Ok, so we are all ok after the shooting incident in town yesterday. Thanks to those of you who asked. I will admit it did kind of freak me out since I wasn't sure if Maria and Asim had ventured out -- Maria's driving around all the time now! -- so I called as soon as I heard, and they were relaxing at home, having not gone out at all.
The mall is actually the one we go to once in a while to. It's a pretty nice mall, actually. There are a lot of the better restaurants around it -- PF Chang's, Cheesecake Factory -- and the Mini and BMW dealerships.
Other than that, it started snowing this morning and hasn't really stopped. It's sticking pretty good, although out of my office window with all the traffic the road is just very wet. Once again, I'm grateful for having a quick walk to work. I'm sure the park that I cut through will be looking absolutely gorgeous tonight, covered in snow.
Many of you might not know that we still haven't got cable yet. I'm very happy about this. I've been able to go to the local bar (a block away!) to watch the Steelers when need be, and otherwise, there's enough football on the weekend on the three channels. I daresay though that I wish we had Fox simply because there's a game on Sundays that I always miss. We do have Internet, and so now we may go the Netflix route.
In the evenings when I get home, I eat, relax and then ... play with Asim till he goes to bed. He's been going to bed earlier -- before 8:30 -- and so after that I -- get this -- "read." That's right. Like, a book. I'm almost done with one and even went and bought another one to start on in a few days. I bought the book -- used -- at a local bookshop that I walked to. I am still getting over the greatness of a bookshop within walking distance. So. F'in. Fantastic. And it's a great shop, too. Like, stacks and stacks of books, falling all over each other, piled to the ceiling, "more in the back," old, new, everything in between. Spectaculicious.
Thursday, December 6
Thursday, November 29
Fun thoughts on the move
As usual, I've waited entirely too long to post a recap on the move, so I'm going to summarize with some specific points. Namely:
I asked on the phone of the moving company, "how long do you reckon this will take?" Their response was that since we only had a two bedroom place, maybe 4-5 hours. Perfect. They'd be here around 8 a.m., wrap it up by lunch, off I go to my company going-away party.
As soon as they walked into the door, my first thought was, "there's only three of them?" And they didn't look terribly enthusiastic about being there. My second thought was, "4-5 hours my ass."
They showed up at 9, by the way. At about 11 a.m., I had to run some errands -- clear out the safe deposit box, pay some hefty overdue library fines -- so I thought maybe when I got back there would be some significant progress.
No.
I mean, what the hell were they doing?
Turns out they need to open up every little thing, check it, and then wrap it in about 85 linear feet of paper. Then put it into a box and give it an obscure label.
I went to my going away party. No kidding, like 8 people showed up. Whatever. I found out who actually cared which was interesting. Some who didn't show up had a good excuse of being on the road, though.
Anyway, I got back, and some progress had been made. Not too much. Ok, I'll hang out for a few more hours. Then it was off to pick up Adam at the airport. The real question was, "would they be there when we got back?"
No.
I didn't realize how much stuff they didn't pack, though. But keep in mind that we needed to live not-in-a-hotel for a week. So some kitchen stuff, all of Asim's stuff practically, sheets, pillows, blankets, and clothes.
We also had to get rid of the satellite dishes and their associated tripods. What's the easiest way to take two dishes and tripods down three flights of stairs? Why, throw them off of your balcony, of course!
Friday night Adam and I sat down and figured out how much of the Union we'd seen. So, for no reason at all, here we go. And no, they're not going to be in alphabetical order:
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Hawaii, Washington
(The trip added Iowa, although when you drive from the airport in Omaha to downtown, you cross through Iowa. However, our criteria was that you have to actually stand in the state for a considerable amount of time.)
Well, 28 years old, and I'm at 50%. Not too bad.
The next morning, right when the cars were packed full, Adam opens up one of the cabinets in the kitchen.
Completely full of crockery.
What ... the ... hell. Ok, so, wrap up the crockery in blankets, toss it in the front seat of the Jetta. Anything else? Do we care?
I asked on the phone of the moving company, "how long do you reckon this will take?" Their response was that since we only had a two bedroom place, maybe 4-5 hours. Perfect. They'd be here around 8 a.m., wrap it up by lunch, off I go to my company going-away party.
As soon as they walked into the door, my first thought was, "there's only three of them?" And they didn't look terribly enthusiastic about being there. My second thought was, "4-5 hours my ass."
They showed up at 9, by the way. At about 11 a.m., I had to run some errands -- clear out the safe deposit box, pay some hefty overdue library fines -- so I thought maybe when I got back there would be some significant progress.
No.
I mean, what the hell were they doing?
Turns out they need to open up every little thing, check it, and then wrap it in about 85 linear feet of paper. Then put it into a box and give it an obscure label.
I went to my going away party. No kidding, like 8 people showed up. Whatever. I found out who actually cared which was interesting. Some who didn't show up had a good excuse of being on the road, though.
Anyway, I got back, and some progress had been made. Not too much. Ok, I'll hang out for a few more hours. Then it was off to pick up Adam at the airport. The real question was, "would they be there when we got back?"
No.
I didn't realize how much stuff they didn't pack, though. But keep in mind that we needed to live not-in-a-hotel for a week. So some kitchen stuff, all of Asim's stuff practically, sheets, pillows, blankets, and clothes.
We also had to get rid of the satellite dishes and their associated tripods. What's the easiest way to take two dishes and tripods down three flights of stairs? Why, throw them off of your balcony, of course!
Friday night Adam and I sat down and figured out how much of the Union we'd seen. So, for no reason at all, here we go. And no, they're not going to be in alphabetical order:
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Hawaii, Washington
(The trip added Iowa, although when you drive from the airport in Omaha to downtown, you cross through Iowa. However, our criteria was that you have to actually stand in the state for a considerable amount of time.)
Well, 28 years old, and I'm at 50%. Not too bad.
The next morning, right when the cars were packed full, Adam opens up one of the cabinets in the kitchen.
Completely full of crockery.
What ... the ... hell. Ok, so, wrap up the crockery in blankets, toss it in the front seat of the Jetta. Anything else? Do we care?
Tuesday, November 20
More or less moved in
Ok, so if you were playing along with the Flickr account, you know that on Sunday the truck finally showed up with our stuff. Apparently the way it works is that it goes from a small truck to a large truck to a hub to a large truck to your door. That hub just so happened to be in Ohio.
Nonetheless, two guys showed up to move everything in. They got in around ten a.m. and had it all done within five hours. Not too bad considering the bulky furniture and the bevy of boxen. We basically set it up all over the place and are slowly paring it down as we approach our first big holiday here in the Heartland. Fortunately we have a storage unit downstairs and some shopping carts available (don't ask) to make moving easier. I must say that having someone else move you is a wonderful experience. Well, maybe except for the part where you don't have stuff for a week and are forced to sleep on a lousy air mattress. Oh, and since there are no chairs, you get to ... sit around on a lousy air mattress, too.
