the wood bits to the pony clamp. This is the alternative the Westlake associates & I came up with. The original instructions have you drill 8 holes in the pony clamp. I thought 2-ton epoxy sounded a heck of a lot easier.
Pony clamp pieces attached to the bits of wood with 2 ton epoxy
The cat helped me paint the base, I had ice-blue gloss on hand so that is what I used.
Feb 6, 2010: Off topic
Total distance: 0 miles
Total accomplishments: 0. Spinning my metaphorical wheels!
I tried a new food: baked plantains. My gastrointestinal flora is saying “We’ve never seen these chemicals before”. My daughter asked if she could have a gas mask for her birthday.
Today was a Red Queen day: run to stay in place. I tried to clean the house, but mostly tended to minor disasters like the sink getting clogged up. Taking care of that right away means at least the place doesn’t get worse. But it doesn’t get cleaner either. I tried to get some C++ homework done. I managed to read the chapter, and I am mystified by structures. And unions. And enumerators. I am sure it will all become clear when I do the exercises.
During Nell’s clarinet lesson, I walked around downtown. The walk wasn’t very cheerful. I was dressed well for it, and it wasn’t horribly cold, but it was cloudy, quiet and gloomy.
Friday when I was in Kirksville I saw the lab. Construction is underway, and the lab is torn up. The floor is ripped up down to the concrete. The new wall is in. The electric & plumbing is ready. My name is everywhere. Name plates outside the lab, my office, the department, and an extra nameplate with an arrow because my office is hidden!
The realtor does not seem optimistic about us finding a suitable place by the date we want. There are some places available in June, but they won’t allow pets. Two places allow pets, but aren’t available until July or August. I’m a little worried.
Feb 5, 2010
Total distance: 10 miles
Conditions: snowy, slushy, messy, wet
Yesterday morning I got a call. “Can you come to Kirksville as soon as possible? Construction on your lab has started, and they have questions.” “I’ll be there tomorrow,” I answered, as my only free day slipped away. I biked through the snow storm to Avis Rental this morning.
When I started the descent on Old 63, the snow stung my face. I pulled my balaclava up to my goggles. Then a bus passed going the other way, pelting me with gobs of slush. Ow. The balaclava is not waterproof but it offered some protection from the impacts. As did my goretex.
I’m a big fan of Avis. I’m nominating them for the PedNet Business Spotlight. Here’s why I like Avis:
1. They rent one-way. This saved me from spending a night in a hotel in St. Louis when my flight landed AFTER the last Mo-X shuttle had left.
2. They accept debit card, without requiring past utility bills, unlike Enterprise. I disapprove of car rentals & hotels that refuse debit cards. They are in league with Satan, I mean with the credit card industry.
3. I never have to wait. Unlike Enterprise.
4. They let me keep my bike in the back room. The manager kindly offered to give me a ride when the weather is like this. I think he was slightly appalled I’d bike on a day like today.
Feb 4, 2010
Total distance: 2 miles X 4 kids = 500 years.
Visit from sister-in-law & her 5 kids:
After lunch I hooked up the lawn chair trailer and the kids took turns pulling each other. I assured their mom if a bike fell, the trailer wouldn’t. Draven (7) managed to knock Sammie (6) out of the trailer without falling off his bike.
I took them to the park later. I pulled Sammie on the trailer and put the other kids on bikes: Draven on Nell’s old 24″ bike, Morgan (10) on Iain’s bike, and Tia (11 and tall) on Nell’s bike (my old bike, aka Hulk). Joey (13) stayed behind to play on the computer, but I didn’t have a bike for him anyway. Iain and his sister took the car to pick up Nell from school.
After several false starts, running back into the house to go potty, get a hat, get a different hat, get a headband, get apples & oranges in case we starved on the way, we finally left, and even made it to the park. Draven desperately wanted a bottle of water. I suggested he drink some now if he was thirsty but he declined. I think he wanted it to hit a sister over the head with.
I didn’t have enough helmets for everyone, so I was the only one wearing a helmet. I was embarrassed when we passed a police car. He did not cite me for having 4 children under 14 without helmets. That would be been even more embarrassing.
The greatest success of my day was returning home with the same number of children. An added bonus was that they were the same children I left with.
