Frustrating Ride Home
It was only 3.3 miles, but it seemed to take a lot longer to ride back to the car dealership yesterday afternoon. The scary hill was definitely scary, crawling up with no shoulder, and cars trying to squeeze past me while traffic was zipping down the hill. I doubt that I'll take that route again. But most frustrating was the fact that my panniers kept falling off, and the rack kept rubbing the wheels. The panniers were probably overloaded for the single bungie cord that holds them on. The hooks were fairly useless for keeping them in place, since as soon as I would hit any bump, they'd jump right off and go sideways. The rack would wobble when pumping hard up a hill, causing it to rub the tires.
So last night, I went in search of another rack. I found one at REI that advertised "disc-brake mounting" and was encouraged. However, it needs the braze-on mount points that my bike still doesn't have. I tried the clamp adapter they had there, but it would fit around the tube properly, so I returned everything immediately. The good news though is that we got our free Ben and Jerry's cone, since it was right nearby REI. (Verdict: the new 7 layer bar flavor was yummy, but Lisa doesn't like to chew her ice cream; Imagine Whirled Peace was good, but I'd take Phish Food over it; and Ellie actually likes Cookie Dough Ice Cream, much to my horror.)
I finally called up my local bike shop, Spokes Etc, and told them my tale of woe. The guy checked his stock and said that he thought the Trek Bontrager rack (with disc mount) would work, and that I should bring my bike in so that we could find the right adapter to get it to fit. Hopefully I can find something that really works this time. Of course, I probably should have started with these guys in the first place, rather than the chain bike store...
First Ride to Work
After a few false starts, I managed to ride my bike in to work today. Well, sort of. It's kind of cheating because I only rode my bike in from the dealership, where I dropped my car off to have some work done, and the dealership is only about 3 miles from where I work, as opposed to the 7-8 miles I'd normally ride from home. But still, I rode in, well in advance of Ride Your Bike To Work Day (May 16) and National Bike Month (May).
Last night, I stopped at the bike shop on my way home to pick up some vital equipment, including lights, rain gear (which so far turned out to be unnecessary) and a rack to put my panniers on. The first rack didn't fit on my bike, because my bike conveniently is missing the "braze-on" mount points where it's supposed to screw on. (Also, the package for the rack was missing about 8 screws, making it really hard to install.) Fabulous. So instead I had to take it back and get a rack that mounted on the seat post. Not my favorite solution, but it at least works.
After I got all the stuff home, I put everything on the bike and was ready to go. Luckily, I had planned ahead and brought my work clothes in yesterday so that I wouldn't have to bring them in on my bike today. I found that the panniers may be a tad small for bringing everything in, and I may need a trunk after all, or at least somewhere to put my lunch. We'll see how everything fits on the way home first, and try a few more real commutes with them. They also were a bit tricky to get situated on the bike. There's only one bungie cord strap holding it on, and it could definitely benefit with some added stability.
Otherwise, the ride was good. The weather cleared up a whole lot from yesterday, and my rain jacket ended up keeping me warm rather than dry. The route in from the dealer wasn't too hairy, aside from a brief stint of no shoulder coming across the Beltway bridge. That should be interesting to tackle going up the hill on the way back, rather than the speedy descent on the way in. I'm looking forward to riding a lot more this summer, now that I'll be better equipped!
Better Ingredients, Better Results
Yesterday, we took a trip up to South Mountain Creamery to see where our milk for this summer will be coming from. Lisa and Ellie had been there before, but this was my first trip there. They were having a big open house event, and the overcast weather didn't dampen their spirits much. We had fun riding in the tractor around the farm (pretty much a view of grass, since they're grass-fed cows), seeing the baby cows, baby goats, baby chicks, baby ducks, and baby bunnies! Lots of babies. They had some good barbecue for lunch too, and plenty of dairy products. We left with 2 dozen eggs, a bunch of asparagus, and our first half-gallon of milk. We took the eggs and made a frittata with some leftover ham from Easter, some good gruyere cheese, and the asparagus. Lisa has made it before, but this one seemed to taste a lot better. Even the picky eater Ellie ate all of hers. I guess that's what happens when you use good ingredients. Thankfully, the farmers market starts this week, so we'll be getting better ingredients more frequently. Plus, our CSA starts two weeks from tomorrow, and we'll have way more fresh ingredients than we'll know what to do with.
Arbor Brewing Phat Abbot Belgian Dubbel
Poured into a goblet, ended up with no head to speak of. Still, a nice dark brown color, slight bit of yeasty haze in there too. Definite yeasty aroma quite present too.
I'm tasting raisin/prune of course foremost, quite sweeter than I expected, with a very slight hoppiness. Fairly clean finish, though a bit thin, if that's a criticism. That does make it more drinkable though, as I don't get hit with a heavy dose of alcohol.
Overall rating: 3.85
Brewpub in Vienna?
I think I just peed my pants a little. Bill Madden, locally famous brewer formerly of Capital City, Founder's, and most recently Vintage 50, is looking to open a new brewpub in Northern Virginia. Norm, from Norm's Beer and Wine, gamely suggested the former site of That's Amore, right around the corner from him. Investor Rick Garvin thanked him, and said they would seriously look into it. I am seriously stoked. Hopefully it works out to be a good spot for them. I can't imagine having my draft beer place right around the corner from my bottled beer store. Yum.
Updating Outrage
Nearly four years ago, I posted about 3 separate cases of our legal system run amok. Today, I can report that the last of those cases has finally been resolved. Steve Kurtz, the artist who was arrested on bio-terrorism charges, then later on mail fraud charges, has had his case dismissed by a federal judge, after nearly 4 years of fighting.