We also found out that while hardwood floors are mighty pretty, these ones don't have any padding underneath. It's just wood glued on concrete. So after standing around on it for about half an hour (in bare feet or socks) your feet do ache.
On to the best parts. Like, as I said before, the walk to work. It's incredible, this, a simple five minute walk to work. Past a concert hall, through a little downtown park/mall type thingy. And yes, that park/mall type thingy will be lit up on Thursday night with thousands of lights for the holiday season. So hurrah! The evening walks will be even better.
The job is going very well although things are off to a slow start. I don't mind this so much since I have some work to do and am not worried about stupid upper-management types making lousy decisions on staffing up too fast for work that's not there. There are a half dozen of us now, and BossCo says it's going to stay lean for quite a few months until the workload levels out at a higher rate.
I have already traveled to Lincoln, NE for work. We got to drive past the stadium which was sort of neat I guess. I am also slated to travel to San Jose, Fresno and St. Louis. All of that will be by the end of the year. Plus two more trips down to Lincoln -- it's about 45 minutes away. The other three will get at least one or two more visits each during the winter and early spring as projects get developed, executed and closed out. These are small projects, so a few can be piled on at a time.
I think I haven't talked about the packing and the move here. Well, I'll get to that later. But know that the Jetta Diesel did make it from Indy to Omaha on just one tank of diesel. And no, the gas light didn't come on, either. I drove it for about 50 more miles until it came on.
Nonetheless, two guys showed up to move everything in. They got in around ten a.m. and had it all done within five hours. Not too bad considering the bulky furniture and the bevy of boxen. We basically set it up all over the place and are slowly paring it down as we approach our first big holiday here in the Heartland. Fortunately we have a storage unit downstairs and some shopping carts available (don't ask) to make moving easier. I must say that having someone else move you is a wonderful experience. Well, maybe except for the part where you don't have stuff for a week and are forced to sleep on a lousy air mattress. Oh, and since there are no chairs, you get to ... sit around on a lousy air mattress, too.
We also found out that while hardwood floors are mighty pretty, these ones don't have any padding underneath. It's just wood glued on concrete. So after standing around on it for about half an hour (in bare feet or socks) your feet do ache.
On to the best parts. Like, as I said before, the walk to work. It's incredible, this, a simple five minute walk to work. Past a concert hall, through a little downtown park/mall type thingy. And yes, that park/mall type thingy will be lit up on Thursday night with thousands of lights for the holiday season. So hurrah! The evening walks will be even better.
The job is going very well although things are off to a slow start. I don't mind this so much since I have some work to do and am not worried about stupid upper-management types making lousy decisions on staffing up too fast for work that's not there. There are a half dozen of us now, and BossCo says it's going to stay lean for quite a few months until the workload levels out at a higher rate.
I have already traveled to Lincoln, NE for work. We got to drive past the stadium which was sort of neat I guess. I am also slated to travel to San Jose, Fresno and St. Louis. All of that will be by the end of the year. Plus two more trips down to Lincoln -- it's about 45 minutes away. The other three will get at least one or two more visits each during the winter and early spring as projects get developed, executed and closed out. These are small projects, so a few can be piled on at a time.
I think I haven't talked about the packing and the move here. Well, I'll get to that later. But know that the Jetta Diesel did make it from Indy to Omaha on just one tank of diesel. And no, the gas light didn't come on, either. I drove it for about 50 more miles until it came on.
Thursday, November 15
Quick update
Ok, so we're here in Omaha, but we don't have an Internet connection. And I don't have one at work, either. So I'm at a coffee shop in the base of our building. It's taking a long freaking time.
Also, our stuff hasn't shown up yet, either. It's supposed to be here maybe on Saturday. Or maybe Sunday. We've been doing the air mattress thing thus far. Asim is very happy since he's got gobs of open space to run around. The hardwood floor isn't all that forgiving to him, but at least the bedrooms are carpeted. The biggest challenge will be trying to find enough storage space in the kitchen. I think I might have to build some cabinets.
The weather has been really nice. Colder, but not too harsh. Windy as anything, though.
I am loving the five minute walk to work.
More later. Like, about how the movers we had were total dumbasses.
Also, our stuff hasn't shown up yet, either. It's supposed to be here maybe on Saturday. Or maybe Sunday. We've been doing the air mattress thing thus far. Asim is very happy since he's got gobs of open space to run around. The hardwood floor isn't all that forgiving to him, but at least the bedrooms are carpeted. The biggest challenge will be trying to find enough storage space in the kitchen. I think I might have to build some cabinets.
The weather has been really nice. Colder, but not too harsh. Windy as anything, though.
I am loving the five minute walk to work.
More later. Like, about how the movers we had were total dumbasses.
Thursday, November 8
Move day tomorrow
Well, I have genuinely been busy lately getting things ready for the move. Not much to do at work save for changing all of my credit card mailing addresses and phone numbers. And mortgage contact info, bank info, all that boring stuff.
Although the movers are coming tomorrow to pack and move us, I'd like to at least get things organized for the move. Mainly because I don't want them to be around all freakin' day. For one, I have a going-away party at work at noon, and Adam is flying in at 4. Thus, I spent the last few days going through papers, shredding them, organizing them, sorting them, packing them. I also emptied out a closet of ... empty boxes. And no, I didn't throw them out. I put them into a quasi-recycle area.
There's still a lot to do which is why I'm not going to be at work long. Get all the cables pulled from the tv/dvd/dish setup, consolidate biking stuff, electronics and stationary. Take all the important papers and put them someplace ... car title, birth certificate, their passports -- mine expired! Ha!
We also need to buy Asim some more winter clothes before we leave as well as an air mattress for sleeping on Friday night and Saturday night once we get there. Actually on Saturday we'll be in a hotel, but Adam and I may end up staying in the new place on the floor.
I spent the last 15 minutes packing up my cubicle. My work life, in a box.
And yes, that photo on flickr with Asim and the computer? It's my new computer, a 9lb+ beast of a thing. A Dell M90. so far so good, but man, is that going to be not at all fun to drag through airports.
I'll have some photos of the Pittsburgh trip to post. Not a lot, but at least a few of the game ... where it rained and rained and rained.
Although the movers are coming tomorrow to pack and move us, I'd like to at least get things organized for the move. Mainly because I don't want them to be around all freakin' day. For one, I have a going-away party at work at noon, and Adam is flying in at 4. Thus, I spent the last few days going through papers, shredding them, organizing them, sorting them, packing them. I also emptied out a closet of ... empty boxes. And no, I didn't throw them out. I put them into a quasi-recycle area.
There's still a lot to do which is why I'm not going to be at work long. Get all the cables pulled from the tv/dvd/dish setup, consolidate biking stuff, electronics and stationary. Take all the important papers and put them someplace ... car title, birth certificate, their passports -- mine expired! Ha!
We also need to buy Asim some more winter clothes before we leave as well as an air mattress for sleeping on Friday night and Saturday night once we get there. Actually on Saturday we'll be in a hotel, but Adam and I may end up staying in the new place on the floor.