Feb 3, 2010: Conservation lobby day
Total distance: 41 miles
Because once you get on that bridge, there is nothing you can do. The cars will hit you or not, and they are going so fast it’s out of your control. So I just do my best to absolutely ignore them on my left side, and the water on my right side.
I went to Jeff City today (30 miles away) because I agreed to do the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation booth during the Conservation Day at the Capitol. I didn’t want to take the car, because my husband & daughter get out of school at 3, and I was going to be in Jeff City for most of the afternoon. (They don’t bike. It’s really their car.)
So I left at 7:30 a.m. and biked. It was cold! I started to wonder if I’d made a mistake because my hands just wouldn’t warm up. I had my heavy gloves on but not the mitten shells. But they finally kicked in after the 3rd hill or so.
The Katy Trail to Jeff City is a lovely route, and is 40 miles. Another route using quieter highways is 37 miles. But I took the main highway, Hwy 63, because it’s the most direct route: 30 miles.
On my work-horse of a bike, 10 miles is a difference of an hour. But Hwy 63 between Columbia & Jeff is awfully busy and scary. It’s not an interstate but pretty close to that. I’ve ridden it before, but that was early on a Sunday morning. I had work week traffic.
It was actually a pretty decent ride. The shoulders are SO wide–quite a novelty in shoulder-deficient Missouri. They were in good condition. And they were clean. A bit of road kill or litter here and there, but I wasn’t constantly dodging debris and potholes.
I had my route planned well, but for some reason I hadn’t thought much about the bridge. There is only one bridge over the Missouri River into Jeff. It has a bike lane–on the other side only. (Whose idea was that, anyway?) I’ve ridden that bike lane wrong-way before, which is how it is supposed to be ridden, but I hated it so much, that I just do what everyone else does, and ride on the highway going my direction across the bridge. Of course you lose the shoulder too on the bridge.
The worst part of the bridge though is it goes high over water, just like, well, a bridge. I’m scared of heights, especially over water. I don’t know why. I’m fine in a boat. Even in a car crossing a bridge I get nervous. This bridge is SO high, the river SO wide and watery, and with 60 and 70 mph traffic, it is really terrifying.
Somehow I’d managed to forget all that until a few miles away. I was absolutely gripped in panic! I took some deep breaths and focused on some other thoughts (anything else–just not that bridge!) until I got to the bridge. I kept my head down and kept my eyes focused as close in front of me as I could without actually not looking at the road!
Because once you get on that bridge, there is nothing you can do. The cars will hit you or not, and they are going so fast it’s out of your control. So I just do my best to absolutely ignore them on my left side, and the water on my right side. I think there might have been a lot of ice in the water because it was easy to pretend it was concrete. I didn’t look too closely.
Now, getting through Jeff City was another matter. Wow, does that town have hills! Just outside of Jeff I was pleased with how good time I’d made and anticipated getting to the U-haul rental 15 minutes earlier than I’d thought. I thought it would take me half an hour to get through town. It took me the half hour PLUS the 15 minutes I’d banked.
Once I got the truck, I drove across town, picked up the MoBikeFed display, got back over to the Capitol, found a place to park the truck, and got the display set up.
I asked the security guard if I could bring my bike in. “Is it part of your display?” he asked.
“It will be,” I replied, “but it’s not 100% necessary, if it’s not allowed.”
He rolled his eyes, and said, “Just tell me that it is part of the display.”
That’s my mad negotiating skillz at work there.
Crush and the MoBikeFed display at Conservation Lobby Day
It turned out to be really good I had my bike up there. I had several conversations with people about the bicycle. These are people who ride, or have ridden, but my bike is unique in that it is a commuter bike, and I could see lightbulbs coming on: “Oh, bikes can be used for transportation! What do you know!” So, the bike really was part of the display.
The Conservation lobbyists were super nice, and the organizer had really talked me up, so everyone who talked to me was already familiar with Complete Streets and knew what I was doing there. Coincidentally Missouri Health Fair was on the same day on the same floor. A couple of them stopped by and talked to me.
I wanted to ride home, but I also wanted to spend some time with my family today, so I rode about 10 miles out of Jeff until my husband got out of class and found me on the highway, and we pulled over and loaded the bike on the car and went home.
Feb 2, 2010: Building a bike stand
Total distance: 14 miles, with trailer.
