Well - it had to happen eventually because this is Oregon. It absolutely and completely poured down rain on my ride home. It was the strongest rainstorm we've had in months and I was totally unprepared for wet weather. Fortunately - Laura met me at the Zoo with fresh, dry clothes as we long ago made plans to see the B-52s.
Although the fairgrounds were soaked - Laura had planned out and fashioned a tarp-tent that kept us and the food dry until the rain finally abated, the clouds broke, and the B-52s took the stage!
Now - the lesson learned: pack a raincoat!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
More biking...
Well - I spent some time at work yesterday "crunching the numbers" and the way I see it, I'll ride 12 mile on the bike each day that I ride it to work. Right now - my goal is to ride at least 2 days a week - so that's roughly 25 miles a week which rounds off nicely to 100 miles per month. Not too shabby.
The ride in this morning was a little more smooth. No problem with the chain and no problem with hot coffee splashing up my back. I did, however, forget to bring lunch - so I'll have to go the employee feed-bag at noon. Alas...
Definately need to get the bike tuned and make sure that it's in tip-top condition if I'm to keep this up.
Weather looks great for the ride home!
The ride in this morning was a little more smooth. No problem with the chain and no problem with hot coffee splashing up my back. I did, however, forget to bring lunch - so I'll have to go the employee feed-bag at noon. Alas...
Definately need to get the bike tuned and make sure that it's in tip-top condition if I'm to keep this up.
Weather looks great for the ride home!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Michael and his bicycle
(Michael blogging...) Sorry, no pictures on this one.
I've been planning this for a week or so now and, today, I finally attempted it: I rode my bike and MAX into work. It wasn't a bad experience at all - but I definitely learned a few things about how to do it better.
I rode out of my garage at about 5:30 AM and headed for the 158th and Merlo station garage. I was barely across Farmington Boulevard when I attempted to shift gears and my chain became unrailed. I pulled off and messed around with it for about five minutes and eventually got it back on and working. I still have no idea why it did that nor if it's going to happen again - or worse - frequently. Despite that somewhat disconcerting prospect, I rode on to the MAX station. I suppose the most curious thing that happened to me was that a few minutes later, I espied a dirty, pink dildo on the ground near the side of the road. The only thing I could think of at the time was, "Gee - that's peculiar!"
I eventually made it to the MAX station and the train came about five minutes thereafter. The ride into town was quick and mostly uneventful as the train was populated with commuters for whom the novelty of mass transit had long-ago worn off. I listed to some podcasts on the iPod as the MAX wound its way through the west hills.
Eventually, the train stopped somewhere near Yamhill station and I hopped off and rode through the streets of downtown toward Madison Avenue and the Hawthorne bridge. The ride over the bridge was, in a word, awesome. A few other bikers were crossing with me and nearly all of them had iPods firmly planted in their ears. I think one of them rolled his eyes at me and thought to himself, "stupid newbie." I'm not yet brave (or dumb) enough to impede my hearing in the midst of other traffic which includes buses and other large vehicles which could crack my melon open and not break stride.
Anyhow - I rolled onto campus about 6:45 AM - which made for a 1 hour and 15 minute commute, a far cry from my car-commute time of 30 minutes - but not as bad as I thought it could be. I suppose that once I get the hang of it I'll get a little faster and can hopefully get the time down to just under an hour.
Fortunately, my office has a gym with a shower facility and I had packed fresh skivvies and a towel. Another break went my way as I had a spare shirt hanging in my cube. This was greatly needed as my coffee travel mug didn't cooperate with the commute as seeped hot coffee onto my shirt for the entire commute. I'll either need to get a better mug or simply buy coffee at the office.
Anyhow - I'm only halfway there and the commute home this evening should be interesting. I hope to be able to do this several times each week and see how much I'm saving on gas money.
More to come...
I've been planning this for a week or so now and, today, I finally attempted it: I rode my bike and MAX into work. It wasn't a bad experience at all - but I definitely learned a few things about how to do it better.
I rode out of my garage at about 5:30 AM and headed for the 158th and Merlo station garage. I was barely across Farmington Boulevard when I attempted to shift gears and my chain became unrailed. I pulled off and messed around with it for about five minutes and eventually got it back on and working. I still have no idea why it did that nor if it's going to happen again - or worse - frequently. Despite that somewhat disconcerting prospect, I rode on to the MAX station. I suppose the most curious thing that happened to me was that a few minutes later, I espied a dirty, pink dildo on the ground near the side of the road. The only thing I could think of at the time was, "Gee - that's peculiar!"
I eventually made it to the MAX station and the train came about five minutes thereafter. The ride into town was quick and mostly uneventful as the train was populated with commuters for whom the novelty of mass transit had long-ago worn off. I listed to some podcasts on the iPod as the MAX wound its way through the west hills.
Eventually, the train stopped somewhere near Yamhill station and I hopped off and rode through the streets of downtown toward Madison Avenue and the Hawthorne bridge. The ride over the bridge was, in a word, awesome. A few other bikers were crossing with me and nearly all of them had iPods firmly planted in their ears. I think one of them rolled his eyes at me and thought to himself, "stupid newbie." I'm not yet brave (or dumb) enough to impede my hearing in the midst of other traffic which includes buses and other large vehicles which could crack my melon open and not break stride.
Anyhow - I rolled onto campus about 6:45 AM - which made for a 1 hour and 15 minute commute, a far cry from my car-commute time of 30 minutes - but not as bad as I thought it could be. I suppose that once I get the hang of it I'll get a little faster and can hopefully get the time down to just under an hour.
Fortunately, my office has a gym with a shower facility and I had packed fresh skivvies and a towel. Another break went my way as I had a spare shirt hanging in my cube. This was greatly needed as my coffee travel mug didn't cooperate with the commute as seeped hot coffee onto my shirt for the entire commute. I'll either need to get a better mug or simply buy coffee at the office.
Anyhow - I'm only halfway there and the commute home this evening should be interesting. I hope to be able to do this several times each week and see how much I'm saving on gas money.
More to come...
Thursday, June 4, 2009
I SWEAR we're not Mormon!
Okay - I don't have great excuse for not posting anything in several months, so I won't waste your time by coming up with a bad one.A month or so ago - the weather finally looked stable enough to go ahead and assemble the trampoline that was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Russell.
The kids have loved it - and Malcolm continues to be utterly perplexed by this craft that gobbles up the kids and emits shrieks of delight and peels of giddy laughter. Poor doggie just wants some love.
Here's a picture from a recent day when I asked all 6 of them to bounce together for the photo-op. It took a matter of mere seconds for an injury to occur and accusations to fly. Alas...now the rule is no more than 2 people on at one time
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