I spent the last 15 minutes packing up my cubicle. My work life, in a box.
And yes, that photo on flickr with Asim and the computer? It's my new computer, a 9lb+ beast of a thing. A Dell M90. so far so good, but man, is that going to be not at all fun to drag through airports.
I'll have some photos of the Pittsburgh trip to post. Not a lot, but at least a few of the game ... where it rained and rained and rained.
Wednesday, October 31
Just so you know
Well, we managed to get out of our house here in Indy. Yep. Signed a paper today to terminate the sale agreement. I'm out a few thousand bucks in earnest money, but it's more or less made up with the relocation. So basically we're breaking even. I feel better though since we don't have to worry about another house to rent or sell.
The move is still on for next weekend (the 9th). The movers are going to pack everything, so uh, not much to do. Guess I should finally get all the papers in order and pack them away for carrying in the car. That's ... about it, I guess.
This weekend I'm off on a solo trip to Pittsburgh to meet up with Brandon and go to the Monday Night Steelers game. Many photos sure to follow.
Photos from our jaunt down to Louisville this past weekend up on flickr, by the by.
The move is still on for next weekend (the 9th). The movers are going to pack everything, so uh, not much to do. Guess I should finally get all the papers in order and pack them away for carrying in the car. That's ... about it, I guess.
This weekend I'm off on a solo trip to Pittsburgh to meet up with Brandon and go to the Monday Night Steelers game. Many photos sure to follow.
Photos from our jaunt down to Louisville this past weekend up on flickr, by the by.
Monday, October 22
Cheap insurance
Eventually a trip report from Chicago, but first some rather exciting news:
Maria has her driver's license!
Friday around noon we headed to the BMV so she could take her scheduled test. She drove there, and Asim fell asleep. I waited around in the room, nervous as anything, and after about 25 minutes, she came back smiling! Asim woke up while I was waiting and proceeded to walk around and make friends with everyone there. Not sure where he gets that from.
Anyway, after Maria came back, Asim befriended a girl about 8 months older and when it was time to leave, she started crying and freaking out. Way to go son, breaking hearts already. Nice.
So there's still a good bit of learning, practice and whatnot for Maria, but for now she's free to roam about the country. I guess all the yelling, screaming and pointing paid off as far as teaching goes. Now I know what to do for Asim at least. Sunday I called the insurance company (Liberty Mutual -- they have the non-annoying ads) and put her on the policy. I was kind of annoyed at the prospect of this simply because I knew it would raise the premium. I thought it would be by a fairly significant amount -- we pay a little over a hundred bucks a month for the two cars.
The insurance company didn't know I was married. So what? Well, it does make a difference. After putting me in the "married" category and adding her as a first-time driver, our premium went ... down. That's right. And I'm going to get a refund on this year from what I already overpaid. Dang.
I expect it to go down even further when we move to Omaha in a few short weeks here. Particularly when they ask me, "how far do you drive to work?" I don't! Ha!
Maria has her driver's license!
Friday around noon we headed to the BMV so she could take her scheduled test. She drove there, and Asim fell asleep. I waited around in the room, nervous as anything, and after about 25 minutes, she came back smiling! Asim woke up while I was waiting and proceeded to walk around and make friends with everyone there. Not sure where he gets that from.
Anyway, after Maria came back, Asim befriended a girl about 8 months older and when it was time to leave, she started crying and freaking out. Way to go son, breaking hearts already. Nice.
So there's still a good bit of learning, practice and whatnot for Maria, but for now she's free to roam about the country. I guess all the yelling, screaming and pointing paid off as far as teaching goes. Now I know what to do for Asim at least. Sunday I called the insurance company (Liberty Mutual -- they have the non-annoying ads) and put her on the policy. I was kind of annoyed at the prospect of this simply because I knew it would raise the premium. I thought it would be by a fairly significant amount -- we pay a little over a hundred bucks a month for the two cars.
The insurance company didn't know I was married. So what? Well, it does make a difference. After putting me in the "married" category and adding her as a first-time driver, our premium went ... down. That's right. And I'm going to get a refund on this year from what I already overpaid. Dang.
I expect it to go down even further when we move to Omaha in a few short weeks here. Particularly when they ask me, "how far do you drive to work?" I don't! Ha!
Thursday, October 18
Buyer's remorse
So have you tried this Priceline thing? It's quite glorious. On the way back from Omaha, Maria remarked that she's still not been to Chicago. "We're going next weekend." Better now than never, I suppose.
With that, I went online last night to find a hotel room. I tried the Priceline. Half off the room's quoted rate on their own Web site! Of course after that I wondered if I could have gone even lower. No matter. A lesson for later.
I haven't made any real plans for the Chicago, though. Friday night we wanted to get up to Devon Ave and check out all the Indo-Pak offerings. Saturday'll be for just walking around downtown and seeing some sights. I'm sure we can quickly pick up a walking tour while at the hotel or something on Friday night.
Saturday evening it's off to Ikea for some small housewares purchasing. There's no Ikea anywhere near Omaha. Have you been to the Ikea in Chicago? It's bigger than most hockey arenas with a parking lot bigger than most football stadiums. I'm not kidding. Check it out on the satellite.
Also, I sold out and got a new phone. An iPhone. I know, I know. But I got it to talk to the work mail account, so I can legitimately use it for work and pass off some of the costs. It's actually really nice. And it's got a really crappy camera, too! The fun part will be taking photos while in Chicago and then instantly uploading them to the Flickr page. Oh boy, bet you can't wait for that nonsense.
With that, I went online last night to find a hotel room. I tried the Priceline. Half off the room's quoted rate on their own Web site! Of course after that I wondered if I could have gone even lower. No matter. A lesson for later.
I haven't made any real plans for the Chicago, though. Friday night we wanted to get up to Devon Ave and check out all the Indo-Pak offerings. Saturday'll be for just walking around downtown and seeing some sights. I'm sure we can quickly pick up a walking tour while at the hotel or something on Friday night.
Saturday evening it's off to Ikea for some small housewares purchasing. There's no Ikea anywhere near Omaha. Have you been to the Ikea in Chicago? It's bigger than most hockey arenas with a parking lot bigger than most football stadiums. I'm not kidding. Check it out on the satellite.
Also, I sold out and got a new phone. An iPhone. I know, I know. But I got it to talk to the work mail account, so I can legitimately use it for work and pass off some of the costs. It's actually really nice. And it's got a really crappy camera, too! The fun part will be taking photos while in Chicago and then instantly uploading them to the Flickr page. Oh boy, bet you can't wait for that nonsense.
Sunday, October 14
Something of a trip report
Ok, so the trip to Omaha started off pretty crappy. Namely, I didn't have my driver's license when I got to the Southwest ticket counter in Indy. But it's all good! You don't actually need a government ID to fly. They just check you extra-good at the gate.
But that wasn't all. Asim didn't bring his passport or birth certificate, and they need some proof of age when parents say their kids are under 2. So a call to the pediatrician's office and a fax later, we were all set.