A recent issue of the usually worthless Bicycling magazine had instructions on how to build a $30 bike stand. I compared it to some bike stands on www.instructables.com, went over the plans with my dad, and with Mark & Josh at Walt’s, and today I went to Westlake with my trailer. The associates were very interested and helpful. One of them, Andrew, was curious about my trailer. He is a cyclist and a dumpster diver who has built bicycles, trailers, and bike stands from dumpster finds.
I found everything I needed, more or less. I needed a 4X4X4 block of wood, in which I would drill a 1 1/4″ hole, and then saw in half. The associate helping me looked at the wood options, selected a 2X4, cut off two 4″ pieces, vice-gripped them together, and with my soon-to-be-purchased 1 1/4″ drill bit drilled a hole through them. Since there were two of them, it was already cut in half. I left the rest of the 2X4 (most of it) with him, because I didn’t want to haul it home.
The 2′ X 4′ 1″ plywood was heavy enough. And the 4′ and 2′ lengths of pipe. And the pony clamp. And the 2 boxes of cat litter I’d picked up at the grocery store.
However, the total bill was $95. Subtract off $12 for the bearings, and a dollar or so for a bottle of water, and $7 for the drill bit (the Bicycling magazine instructions assumed you already had the drill bit), and the total is $75. That’s a lot more than $30.
I don’t mind paying $75 to build my own bike stand.
Unfortunately I forgot to bring a light for my trailer. It was dark when I left Westlake, and the store is way on the north side of town. An SUV and a bus each honked at me on Old 63, and I didn’t blame them. I really need my downlow glow.
Speaking of which, Rock the Bike website is still down, but now they have a phone number on the page telling me it is down, so I was able to contact them about my downlow glow battery. The guy I talked to wants me to try one more thing (make sure it’s not a bad cable) and if that doesn’t work, then I’ll go ahead and order the battery.
Most of the bike-stand-to-be is in the tub. The plywood base is visible, and the 4-foot pipe sticking out of the tub.
Feb 1, 2010: jingle, rattle, squeak
Total distance: 19 miles
I hitched the trailer to the bike and squeaked and rattled and jingled all the way to Walt’s. Josh & Mark looked at the trailer wheels. They didn’t have the right sized bearings on hand, but Josh measured them and wrote down the dimensions, oiled what I had, and I lubed my chain, and I left much more quietly, with only the jingle of my bell.
Mark and I talked at length about the bike stand I want to build. He had a lot of very helpful advice. I wanted to go to the hardware store right away to get my bearings (ha ha) and the materials for the bike stand. But it was noon, and I needed to be home for a teleconference by 2:00, and I had two stops yet.
Next stop the grocery store, then the vet for ear mite medicine. I was glad I hadn’t gone to the hardware store. I realized I had 30 minutes to put away the groceries, treat one cat for ear mites, and eat lunch. I got it all done except lunch.
After the teleconference, I treated the other 2 cats for ear mites, and then it was time to leave again. Still no lunch, but as I was heading to the MU Postdoc Association event at Shakespeare’s Pizza (where pizza would be provided), I was no longer concerned about that.
I came home in the dark and I really wish I could get a new battery for my downlow glow. Rock the Bike’s website is down and I’m worried about the company.
Jan 31, 2010: Everything causes cancer
Total distance: 0 miles
It was a beautiful day. Too bad I didn’t have anywhere to go. Iain & I had a longish walk, after he came home from his study group. I was relieved to get the exercise. I’d been sitting at the computer for hours, working through the C++ string problems. I don’t like C++ strings.
This is a fair bit off topic, but I don’t actually have much to talk about on-topic today. So today here are some thoughts on research.
“Everything causes cancer,” my sister-in-law objects as she lights a cigarette. This is a common argument to justify what we know is unhealthy behavior. “You’ve got to die of something,” she adds, puffing away.
I gravitated toward the field of breast cancer prevention, drawn by the allure of endocrinology and the funding of breast cancer research. Breast cancer research is relatively well funded, disproportionately so if we compare its health impact and number of deaths to other causes. Automobile accidents claim more years of life, and other diseases have a larger impact on quality of life. Even among cancers, breast cancer is the #2 killer of women, although it is the leading cancer in women. Lung cancer kills more women.
