the castle and heart island nearing sunset.
7.20.2008
4th@boldt.8
haven't figured out how to take decent night shots. really wanted to get the castle silhouette. . . but ended up with blurry. . . but kinda pretty.
fun with cycling, parts 1 through 6
part 1: do i really want a bike?
i looked online for used, and new. . . walked by the cheapies in walmart and thought, ‘how bad can they be?’ i discussed with my brother the styles and what to look for and debated why i shouldn’t get a ‘cheapie’ . . . i researched styles, weighed pros, cons, . . . .
finally i ended up in my local shop asking about a trek/ commuter/ touring/ comfort/ city bike with a number in my head. . . and they had one that fit my number. . . as well as me, (hey, i’m short, i need a short bike). as i debated if i really wanted it, being that i had a perfectly good hybrid sitting in a dark storage unit in southern california, the owner of the shop had me take it out for a spin. practically pushed me out the door with it in my hands.
SOLD
smart guy
the slightly weird thing is that it’s red. i never intend to buy or own red bikes, but all of mine have been red. . . .(except for one maybe, my memory isn’t so good.) my first real bike was a red bmx bought at a garage sale. . . there might have been a 10 speed in my teenage years that was gray and pink, with the curly handlebars?. . . or maybe i just coveted it. . . . the hybrid i got in virginia (the one aforementioned as being held captive by my storage unit) is also red. i named it drusilla. . . i was watching ‘i, claudius’ at the time.
part 2: muscle memory
on my first spin i crested the hill at the top of my driveway and turned left. since i was a kid i always took a bit of the sidewalk on the left of the road until traffic cleared so i could move to the right of the road. i turned left and my first instinct was to stand on my pedals. i second guessed myself, why would i stand on my pedals? this bike is far more comfortable than the bmx i used to ride around on. standing on my pedals just made me feel cool, right. . .it’s how they did it on that movie, bmx bandits? i decided to sit. . . turns out my muscle memory was there for a reason. i always stood because the sidewalk is incredibly uneven. . . and hasn’t changed (unless it’s gotten worse) since i was young. it wouldn’t matter how comfortable your bike seat is. . . you don’t wanna ride over that. lesson learned.
part 3: take in the scenery and the wildlife
take them in, but don’t hit them. i nearly hit a deer. . . or, more likely, it nearly hit me. i ride a less travelled area through higley flow. there is quite a bit of wildlife. . . i just didn’t expect it to come charging out at me. guess i scared the deer enough to send it back to the woods. . . lucky me.
part 4: finding my limits
i used to ride my bike a lot as a kid and teenager. during the summer a friend of mine and i would push out early morning and head to south colton. our turning point was somewhere near sunday rock. . . and a local store. it was always chilly in the morning, so we’d wear leggings over our shorts on the way out. at the end of the first half we’d each get a ‘hot mama’ slim jim thingy and ditch the leggings then ride back to play basketball. it was nearly a 10 mile trip. . . and some of the hills are kinda killer, or at least they look that way now.
i’m doing 10 miles at a time through higley flow. the hills aren’t as difficult, but there are a couple of challenges. on the first ride through i kept visualizing my legs as pistons or as part of a train chug chugging along in order to keep pushing. i was happy to see how far i could push my leg muscles. . . it was my stomach that nearly gave out. i don’t remember if i had something that was spicy earlier that day or what, but making my way up a particularly steep but gracefully short hill i had hot bile make it’s way up my throat. i spent the rest of my ride belching it out. attractive, huh?
part 5: gotta love the small town bike shop
i stopped in a week after getting my bike to start adding to my accessories. first, the gloves. i bee-lined for them. . . the owner tallied the price, but left off the tax. i reminded him, but he just waived it off. i reassured him about how much i loved the bike and he smiled and said, ‘good, keep riding, and let that girl over there know how much you like it.’ there was a girl debating over a couple of bikes. it turned into a 20 minute chat as she told me what she was looking for, and how she planned to use the bike, etc. i gave her a quick rundown of the research i did, gave her some suggestions about what to look for, and finally left telling her that she should take one for a test drive.
i’m pretty cheap advertising.
part 6: on the move, sans music
when working out or going for a walk, i’m always accompanied by music. . . or a podcast, or some aural fixation.
i’m hesitant to do so while riding around traffic (that and i can hear if my gears are acting up, or if my brakes need adjusting). for the time being, it would seem that the sound of rushing wind is enough to satisfy. off that i found it so annoying when the wind would pick up on my walks and drown out my ipod. . . and it seems i can’t get enough of it riding. the wind acts as white noise. it only breaks when i turn my head. facing forward is like listening to a channel with nothing but snow, and turning my head is like hitting the mute button.
hey. . . make your own fun where you can.
i looked online for used, and new. . . walked by the cheapies in walmart and thought, ‘how bad can they be?’ i discussed with my brother the styles and what to look for and debated why i shouldn’t get a ‘cheapie’ . . . i researched styles, weighed pros, cons, . . . .
finally i ended up in my local shop asking about a trek/ commuter/ touring/ comfort/ city bike with a number in my head. . . and they had one that fit my number. . . as well as me, (hey, i’m short, i need a short bike). as i debated if i really wanted it, being that i had a perfectly good hybrid sitting in a dark storage unit in southern california, the owner of the shop had me take it out for a spin. practically pushed me out the door with it in my hands.