Of course when I got to the extra-frisky section of the security, I emptied my pockets and lo and behold, driver's license. Notice I was wearing shorts. I remembered that I had taken my ID out about a week ago when I went to the club ... probably just forgot to put it back. What's that? You went to the club wearing shorts? Yeah, it was pretty funny. That's the kind of stuff you do when you just don't care. (Read: married with kid.)
Anyway, of course after we get through security, er rather, after I got through, the wife and baby were nowhere to be found. Go down one full concourse. No. Go down the other. No. Go back to the first. Yes, they're there. But where's the diaper bag? Oh, back at security. Doh.
Southwest now has family boarding, too. Which means that after the A group boards, people traveling with children under 5 get to board. Yay! Particularly because we were in group C (for the whole trip. Although Adam has told me how to get my group A on.)
Seats were good, comfy, large enough. The three of us had three seats, and Asim slept on the way to Midway and then was very amiable on the way to Omaha.
When we got to Omaha, there were two dodgy-looking ladies waiting at the Hertz counter, with the Hertz Helper on the phone. Great. After a few more minutes, a supervisor showed up, didn't do much and then stood around. Any Gold members? No, not here. Asim was walking around, and I rather loudly said to him, "Asim, come here so we can stand around for half an hour." Not sure if the supervisor heard me or not, but seconds after that comment he told me I could step up. After I handed him my driver's license, he helpfully asked me what my name was.
The drive to the hotel was rather short. If you look at the map, you can see how close Eppley Field is to downtown. Very nice. Hilton Garden Inn, fourth floor. Not a huge room, but good enough. Asim finally stretched his legs some more, and after a while we headed downstairs for dinner.
Tuesday morning, time to check out some newer homes. Very nice, very small, very suburban.
Tuesday afternoon, off to work. Nothing too crazy there other than a career suicide via conference call. Bizarre. Basically a contractor to our company (older guy) getting annoyed at the 2.5 hour call going nowhere. (It was going somewhere, albeit slowly). We were all stunned; he later got a call to take a hike.
Anyway.
Tuesday evening, more houses. Saw a bunch that were spectacularly ugly. I feel bad for the people selling them since they can't possibly ever get a buyer. If they do, I'd feel bad for the buyer since they'd have atrocious taste.
Wednesday morning, work. Wednesday afternoon, call from loan officer. Uh, yeah, loan's gonna be kind of tricky to do. No matter. Plan B. Rental.
Wednesday evening, go check out some rentals. Pretty bad. Very bad, actually. Converted lofts, old appliances, vinyl floors, smelly hallways.
Thursday we check out the place across the street from the hotel. It's a condo building. There's an owner who's renting his place -- he was thinking about listing it but then decided on a rental.
Yes, yes, yes. You saw the floorplan, but it's half the story. Stainless all around, nice carpet in the bedrooms, hardwood floors in the living, ceramic tile in the bathroom with classy fixtures. The place is only two years old. Sixth floor, elevator building, quiet, and oh yeah, as I said before, walk to work.
Other than that, we really tried to have a good time since it's all on the relocation tab. We ate out constantly. Upstream Brewery downtown, Old Chicago, PF Chang's (we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out ... nothing.) Chipotle (ha! Gotta stick a burrito in there somewhere). Asim put up with everything really well, particularly the walking around downtown and earlier house-hunting bit.
And although the house search didn't come through, I think if we're still in Omaha in a year we'd definitely buy. It was kind of hard to tell anything about the various builders or communities. It all seemed like a blur.
Oh, and to clarify one thing. We can't just walk out on our house here. We have to close. Apparently I signed a contract. Dangit. It's not that big of a deal only because the relocation will cover the mortgage until it sells. Of course, if you're playing along at home, you're probably wondering ... well, if you didn't get approved out there for a mortgage, how are you going to close on a place here?
Well, we'll just have to find out in December, won't we?
But that wasn't all. Asim didn't bring his passport or birth certificate, and they need some proof of age when parents say their kids are under 2. So a call to the pediatrician's office and a fax later, we were all set.
Of course when I got to the extra-frisky section of the security, I emptied my pockets and lo and behold, driver's license. Notice I was wearing shorts. I remembered that I had taken my ID out about a week ago when I went to the club ... probably just forgot to put it back. What's that? You went to the club wearing shorts? Yeah, it was pretty funny. That's the kind of stuff you do when you just don't care. (Read: married with kid.)
Anyway, of course after we get through security, er rather, after I got through, the wife and baby were nowhere to be found. Go down one full concourse. No. Go down the other. No. Go back to the first. Yes, they're there. But where's the diaper bag? Oh, back at security. Doh.
Southwest now has family boarding, too. Which means that after the A group boards, people traveling with children under 5 get to board. Yay! Particularly because we were in group C (for the whole trip. Although Adam has told me how to get my group A on.)
Seats were good, comfy, large enough. The three of us had three seats, and Asim slept on the way to Midway and then was very amiable on the way to Omaha.
When we got to Omaha, there were two dodgy-looking ladies waiting at the Hertz counter, with the Hertz Helper on the phone. Great. After a few more minutes, a supervisor showed up, didn't do much and then stood around. Any Gold members? No, not here. Asim was walking around, and I rather loudly said to him, "Asim, come here so we can stand around for half an hour." Not sure if the supervisor heard me or not, but seconds after that comment he told me I could step up. After I handed him my driver's license, he helpfully asked me what my name was.
The drive to the hotel was rather short. If you look at the map, you can see how close Eppley Field is to downtown. Very nice. Hilton Garden Inn, fourth floor. Not a huge room, but good enough. Asim finally stretched his legs some more, and after a while we headed downstairs for dinner.
Tuesday morning, time to check out some newer homes. Very nice, very small, very suburban.
Tuesday afternoon, off to work. Nothing too crazy there other than a career suicide via conference call. Bizarre. Basically a contractor to our company (older guy) getting annoyed at the 2.5 hour call going nowhere. (It was going somewhere, albeit slowly). We were all stunned; he later got a call to take a hike.
Anyway.
Tuesday evening, more houses. Saw a bunch that were spectacularly ugly. I feel bad for the people selling them since they can't possibly ever get a buyer. If they do, I'd feel bad for the buyer since they'd have atrocious taste.
Wednesday morning, work. Wednesday afternoon, call from loan officer. Uh, yeah, loan's gonna be kind of tricky to do. No matter. Plan B. Rental.
Wednesday evening, go check out some rentals. Pretty bad. Very bad, actually. Converted lofts, old appliances, vinyl floors, smelly hallways.
Thursday we check out the place across the street from the hotel. It's a condo building. There's an owner who's renting his place -- he was thinking about listing it but then decided on a rental.
Yes, yes, yes. You saw the floorplan, but it's half the story. Stainless all around, nice carpet in the bedrooms, hardwood floors in the living, ceramic tile in the bathroom with classy fixtures. The place is only two years old. Sixth floor, elevator building, quiet, and oh yeah, as I said before, walk to work.