But everyone knows that smoking causes lung cancer. So the non-smokers don’t need to worry about lung cancer, just breast cancer, right? (ha)
If I were to choose over again, I’m not sure I’d choose to study breast cancer. I believe that exercise has the biggest impact on health. Exercise extends life, improves quality of life, and opposes all these other diseases. Instead of focusing on the problem (disease), I’d focus on the solution (exercise).
Exercise, by the way, is poorly funded. Try getting a grant to study exercise and cancer. “Everyone knows that exercise is good for you. Why do we need to study it?”
How many times have you seen “Exercise at least 30 minutes a day” or “Exercise 30 minutes 4 times a week”? Where do these numbers come from? Is there any benefit to 20 minutes a day? How much exercise is too much? What types of exercise are best?
But that’s not really the reason either. Knowing that a research study has finally backed up what every magazine tells you, or that the number has been tweaked and it’s actually 35 minutes a day, isn’t going to persuade anyone to exercise any more or less.
It might, however, influence funding to encourage people to exercise more. It may influence insurance companies to write policies that encourage exercise. It may influence employers to allow time and resources for exercise, to reduce the costs of health benefits. It may be the reason your next employer offers you an exercise ball instead of an office chair, a standing desk or a treadmill desk.
Since I’m not about to do a second postdoc in exercise physiology or epidemiology, I am interested in doing an exercise & cancer study. Which may or may not ever get funded. I’ll let you know. The rats get treadmill wheels, not bicycles.
Jan 30, 2010: Sunny!
Total miles: 0
After I dropped Nell of at her clarinet lesson, I parked the car on campus and walked up to Kinko’s. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought of walking to Kinko’s, I’d have driven the few blocks there and back.
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” I was suitably dressed and the sun was shining. I took lots of pictures.
Unfortunately, the rest of the day has been sedentary. I have been doing Yoga Zone trying to find a good stretch or exercise for my neck, but didn’t remember to do that today. I meant to walk with Iain, but when I remembered it was dark, and he declined.
This blog (lately) is about bicycle commuting. There are a lot of things connected to that in my head and I realized recently that the connections are to the reasons I bike. I bike for transportation. The reasons I bike for transportation are health, money, environment and politics. So the topics of transportation and roads are relevant. So are topics of health, fitness, and nutrition. So is talking about money, environment or politics.
That is my segue into why I’m about to talk about money that doesn’t really have much to do with bicycle commuting. Only it does.
Several things happened recently that pertain to money. When I was at Fred’s I saw he has a copy of Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover“. I borrowed it and started reading it today.
Second, Nell’s Government/Economics class entered into the Economics unit. She is filling out a worksheet for their upcoming financial project, and asked me questions like “What is a charge account?” or “What is store credit?” Of course I don’t give her a simple answer but add my own judgmental assessment of these demons. And I suggested she borrow my borrowed book to take to school. And I handed her the book open to the page on the myth “Give your teen a credit card to teach him to be responsible with money”. She’s heard all this before so it is just reinforcement, nothing new.
Third, we are looking ahead to June when I start my real job and calculating just how fast we can pay off Iain’s student loans and save up for a house. I am so proud that:
a) We aren’t talking about buying a car first. We might buy another car some day, but when we do, we will pay cash for it. As long as our old car is running, and we can keep it running by repairing it, we aren’t interested in a new car. “You can have a monthly car repair or a monthly car payment” is another myth. The car repairs are a lot cheaper than monthly payments. (And a bicycle is far cheaper than car repairs.)
b) We plan to pay off Iain’s student loans FIRST, and THEN save a downpayment on a house.
c) We aren’t saying “When we move (and have a higher income) we can buy this, this and this. We can join a gym, subscribe to magazines” and so on.
The only thing I wish we could differently is help Nell pay for college up front. Well, we could, but we will choose between saving up for a downpayment on a house, and paying for Nell’s college–delaying the house by at least another four years, if not more.
Thomas Jefferson on red campus. I love how he gleams in the sun. I love sunshine.
Two hydrants in front of where the old admin building was, before it burned.
Bicycle on the roof of Tin Can Tavern near campus
Slightly creepy statue in front of the Youzeum
Jan 29, 2010
Total distance: 8 miles
Conditions: Cloudy, cold, windy. But dry.