SOLD
smart guy
the slightly weird thing is that it’s red. i never intend to buy or own red bikes, but all of mine have been red. . . .(except for one maybe, my memory isn’t so good.) my first real bike was a red bmx bought at a garage sale. . . there might have been a 10 speed in my teenage years that was gray and pink, with the curly handlebars?. . . or maybe i just coveted it. . . . the hybrid i got in virginia (the one aforementioned as being held captive by my storage unit) is also red. i named it drusilla. . . i was watching ‘i, claudius’ at the time.
part 2: muscle memory
on my first spin i crested the hill at the top of my driveway and turned left. since i was a kid i always took a bit of the sidewalk on the left of the road until traffic cleared so i could move to the right of the road. i turned left and my first instinct was to stand on my pedals. i second guessed myself, why would i stand on my pedals? this bike is far more comfortable than the bmx i used to ride around on. standing on my pedals just made me feel cool, right. . .it’s how they did it on that movie, bmx bandits? i decided to sit. . . turns out my muscle memory was there for a reason. i always stood because the sidewalk is incredibly uneven. . . and hasn’t changed (unless it’s gotten worse) since i was young. it wouldn’t matter how comfortable your bike seat is. . . you don’t wanna ride over that. lesson learned.
part 3: take in the scenery and the wildlife
take them in, but don’t hit them. i nearly hit a deer. . . or, more likely, it nearly hit me. i ride a less travelled area through higley flow. there is quite a bit of wildlife. . . i just didn’t expect it to come charging out at me. guess i scared the deer enough to send it back to the woods. . . lucky me.
part 4: finding my limits
i used to ride my bike a lot as a kid and teenager. during the summer a friend of mine and i would push out early morning and head to south colton. our turning point was somewhere near sunday rock. . . and a local store. it was always chilly in the morning, so we’d wear leggings over our shorts on the way out. at the end of the first half we’d each get a ‘hot mama’ slim jim thingy and ditch the leggings then ride back to play basketball. it was nearly a 10 mile trip. . . and some of the hills are kinda killer, or at least they look that way now.
i’m doing 10 miles at a time through higley flow. the hills aren’t as difficult, but there are a couple of challenges. on the first ride through i kept visualizing my legs as pistons or as part of a train chug chugging along in order to keep pushing. i was happy to see how far i could push my leg muscles. . . it was my stomach that nearly gave out. i don’t remember if i had something that was spicy earlier that day or what, but making my way up a particularly steep but gracefully short hill i had hot bile make it’s way up my throat. i spent the rest of my ride belching it out. attractive, huh?
part 5: gotta love the small town bike shop
i stopped in a week after getting my bike to start adding to my accessories. first, the gloves. i bee-lined for them. . . the owner tallied the price, but left off the tax. i reminded him, but he just waived it off. i reassured him about how much i loved the bike and he smiled and said, ‘good, keep riding, and let that girl over there know how much you like it.’ there was a girl debating over a couple of bikes. it turned into a 20 minute chat as she told me what she was looking for, and how she planned to use the bike, etc. i gave her a quick rundown of the research i did, gave her some suggestions about what to look for, and finally left telling her that she should take one for a test drive.
i’m pretty cheap advertising.
part 6: on the move, sans music
when working out or going for a walk, i’m always accompanied by music. . . or a podcast, or some aural fixation.
i’m hesitant to do so while riding around traffic (that and i can hear if my gears are acting up, or if my brakes need adjusting). for the time being, it would seem that the sound of rushing wind is enough to satisfy. off that i found it so annoying when the wind would pick up on my walks and drown out my ipod. . . and it seems i can’t get enough of it riding. the wind acts as white noise. it only breaks when i turn my head. facing forward is like listening to a channel with nothing but snow, and turning my head is like hitting the mute button.
hey. . . make your own fun where you can.