Other than that, we really tried to have a good time since it's all on the relocation tab. We ate out constantly. Upstream Brewery downtown, Old Chicago, PF Chang's (we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out ... nothing.) Chipotle (ha! Gotta stick a burrito in there somewhere). Asim put up with everything really well, particularly the walking around downtown and earlier house-hunting bit.
And although the house search didn't come through, I think if we're still in Omaha in a year we'd definitely buy. It was kind of hard to tell anything about the various builders or communities. It all seemed like a blur.
Oh, and to clarify one thing. We can't just walk out on our house here. We have to close. Apparently I signed a contract. Dangit. It's not that big of a deal only because the relocation will cover the mortgage until it sells. Of course, if you're playing along at home, you're probably wondering ... well, if you didn't get approved out there for a mortgage, how are you going to close on a place here?
Well, we'll just have to find out in December, won't we?
Friday, October 12
Look how good I am to you
Here's the floorplan. Corner unit! Windows! One parking space! Oh, right. Well, we'll just rent another one. Sixth floor, public roof deck with grills. All in all about six blocks from the office, four from the heart of Omaha.
The 'ha
We went to the 'ha this week.
It was good.
We did not buy a house.
We did sign a lease for a swanky downtown condo, though.
No photos. I was terrible about that.
Omaha work start date is Nov. 12.
I can walk to work.
It was good.
We did not buy a house.
We did sign a lease for a swanky downtown condo, though.
No photos. I was terrible about that.
Omaha work start date is Nov. 12.
I can walk to work.
Monday, October 8
And this is why we need a newer house
So after a lot of online looking, I have concluded that we need to buy a newer house out in the 'ha. I think this photo will explain why.
I mean, what's going on here? There's a bed, a fireplace and a bathtub. Let's look at that again. Bed, fireplace and tub. Is that a sink in the corner? So is this leaning toward a bathroom? Are those then plastic sheets? Is this like, the ultimate Ladies Man Room? Where's the little fridge? What on earth would make anyone want to do this to a family room/bathroom/bedroom in the first place, let alone take a photo of it and advertise it? Upon further inspection, is that carpet under the bed? So they tiled around the bed? This photo might explain why I've had a headache since last Thursday.
I can't find the charger for our bloody digital camera, so who knows how long the house-hunting-photography will last. But no matter what, you'll eventually get some evidence of the escapade.
I mean, what's going on here? There's a bed, a fireplace and a bathtub. Let's look at that again. Bed, fireplace and tub. Is that a sink in the corner? So is this leaning toward a bathroom? Are those then plastic sheets? Is this like, the ultimate Ladies Man Room? Where's the little fridge? What on earth would make anyone want to do this to a family room/bathroom/bedroom in the first place, let alone take a photo of it and advertise it? Upon further inspection, is that carpet under the bed? So they tiled around the bed? This photo might explain why I've had a headache since last Thursday.
I can't find the charger for our bloody digital camera, so who knows how long the house-hunting-photography will last. But no matter what, you'll eventually get some evidence of the escapade.
Thursday, October 4
Moving
Ok, so we're moving to Omaha. I sent out an e-mail about this, so if you didn't get it, it means I haven't talked to you in forever and a day.
Much of this is rehashed from that e-mail ... like, we're moving sometime in November, we're bailing on the house, and we'll be there house-hunting next week.
I've been looking quite a bit around online at stuff, and it seems that there are three main options for living -- downtown, midtown and the burbs.
Downtown would be great because I could walk to work, we could walk to the Omaha Old Market, and it's closer to the airport since I'll be traveling a decent bit for this position. However, the homes are smaller and not really homes -- more like townhouses and lofts. In our price range, 2,000 sq. ft. is a stretch.
Midtown has a bunch of older homes in established neighborhoods. I think there are some things to walk to, and the distance to the office would be about 3-4 miles, doable by bike. The cons are older homes that might have hidden problems and resale on the other side. The nice thing would be a lot more space, a small yard and quiet.
The burbs. Well, you know the deal. Drive everywhere, cookie cutter, at least 3,000 sq. ft. big yard, but in the best school district (and why would we bother living anywhere but there) it's about a 16-20 mile drive into town.
I just feel that if I have the opportunity to completely rid myself of any kind of driving commute I should. But then again we'll have to see if the stuff downtown is even big enough to consider -- I think it is. And who cares anyway? Asim will take up whatever space we give him if it's 200 sq. ft or 1,000. And why wouldn't I want to be able to walk home for lunch?
Much of this is rehashed from that e-mail ... like, we're moving sometime in November, we're bailing on the house, and we'll be there house-hunting next week.
I've been looking quite a bit around online at stuff, and it seems that there are three main options for living -- downtown, midtown and the burbs.
Downtown would be great because I could walk to work, we could walk to the Omaha Old Market, and it's closer to the airport since I'll be traveling a decent bit for this position. However, the homes are smaller and not really homes -- more like townhouses and lofts. In our price range, 2,000 sq. ft. is a stretch.
Midtown has a bunch of older homes in established neighborhoods. I think there are some things to walk to, and the distance to the office would be about 3-4 miles, doable by bike. The cons are older homes that might have hidden problems and resale on the other side. The nice thing would be a lot more space, a small yard and quiet.
The burbs. Well, you know the deal. Drive everywhere, cookie cutter, at least 3,000 sq. ft. big yard, but in the best school district (and why would we bother living anywhere but there) it's about a 16-20 mile drive into town.
I just feel that if I have the opportunity to completely rid myself of any kind of driving commute I should. But then again we'll have to see if the stuff downtown is even big enough to consider -- I think it is. And who cares anyway? Asim will take up whatever space we give him if it's 200 sq. ft or 1,000. And why wouldn't I want to be able to walk home for lunch?
Monday, September 24
The Ville
Saturday the brother and I went to watch Louisville play Syracuse. I think I mentioned this before but had the date wrong. Whatever. Anyway, I was expecting to see the Cardinals beat the snot out of Syracuse (I hate Syracuse) but uh, no. First play of the game for Syracuse after the kickoff? Yeah, a touchdown pass. I was like, "uh, what?" Fortunately we had already eaten our nachos by then, so things weren't too bad. But when they continued to pour it on and break away, the confusion only got worse. Add the blistering heat (to me, anyway) and a mid-fourth-quarter departure was in the cards. Somehow in the six minutes before the end of the game (the walk out to the parking lot) Louisville managed to score two more touchdowns. But the comeback was not to be and they lost by 3.
My brother got the tickets through work, so I was pretty happy that I didn't pay for them. They also came with a parking pass which was even nicer. And getting into and out of the lot took about 10 minutes which made me really happy. Not too many dumbasses trying to figure out where to go.
Even though Pitt also lost on Saturday, so did penn state and notre dame. The notre dame thing really makes me happy, though. And did you see that Navy won? Yeah, I think they might have a decent chance this year against notre dame. Now that would be special.