I knew it was cold. When it was time to leave, I raced upstairs to change as quickly as possible. Crush stayed inside last night, so I was able to do my ABC Quick Check, buckle my helmet, and get my gloves on before going outside. I did everything fast, trying hard not to think about that first cold blast of air.
I biked to International Cafe for the MU Postdoctoral Association meeting. Our fearless leader Patrick informed us that due to a grant rejection and stringent visa requirements, he’ll be leaving in April. Such is the sad plight of the postdoc. I feel for him, and hope he finds another profession before wasting too much of his youth in postdoctoral drudgery. But people have this irrational hope in them, and most likely he’ll go after another postdoc position, believing that he can’t get so unlucky twice. I’ve seen many postdocs do that. I’ve been that postdoc.
I walked from there to the med school where I met my research students. We finished before 5, and I headed home with the rush hour. I was warm and energetic when I got home, and dragged Iain out for a walk. Now it’s all gone out of me and I’m just cold, cold, cold, and tired.
Jan 28, 2010
Total distance: 16 miles
Conditions: Sunshine, cold, wind and traffic.
I automatically stopped at a stop sign and let a pedestrian cross over to the Vet Hospital. As I proceeded, he turned around halfway across the street, and said, “Congratulations! You are the first cyclist I have seen in ten years who stopped at that stop sign.”
A few moments before, a dumb college kid yelled out the window of his SUV “Laaaaaance!” Because Lance is very fast, and I am very slow. Lance rides cool bikes, I ride a “fred” bike. (“Fred” means uncool, to bicycle racers.) I’m sure Lance never bikes in jeans. I look nothing like Lance. And finally, Lance would probably not be on a bike in this weather.
I feel very sorry for this unfortunate student who will obviously never graduate college.
Yesterday I realized that I had dressed much too warmly. Mindful of that mistake, I dressed more lightly today: jeans over my bike shorts, the wool shirt but only a windbreaker on top. I did have the intelligence to wear my balaclava and to bring my rain jacket (which blocks the wind). Holy crap it was cold. My numb toes thawed painfully during the seminar about Why Mandatory Cadaver Donation is Moral*.
From there to the library (to check out “The Importance of Being Earnest” for Nell), home to get my grocery trailer, to the grocery store and back home, I kept both jackets on, and was much more comfortable. Odd how the extra jacket protected my toes.
*Why Mandatory Cadaver Donation is Moral: Donating organs requires no sacrifice (when you’re dead you don’t need ‘em), and improves or saves lives. Therefore it is a strong duty. It is permissible to compel someone to perform a strong duty. Therefore a Mandatory Cadaver Donation law or measure is moral.
Jan 27, 2010: Hammers
Total distance: 3 miles plus hiking
Conditions: Frozen mud, no snow, intermittent light ice-rain.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Iain accuses me of this frequently. When I was a kid, if anyone complained of an ache or pain, my mom usually advised “Cut it off,” which was particularly hilarious (to everyone else) if the complaint was a headache. My preferred solution was “Drink some water,” and Nell’s is “Go lie down”.
That has changed over the past three years, since I started cycling for transportation. I have discovered that all manner of aches and pains subside when I get on my bike or go for a walk. It’s not all mental, there’s evidence and logic that this works. Exercise stimulates endorphins, natural painkillers. Exercise increases respiratory rate and so you get more oxygenated. Exercise vasodilates. Headaches are the result of vasoconstriction and reduced oxygen.
I’ve had a bit of stomach upset all day, and after lunch concluded that it was time for a walk. Ice was falling from the sky. I got on my bike and headed to Wagon Wheel Trailhead. I took a different trail this time. The snow that fell two days ago was gone. But two days ago the trail was muddy, and today it was frozen, which was a pleasant change.
I locked my bike up near this lovely locust.
The camera didn't quite capture the striking lavendar and red of this briar.
I saw one of these guys, some blue birds, and lots of other birds. I heard them too, singing madly at the clouds.
Jan 26, 2010
Total distance: 7 miles
Conditions: Sunny!! and cold
I bundled up thinking it was awfully cold, and realized too late that it wasn’t THAT cold. Wow did I sweat! I spent the ride thinking about the story that Nell & I are writing. Last summer, she and Grandma wrote a book, got it printed and gave copies for Christmas presents. I thought, “I would like to do that!” Nell LOVES dystopias, so I suggested I write the Establishment and she write the Rebellion. She liked that, and decided it is a magic world, where magic users are downtrodden and disenfranchised.