7.18.2008
6.14.2008
storm.1
we had a storm on tuesday. i was at work in potsdam and there was a lot of wind, rain, and lightning, but nothing that seemed over the top. it was my drive home that told a different story. the closer i got to colton the larger the debris. we only lost power till midnight that night. other people are still waiting. (oh, and what does one do in colton without power? well, dad and i skipped the survival stuff and drove into potsdam for dinner and then caught kung fu panda.) to the left of the fire house in this shot is the river, and another bent over power pole and wrecked tree.
a near miss. the whole tree is laid out in right along the front of the house. we're told that it wasn't a tornado, though we were in a tornado watch. some people saw the sky turn green, and dad said the wind and rain was so bad he couldn't see 20 feet in front of him let alone the sky. whatever it was, it seems to have left some tornado-like damage.
canadian.brass
this is from a little while back. it was dad's birthday present. the canadian brass played at crane. this is close to the end of their entrance (which dad called- walking through the audience playing dixieland). too bad it's a little fuzzy. such a great concert! highly recommend if you get the chance.
6.05.2008
whoo hoo
after i showed my brother the instructable i made about the baby mobile, he said i should submit it to MAKE, or CRAFT. sounded good, but i couldn’t figure out how, and i honestly didn’t look that long. . . low and behold, someone submitted it for me!
it’s on the front page of craftzine.com right now, but probably not for long. think it’s in their blog section or something. . .
my mobile in CRAFT
besides that, i also got my second place prize from Tank Riot. . . most of was dairy swag. . . but there were definitely a couple of treasures.
it’s on the front page of craftzine.com right now, but probably not for long. think it’s in their blog section or something. . .
my mobile in CRAFT
besides that, i also got my second place prize from Tank Riot. . . most of was dairy swag. . . but there were definitely a couple of treasures.
6.01.2008
marrow.2
here's something neat. i'm kind of excited to have done this. i don't remember if the offer still exists, but for the first 10,000 people who signed up online, the bone marrow registry had free registry.
this is the cheek cell kit i got before i sent it back.
i kinda doubt i'd be a match for anyone, but the possibility is cool.
not much. . .
dan was up last weekend, a quick visit, but fun.
we took a partial day trip down to the wild center in tupper lake. on a side note, my t-mobile phone works just fine 45 minutes from where i am. grrrrrr. the wild center is nice, really well set up. it was nice to visit but not the most engaging museum i’ve been to. i did grow up in the area and just watched the adirondack special on public tv, so perhaps i’ve been overdosed with info on the area lately.
towards the end of the day we prepared for a nostalgic trip to the outdoor movie theatre. they happened to be doing a double showing of indiana jones and the crystal skulls, and iron man- excellent line up. (the outdoor movie theatre and bowling were two of our hot spots in high school. nearly every other weekend included ordering a take out pizza, filling a cooler, and packing up sleeping bags, bug dope and a radio for an evening at the outdoor theatre. in high school the tickets were $5 for two movies, it’s now $7. we don’t stay in the car, we sit outside.) it all started well, we shared our radio with the family next to us that shared their citronella candles. not a bad trade off. as i waited for some fries and iron man started, some rain also started. dan had to throw all our provisions into the car quickly, and we watched iron man from inside the car. too bad. . . but not so terrible.
the not so fun part was waking up the next morning. since the movie starts late (at dusk) and they weren’t exactly short movies, we got home pretty late. this isn’t usually a problem on the weekend, but dan needed to get to montreal to meet his friend who’d be giving him a ride back to boston. we were supposed to meet for a late breakfast. . . in montreal. in other words, a three hour drive plus border patrol. i’m glad i wasn’t driving. i just needed to wake up for the border patrol. -another side note, the t-mobile phone also works just fine in montreal. errrrr.
we had a great breakfast in montreal and walked around a bit, but i wasn’t upset to head back home.
the summer program is still ramping up. it should be an interesting change of pace, but i’ve gotta start thinking about what happens next? right?
oh! on a completely other note. . . the project for a friend that i was excited about. . . has completely. it will be mailed tomorrow (no small feat.) i took some process shots and such and posted them on instructables.com (a new favorite way of losing hours of my life to the internet). within a few hours of posting i received a note saying that my instructable was being featured on the homepage. it won’t be there for much longer, but it’s spent over a day there! whoo hoo!
5.04.2008
projects
busy. busy. busy.
not all the greatest news, but i’m project oriented because of it. a gift for a friend in a hospital, cooking for a friend whose dad passed, and a special project in process. part one of two. . . will reveal when the time is right. no real spoilers, but it will light up!
Aziz! Light!
:)
oh, and if you happen to listen to tank riot, episode 50, and hear them mention an ‘erika’. . . that’s me! whoo hoo!
not all the greatest news, but i’m project oriented because of it. a gift for a friend in a hospital, cooking for a friend whose dad passed, and a special project in process. part one of two. . . will reveal when the time is right. no real spoilers, but it will light up!
Aziz! Light!
:)
oh, and if you happen to listen to tank riot, episode 50, and hear them mention an ‘erika’. . . that’s me! whoo hoo!
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