I posted more photos of the house on the ol' flickr account. There's also a good bit of notes and comments for the photos. Oddly enough, though, they haven't done anything on it for a week. Oh well. Guess that's how the schedule rolls. If there's nothing more done by the end of this week, though, I might have to make some calls.
Oh, random safety tip. Have you checked the air pressure in your tires lately? I did. The one tire in the back is supposed to be at 42 psi cold. It was at 15. No joke. The others were pretty low as well. I busted out the bike pump and got them leveled off. Yeah, that's right. You can fill a car tire with a bicycle pump. It's just a bit of work.
No bike ride into work today, but I'm hoping for tomorrow. Am fasting today, though.
My brother got the tickets through work, so I was pretty happy that I didn't pay for them. They also came with a parking pass which was even nicer. And getting into and out of the lot took about 10 minutes which made me really happy. Not too many dumbasses trying to figure out where to go.
Even though Pitt also lost on Saturday, so did penn state and notre dame. The notre dame thing really makes me happy, though. And did you see that Navy won? Yeah, I think they might have a decent chance this year against notre dame. Now that would be special.
I posted more photos of the house on the ol' flickr account. There's also a good bit of notes and comments for the photos. Oddly enough, though, they haven't done anything on it for a week. Oh well. Guess that's how the schedule rolls. If there's nothing more done by the end of this week, though, I might have to make some calls.
Oh, random safety tip. Have you checked the air pressure in your tires lately? I did. The one tire in the back is supposed to be at 42 psi cold. It was at 15. No joke. The others were pretty low as well. I busted out the bike pump and got them leveled off. Yeah, that's right. You can fill a car tire with a bicycle pump. It's just a bit of work.
No bike ride into work today, but I'm hoping for tomorrow. Am fasting today, though.
Tuesday, September 11
Sports fan
So on Sunday Dario Franchitti, a racecar driver who won this year's Indy 500, also clinched the season championship. Here's the thing. I am a fan of Dario's. Not a huge fan, but he's the guy who I quietly root for when I watch IRL racing. And the reason? Cause we share the same birthday.
Yep, that's it.
I've often wondered how people choose singular athletes to root for. I mean, how do you choose a tennis player? A golf player? Well, here are a few "singular" sports and the people I root for and why. The reasons are all kind of random and stupid, but hey, if it's not the town you grew up in (or went to college in) what else is there?
Nascar: Tony Stewart. Um, he drives the Home Depot car? And even though I usually do prefer Lowe's, Walz already roots for Jimmie Johnson. So we gotta do the ying and yang thing. Besides, Home Depot is really close to the condo in Pittsburgh, our first house. Also, Tony's birthday is the day after mine. (I'm big on this birthday thing, can't you tell?)
Golf: Jim Furyk. Well that one's easy. He graduated from Township.
Men's tennis: Andy Roddick. He hosted SNL. I'm a big fan of SNL.
Women's tennis: Maria Sharapova. She does Canon commercials. And boy, do I love those little point and shoot cameras!
ChampCar: Graham Rahal. This is a real stretch because I never watch this at all. But I met Bobby Rahal (Graham's dad) in the Pittsburgh airport once, and he talked to me. So that was cool. First famous person I've ever talked to.
Cycling: Floyd! Floyd! Go Lancaster! Although if he loses the Tour title I'll have to find someone else. Probably another American at least. But we'll keep our hopes with Floyd. Floyd!
Speaking of sports, this weekend I'm going down to Louisville to watch them beat the snot out of Syracuse. I'm pretty stoked. The Pitt-Louisville game is Homecoming for the Cardinals, so tickets weren't available. I guess I'll wear a red shirt with a Pittsburgh t-shirt underneath.
Yep, that's it.
I've often wondered how people choose singular athletes to root for. I mean, how do you choose a tennis player? A golf player? Well, here are a few "singular" sports and the people I root for and why. The reasons are all kind of random and stupid, but hey, if it's not the town you grew up in (or went to college in) what else is there?
Nascar: Tony Stewart. Um, he drives the Home Depot car? And even though I usually do prefer Lowe's, Walz already roots for Jimmie Johnson. So we gotta do the ying and yang thing. Besides, Home Depot is really close to the condo in Pittsburgh, our first house. Also, Tony's birthday is the day after mine. (I'm big on this birthday thing, can't you tell?)
Golf: Jim Furyk. Well that one's easy. He graduated from Township.
Men's tennis: Andy Roddick. He hosted SNL. I'm a big fan of SNL.
Women's tennis: Maria Sharapova. She does Canon commercials. And boy, do I love those little point and shoot cameras!
ChampCar: Graham Rahal. This is a real stretch because I never watch this at all. But I met Bobby Rahal (Graham's dad) in the Pittsburgh airport once, and he talked to me. So that was cool. First famous person I've ever talked to.
Cycling: Floyd! Floyd! Go Lancaster! Although if he loses the Tour title I'll have to find someone else. Probably another American at least. But we'll keep our hopes with Floyd. Floyd!
Speaking of sports, this weekend I'm going down to Louisville to watch them beat the snot out of Syracuse. I'm pretty stoked. The Pitt-Louisville game is Homecoming for the Cardinals, so tickets weren't available. I guess I'll wear a red shirt with a Pittsburgh t-shirt underneath.
Thursday, September 6
Still riding
Rode the bike into work today after a bunch of days of not doing so. The best excuse again has been the heat. It's annoying, and I don't feel like putting up with it. Of course this morning it was suprisingly humid, and instead of a nice 84 degrees this evening, it looks like rain. Well, I suppose rain and 80-odd degrees won't be that bad.
Asim is also walking, by the way. Those of you up on the flickr stream are aware of this. We're pretty happy about this -- he just turned 11 months yesterday. There aren't too many places to walk to in the apartment, and we finally got him some shoes yesterday. I'll have to get some photos of those as they're mighty cute.
Asim is also walking, by the way. Those of you up on the flickr stream are aware of this. We're pretty happy about this -- he just turned 11 months yesterday. There aren't too many places to walk to in the apartment, and we finally got him some shoes yesterday. I'll have to get some photos of those as they're mighty cute.
Thursday, August 30
Coffee or tea?
This first paragraph is going to be a metaphor because sometimes I like to be shady. And sometimes I like to tell some people all of the stuff I know, and all of the people some of the stuff I know. Anyway, there's a pot of water boiling on the stove right now. I'm used to drinking tea every day, but maybe this time it'll be coffee. The strange thing of course is that even if it is coffee, I can still drink tea instead. The annoying thing is that I have no idea when the pot will come to a boil. I thought it started whistling earlier this week, but I was wrong.
Anyway.
Things have been a bit slow here at work, but I think they'll break one way or the other pretty soon. The big news on the home front is twofold: Our house has got a basement now and Walz got married (photos on flickr.)