On my ride I worked out some more of the background and story line.
I was ready for the ride, too! I spent hours on my C++ homework. I finally stopped and took a “break”, which meant phone calls and emails for the National Postdoctoral Association and the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation. I enjoyed all of this, but I was eager to get out on my bike!
Jan 25, 2010: A winter walk in the woods
Total distance: 3 miles biking, plus hiking
My upper back still hurts like the dickens. Sitting at the computer exacerbates it. After doing a few hours of C++ homework, I made myself go out in the cold for a walk. I biked to Wagon Wheel Trailhead. My front brake froze up, so I only used the rear brake.
Wagon Wheel Trailhead is named for this wagon wheel with a locus tree inside.
I’ve been meaning to buy a cable lock, but fortunately my extra big U-lock could accommodate a small tree.
Further up and further in! A little like Narnia, with lots less snow. And no lamppost. Or giant lion.
The color of the dead leaves stood out in the otherwise drab woods.
Guess I won't be crossing here today.
A LOT of trees are down across the path. This one fell several years ago, and missed my daughter by inches only because I screamed and pulled her away.
Missouri woods are drab and ugly in the winter. But I have learned to appreciate being able to see the skeleton of the land, and I resent the summer foilage that obscures the cliffs.
And my upper back is hurting again, so I’ll find something else to do!
Jan 24, 2010
Total distance: 10 miles
Conditions: Chilly, windy, but SUNNY
Last night I offered to pick up lunch for the MoBikeFed board today. I headed out at noon, appropriately bundled against and cold and the wind with additional rain gear just in case that started up again. The wind was strong and slowed me down, and when I got to Main Squeeze, the food had already been picked up. Lucky thing as it would have been cold if they’d waited for me. I was just in time to join them for a walk around town, which was very nice. I got to meet some of the new board members, and talked business on the walk with others.
My chain was horribly rusty from the rain last night. I really need to obtain a bike stand, so that I can wipe it down after riding in the rain or snow. I clean the chain frequently and I use the bike stand at Walt’s for that. After the walk, I stopped by Walt’s and cleaned the rust off my chain.
Unlikely things to see in the road. How did it get there? A rescue attempt gone horribly wrong?
Jan 23, 2010: Repeat after me. Bike maintenance is cheaper than car maintenance.
Total distance: 13 miles
Conditions: cold and rainy
After two days of inactivity, I woke up with a stiff neck. Back in October, I hurt my lower back making pancakes. As soon as my back healed I started doing sit-ups to strengthen the lower back, at first only 5, then 10, and now I’m up to 40. Upper back pain is not nearly as crippling as lower back pain, but it is no fun, and I get this much more frequently. I’m researching what exercises will strengthen my upper back.
The stiff neck was an excuse to drive to the music store and the grocery store. (Nell’s piece for contest arrived, and I picked it up.) I was NOT going to drive across town for supper with some of my friends who were in town for tomorrow’s Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation Board meeting. I got on my bike and headed out in the dark and the rain.
I adore my downlow glow. I am very sad that it is not bright at all these days, even with a fully charged battery. I guess I’ll replace the battery. I’m disappointed it lasted only a year. But–still cheaper maintenance than car maintenance. That is my mantra!
Fred cooked us up a delicious, warm, and satisfying lentil stew. Fred is a great cook!
Patty looks a little scared of me...she'd been up since before dawn to do a tv interview.
On my way through campus, I saw kings and queens, lords and ladies in Memorial Union, and got a photo through the window.
The odd things about the period-dressed courtiers was the ubiquitous cameras!
Jan 22, 2010
Total distance: 0 miles
I had one teleconference, but as I was doing a lot of the talking I didn’t try to walk. Most of the day I finished up my C++ homework. We learned arrays last week, and this week Search and Sort. Until now I’ve been able to understand each topic thoroughly, and do my own coding. But I finally had to accept that I had to copy the search & sort code from the book and fiddle with it until it did what I want, because the logic is too complicated for my little feminine brain.