This result follows Brandon Mayfield's successful challenge to his false arrest (based on erroneous fingerprint analysis) which resulted in a $2 million settlement and having 2 parts of the USA Patriot Act ruled unconstitutional.
Finally, Jose Padilla was finally tried and found guilty and sentenced to 17 years in prison in January after languishing for three-and-a-half years as an "enemy combatant," before the Supreme Court nearly had to step in (the Bush administration finally relented to avoid having the Supreme Court trump its authority).
Hammered
Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
My review
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Hammered is a fascinating story about a former Canadian soldier who's been injured and "repaired," Bionic Woman style, with artificial limbs and implants. But now, a confluence of events conspire to draw her back in to the world she wanted to leave behind, and to take the battle to the next frontier: space.
I enjoyed reading the book, but I was ultimately really disappointed that it basically ended with very little conclusion. The book leads you toward the protagonist, Jenny Casey, getting new implants (nanites) and surgery so that she can pilot an alien-inspired starship, but she only gets as far as boarding the ship, never flying it. That's left for the sequel. The author does manage to resolve one storyline, but since that was a relatively minor subplot, I was left disappointed. I suppose this is yet another case where I'm just going to have to read the rest of the trilogy (Scardown, Worldwired) to be satisfied.
Next up is Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku.
Earth Day
From Michael Pollan's piece in the New York Times:
The "cheap-energy mind," as Wendell Berry called it, is the mind that asks, "Why bother?" because it is helpless to imagine -- much less attempt -- a different sort of life, one less divided, less reliant.
Go read, then at least make an attempt at imagining a different sort of life.
Cleaning Out Crap
I've been on a bit of a health kick lately. We signed up for our community-supported agriculture share so that we can get decent produce when it's actually in season, instead of year-round at the grocery store, shipped in fresh from the other side of the world. I got my bike out of storage and will be riding in to work again soon. I got new running shoes and will start running whenever I can drag my lazy butt out of bed. Here's what I've been doing even more recently.
I've been drinking water for over a year now, since I stopped buying soda. It was money I didn't need to spend, plus it's crappy to drink that stuff every day. I've been drinking water from the water fountain in my Nalgene bottle, but now the National Toxicology Program is coming out with a report saying that BPA is pretty much omnipresent in our bloodstreams, thanks at least in part to leaching from plastics, like the one used in my Nalgene bottle. So we're ordering Sigg water bottles for the family to replace our plastic sippy cups and water bottles. If you're concerned, try to avoid plastics labeled #3, 6, and sometimes 7.
I also recently realized that my favorite fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt is pretty much loaded with that evil substance high fructose corn syrup. On our last trip to the grocery store, I bought a tub of plain yogurt and fresh fruit to mix in with it. The yogurt with just fruit is probably an acquired taste, since the sweet flavor doesn't mix through the yogurt like it does with my old favorite. Still, it wasn't bad. I also tried mixing some low sugar strawberry preserves in with the yogurt, which made the overall taste more palatable, but pretty much tasted like yogurt mixed with jelly. I'll prefer fresh fruit, but I'm okay with using the preserves in a pinch.
We do still have our vices (Chinese food last night that is way too bad for us, McDonald's milkshakes), but we're trying to do better. The world doesn't change overnight, after all.
New Shoes, New Bookcase
With curling season finally over, it's time to turn my attention to fairer weather activities, like running and biking. This weekend, I took my bike out for a test spin, and shockingly found everything still fairly well tuned. I'll probably start riding to work in the next couple of weeks.
I went to a real running shoe store on Sunday to get fitted for new shoes. Here's what I posted about the store on Yelp.com:
After years of picking my running shoes by looking for a $60-80 shoe, trying it out, and figuring it was fine, I decided it was time to get truly fitted for new shoes this time. My body is getting creakier with the years, and those little injuries start adding up, so I needed to make sure it wasn't my equipment that was doing it to me.
I was helped by Sandra, who had me roll up my jeans and take off my shoes so she could get a good look at my feet. She immediately saw I had high arches, which I had never been told before. My walking stride didn't show anything out of the ordinary, so it was time to take a look at my jogging stride. After putting a pair of Asics Cumulus on my feet, I ran down the sidewalk away from her, then back. She noticed a slight roll in my left foot, and we went back inside to try out some shoes.
Since I am only going to be running 5-10k at the most, she recommended a shoe with just a little bit of support to keep me from rolling when I get tired. The first shoe ended up being the one I liked most, as it felt the most like an extension of my foot. I left with a new pair of Saucony Progrid Guides. I was very pleased that they were only $90, and that she hadn't gotten me into a pair of $200 shoes without me realizing.
Great experience, and I could see while I was there that the other people in the store were getting the same personal attention that I was.
I'm excited to try them out on a real run soon, and I'll record my stats on my GPS watch.
We also picked up a new bookcase. After years of abuse, our crappy particleboard bookcase was listing alarmingly to one side, so we decided it was time for a new one. We had our eye on the 5 shelf Riley bookcase at World Market, but we wanted to check out our local "bare wood" furniture store first. I wasn't blown away by any of their choices, but they had a good one that we could have stained ourselves for around $300. But when we popped in to World Market, we found the one we wanted on sale for just over $200, and we had to get it. I spent the afternoon putting it together, and it's very solid, and goes well in our living room. Looks a heck of a lot nicer than the old one too.
So that's a big chunk of our economic stimulus check spent before it even gets here....
Books
My Goodreads ListAmazon Wishlist
GSI Outdoors JavaGrind