Ah yes, the house. I had the meeting with the construction guy yesterday at lunch. It went very well. We went over the options and the blueprints, and overall I have a very warm and fuzzy feeling on the process. They're open to visits anytime, and if we need to move an electrical outlet a foot this way or that, it's easy to let them know. He also mentioned several times that it's really a beautiful house we've got here. Now, I suppose he does maybe say that to everybody, but it certainly got me to thinking -- damn right. This is a freakin' nice house.
Per Walz'z wedding. We drove first to Lancaster to see the parents on Thursday. We left at 6 a.m., which I was pretty stoked about. The 5 a.m. departure was a bit ambitious, but hey, 6 is good. The drive took 9.5 hours with two pretty healthy stops and another small stop here and there. We were really in no hurry which was nice. Thursday evening, ice cream with Keli & Preston. Friday evening (after a day of chilling) we went to Ilamor in Doylestown. (That would be friends Ila & Amor. Get it?) We stayed there until Saturday morning (more chilling at Ilamor, playing with Asim, etc., (the weather was pretty bloody hot on Saturday)) and then off to Center City Philly for the wedding.
Here's the thing.
It was bloody hot.
Maria and Asim stayed at the hotel while I got my social on at the wedding. And just as well for them, I suppose. There was a non-air-conditioned church and then a good bit of strolling about outside. Oy. I seriously considered going to buy another dress shirt since the one I was wearing was disgustingly soaked. But here's the thing. That was the only issue -- and really, not anybody's fault. The whole rest of the wedding was spectacular. The ceremony was well-timed and emotional, the smaller guest list easier to manage and the reception a good time to catch up with friends.
Sunday morning we had brunch with many of the wedding guests and then headed back to Lancaster for an hour or so. Then back to Indy! We moved things along a little better and made it back in 9 hours.
As if I didn't do enough driving, I got to work on Monday and was asked to drive to Cincinnati for the afternoon for some work-related stuff. Yay! Four more total hours of driving!
Tuesday I rode the bike in. Very nice. Had to change a flat tire before the ride. Not very nice.
This weekend we're off to Louisville and Nashvegas.
Anyway.
Things have been a bit slow here at work, but I think they'll break one way or the other pretty soon. The big news on the home front is twofold: Our house has got a basement now and Walz got married (photos on flickr.)
Ah yes, the house. I had the meeting with the construction guy yesterday at lunch. It went very well. We went over the options and the blueprints, and overall I have a very warm and fuzzy feeling on the process. They're open to visits anytime, and if we need to move an electrical outlet a foot this way or that, it's easy to let them know. He also mentioned several times that it's really a beautiful house we've got here. Now, I suppose he does maybe say that to everybody, but it certainly got me to thinking -- damn right. This is a freakin' nice house.
Per Walz'z wedding. We drove first to Lancaster to see the parents on Thursday. We left at 6 a.m., which I was pretty stoked about. The 5 a.m. departure was a bit ambitious, but hey, 6 is good. The drive took 9.5 hours with two pretty healthy stops and another small stop here and there. We were really in no hurry which was nice. Thursday evening, ice cream with Keli & Preston. Friday evening (after a day of chilling) we went to Ilamor in Doylestown. (That would be friends Ila & Amor. Get it?) We stayed there until Saturday morning (more chilling at Ilamor, playing with Asim, etc., (the weather was pretty bloody hot on Saturday)) and then off to Center City Philly for the wedding.
Here's the thing.
It was bloody hot.
Maria and Asim stayed at the hotel while I got my social on at the wedding. And just as well for them, I suppose. There was a non-air-conditioned church and then a good bit of strolling about outside. Oy. I seriously considered going to buy another dress shirt since the one I was wearing was disgustingly soaked. But here's the thing. That was the only issue -- and really, not anybody's fault. The whole rest of the wedding was spectacular. The ceremony was well-timed and emotional, the smaller guest list easier to manage and the reception a good time to catch up with friends.
Sunday morning we had brunch with many of the wedding guests and then headed back to Lancaster for an hour or so. Then back to Indy! We moved things along a little better and made it back in 9 hours.
As if I didn't do enough driving, I got to work on Monday and was asked to drive to Cincinnati for the afternoon for some work-related stuff. Yay! Four more total hours of driving!
Tuesday I rode the bike in. Very nice. Had to change a flat tire before the ride. Not very nice.
This weekend we're off to Louisville and Nashvegas.
Tuesday, August 21
Camera
Well, boredom struck me last week, and I decided to buy another camera. I've been meaning to do this for quite some time now, and finally, it's here. The camera I bought is nearly, what, 6 years old? It's a Nikon D1H, a digital SLR.
When this camera first came out, it was more than $4,000. It's about 1/10 of that price now, so since the kid is picking up speed, a good time to buy.
I put up some photos on flickr that I took last night. Some with a flash (mostly) and some without. I'm still playing around with the thing and getting used to it. It's big and heavy (the reasons I bought it) but insanely quick. The flash I've had forever, and it seems to do a great job in lighting up the entire room when bounced off the ceiling. I think the camera will get a lot of outdoor use. I bought a 50mm f/1.8 lens, so it's pretty quick but it gets bumped up to a 75mm thanks to the 1.5x crop of the digital camera. Good for portraits, bad for large groups. Whatever.
Oh, and they've started the house! There's a hole in the ground and some concrete there. It's been raining like crazy for the past two days, so I don't think it's much further than that. I have a meeting with the construction supervisor next Wednesday.
This weekend we're off to Philly for a wedding. Next weekend (Labor Day) we may be heading down to Louisville and onto Nashville. The camera should get a lot of use.
When this camera first came out, it was more than $4,000. It's about 1/10 of that price now, so since the kid is picking up speed, a good time to buy.
I put up some photos on flickr that I took last night. Some with a flash (mostly) and some without. I'm still playing around with the thing and getting used to it. It's big and heavy (the reasons I bought it) but insanely quick. The flash I've had forever, and it seems to do a great job in lighting up the entire room when bounced off the ceiling. I think the camera will get a lot of outdoor use. I bought a 50mm f/1.8 lens, so it's pretty quick but it gets bumped up to a 75mm thanks to the 1.5x crop of the digital camera. Good for portraits, bad for large groups. Whatever.
Oh, and they've started the house! There's a hole in the ground and some concrete there. It's been raining like crazy for the past two days, so I don't think it's much further than that. I have a meeting with the construction supervisor next Wednesday.
This weekend we're off to Philly for a wedding. Next weekend (Labor Day) we may be heading down to Louisville and onto Nashville. The camera should get a lot of use.
Wednesday, August 15
So, what, Sunday?
Eh, less than enthusiastic about wrapping up the Pittsburgh week. Anyway, we had to work until literally the last minute. Adam thankfully changed to a later flight; Turner ended up taking him to the airport so I could keep on working. And I didn't get finished til 6 p.m. on Sunday and that didn't even include caulking the moulding, so it kind of looks like crap. Not happy about that.
I finished a bunch of the moulding after they left as well as getting rid of the moulding we tore out. Keep in mind that it's in 10' sections or so, but since I hastily bought a chop saw on Sunday morning, I made quick work of it, cutting it into sections and then tossing it out. It took me a full hour just to clean, sweep and get all the tools into the car -- and some crap into the storage closet.