I did get my evening walk with Iain, otherwise I had no exercise Friday.
bubble sort, selection sort, linear search and binary search
Jan 21, 2010
Total distance: 0 miles
For an 11 day stretch I biked every day. I was tied up on the phone all day long today and did not go anywhere by bike or by car. Three phone meetings were related to turning over the National Postdoctoral Association committee I’ve been chairing for the last year and a half to the new chair. A fourth meeting was for another NPA committee I’ll be peripherally involved with.
During the two meetings that I didn’t have to be talking the whole time, I walked on the treadmill, at 3 mph. I walked about two miles that way. And I walked outside with Iain when he got home, and I was off the phone.
The snow is gone now, but when it was here, and no one but me and the woman on the corner had shoveled the walk, I took the shovel out after dark and made a path so that Iain and I could still take our walks. For about four days we walked in the path I’d made, and then the snow melted. Apparently this makes me a guerilla snow shoveler.
look what I shoveled
A few blocks away, no one shoveled.
Jan 20, 2010: SUNSHINE
Distance: 11 miles
Route: Columbia College cafeteria, bike shop, library, meat market, home.
THE SUN SHONE. That’s right, not only did the fog lift, but the clouds parted. Angels sang, and, BEHOLD, the sun. It rained a little first, but not enough to wash away much grime.
Crazy bike at the library, and sunshine
It looks like this guy lives on his bicycle. I cautiously looked through the computer area of the library, hoping to catch a glimpse of him and ask if he has a crazyguyonabike blog, but, perhaps fortunately, did not see someone who looked like he owned this (and nothing else in the world).
Crush with litterbox pannier at the Meat Lab, and SUNSHINE
The litterbox pannier is perfect for bringing home meat from the MU Meat Market (formerly the Meat Lab). I still call it the Meat Lab and my mom thinks that sounds funny, like all our meat is radioactive. The Meat Market is the destiny only for untreated cows and pigs. And lambs. And sometimes goats.
SUNSHINE gleams on Crush, and on the sodden trail below.
(bikes) YIELD TO PED in the SUNSHINE
When these “Bike yield to ped” signs first went up, I was indignant because I had just learned that bicycles belong on the road, not the sidewalk. That was before I learned that there was no consensus among the world about where bikes belong. Vehicular cyclists believe we belong on the road. People who bike a little, or not at all, think they belong on the sidewalk. City planners and civic engineers don’t know that bicycles exist.
I stopped at the bike shop to clean my chain. Three blocks later it was filthy again. I thought about going back and demanding a refund…oh wait, I didn’t pay anything to use their bike stand to clean my chain!
Jan 19, 2010
Total distance: 13 miles
The fog lifted for a little while this afternoon. The sun didn’t come out, it was blocked by a cloud. But I could see it more clearly than I have in several days.
I covered the 3 miles to the dentist in 13 minutes. Wow! That is fast for me. Coming home took 50% longer: 20 minutes. The wind wasn’t very strong, but was with me and downhill, the opposite to get back.
I have one cavity. The dentist & I were chatting about eating less sugar, and he clued me in as to why I gained a little weight when I quit sugar. The pounds are the increased fiber hanging out in my gut!
Later in the afternoon, I met my students on campus. I’m training a new student on the rats. I charged up my downlow glow for a few hours, so that I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving the lab before dark. It wasn’t very charged, so not very bright.
Since classes started today, Old 63 was thick with students trying to get to class. I do not like college drivers. They are really bad at it.
The air still tastes salty from the salt on the roads. The fog moistens the world, but doesn’t wash a thing.
I include this picture of the old burr oak, taken in 2007, to remind me of sunnier, greener days.
Jan 18, 2010: MLK Day
Total distance: 9 miles
Flock of geese
Between Avatar and a make-up D&D night, I had a couple hours. I cleaned the kitchen and then got on my bike. I saw a BIG flock of geese. I couldn’t capture all the geese in one picture. They kept their distance from me, their heads held high in neat uniform lines.
Crush has company at Hy-Vee
This fog has been settled on us for three days. I miss the sun. I brought my downlow glow, not sure how dark it would be before I got home. The battery didn’t really last, so it was brightest when the day was least dark. I will charge it up before I use it again.
The traffic was heavy today. There were some rude drivers, but they were being rude to each other, not me. For shopping at Hy-Vee today I was rewarded with a discount on gas. I held up my bike helmet and shrugged. The avocados on sale aren’t ripe, but I’ll save them for guacamole next Thursday (our regular D&D night).