I got home at midnight and went to work the next day. I was sore for the early part of the week.
The next weekend we went to Louisville to see the brother and his family. They moved there the weekend I was in Pittsburgh. It's a really short -- just over 2 hours -- drive from here, so I'm thrilled about that.
The week after that (this past week) was hotter than anything here. No bike riding, sadly. Much sitting around inside. Early this week it was fairly warm, but finally, today, Wednesday! And it's nice out. Or nicer. I rode in this morning. I didn't change the flat tire, instead opting to chance the slimed tire. Oh well. I have two extra tubes on me. I still don't have a computer, so I'm guessing again it took about an hour to cover the 15-odd miles. I'm hoping to make the rest of this week in on bike as well.
On MyCyclingLog, they have a goal-setting feature. I figured that doing the equivalent distance from Indy to San Francisco might be fun. And I'm already 23% of the way there! So I need to average 12-ish miles a day until 12/31 to achieve the goal. Each commuting day is 30 miles, and September and October should be filled with some prime riding action.
Actually, let's see, about 1760 miles remains. Four commuting days a week is 120 miles. So, eh, about 15 weeks. Then again, if I do a few rides on the weekends, that'll pad the total nicely.
I finished a bunch of the moulding after they left as well as getting rid of the moulding we tore out. Keep in mind that it's in 10' sections or so, but since I hastily bought a chop saw on Sunday morning, I made quick work of it, cutting it into sections and then tossing it out. It took me a full hour just to clean, sweep and get all the tools into the car -- and some crap into the storage closet.
I got home at midnight and went to work the next day. I was sore for the early part of the week.
The next weekend we went to Louisville to see the brother and his family. They moved there the weekend I was in Pittsburgh. It's a really short -- just over 2 hours -- drive from here, so I'm thrilled about that.
The week after that (this past week) was hotter than anything here. No bike riding, sadly. Much sitting around inside. Early this week it was fairly warm, but finally, today, Wednesday! And it's nice out. Or nicer. I rode in this morning. I didn't change the flat tire, instead opting to chance the slimed tire. Oh well. I have two extra tubes on me. I still don't have a computer, so I'm guessing again it took about an hour to cover the 15-odd miles. I'm hoping to make the rest of this week in on bike as well.
On MyCyclingLog, they have a goal-setting feature. I figured that doing the equivalent distance from Indy to San Francisco might be fun. And I'm already 23% of the way there! So I need to average 12-ish miles a day until 12/31 to achieve the goal. Each commuting day is 30 miles, and September and October should be filled with some prime riding action.
Actually, let's see, about 1760 miles remains. Four commuting days a week is 120 miles. So, eh, about 15 weeks. Then again, if I do a few rides on the weekends, that'll pad the total nicely.
Monday, August 6
Thursday and onward
So Thursday came around, and we managed to get the window fixed. This took nearly 5 hours and required some serious Pittsburgh adventuring.
First stop, Ryan's Autoglass in Sharpsburg. "Well, we can do it, but it won't be ready til Monday or Tuesday. And it'll be 80 bucks." No. They refer us to a place in Millvale.
Second stop, Pittsburgh Door and Window, Millvale. The nicest lady ever, who thought that we have all day to fart around finding a window. She did refer us to a place down in the South Hills. I called, the salesguy was busy, I asked for directions, off we went.
On the way to Brookside, we had a run-in with the law. We'll just go ahead and add that to the cost of the window.
Anyway.
Brookside Lumber, Brookside. "Brian" doesn't bother getting up from this seat way in the back surrounded by doors and windows. "I don't know what kind of window it is. It doesn't have a number. Was there one on the glass?" No. "Well, there was." No, dumbass, there wasn't. It's an Anderson, by the way. The two people before us told us that. "I'm not sure if it's an Anderson." I want to throw him through a display. "Let me get a hinge to check. I think it'll be too small."
The hinge fits perfectly.
Well, I can order it. How long will it take? A month.
What?
Can't you expedite it? No, because everytime UPS delivers a window, it breaks.
Nevermind why it would take a month to get here from whereever they make windows. He then tells us of a place in an industrial park.
Roush Glass, undisclosed location (can't remember). We go in, the place smells like smoke. The lady behind the counter who sounds like Joan Rivers tells us that "the guys aren't in right now," and she "doesn't know when they'll get back." I'm a bit hesitant, but I go ahead and leave the window and my out-of-state number with them, expecting absolutely nothing at this point.
Adam and I then go up to Vincent's of Greentree in PNC Park for some excellent pizza. That is followed by another trip out to Lumber Liquidators for the rest of the flooring. (First batch gathered on Wednesday on the way back from the airport.)
We get back to the condo and continue cleaning out the carpet remnants and start tearing out the tack strips and moulding. Miraculously, the glass place calls near 5 p.m. Your window is done.
Done. Sweetness. I wonder how much it is, expecting something close to $120-150.
Friday, and it's finally time to paint! First thing in the morning we start the painting, Adam taking the guest room and me taking the master bedroom.
After the first coat, we head out and get the window. Cost? $48. This is one of the highpoints of the trip. I contemplate breaking the rest of the windows since this one is much higher quality.
Now then, I need to consult with Adam on the rest of the weekend, because the timeline is getting a bit fuzzy. Well, heck, here's sort of what happened.
We did the floor in the guest bedroom first. It was really slow at first, but after a while we got a little system going. After some more time, we realized the floor was slightly crooked. We tried to fix it, but hey, that's life. It adds some character, no?
Turner and Melissa actually helped us out with the master bedroom flooring. We had a really good train rolling for a while until we hit the doorways, which was annoying and painfully slow.
The master is definitely crooked, but again, it's hard to tell. The edges are neatly covered by the trim -- which isn't real wood, but nicely primed and painted plastic stuff that's easy to work with -- so it goes quicker.
Other fun things from the weekend ...
I got to use a pneumatic nail gun for the first time. It was all I thought it would be and much more. At one point, I thought there wasn't a stud behind some of the trim. I thought the nails were going right through the damp drywall. No! You're out of nails, dumbass.
More later.
First stop, Ryan's Autoglass in Sharpsburg. "Well, we can do it, but it won't be ready til Monday or Tuesday. And it'll be 80 bucks." No. They refer us to a place in Millvale.
Second stop, Pittsburgh Door and Window, Millvale. The nicest lady ever, who thought that we have all day to fart around finding a window. She did refer us to a place down in the South Hills. I called, the salesguy was busy, I asked for directions, off we went.
On the way to Brookside, we had a run-in with the law. We'll just go ahead and add that to the cost of the window.
Anyway.
Brookside Lumber, Brookside. "Brian" doesn't bother getting up from this seat way in the back surrounded by doors and windows. "I don't know what kind of window it is. It doesn't have a number. Was there one on the glass?" No. "Well, there was." No, dumbass, there wasn't. It's an Anderson, by the way. The two people before us told us that. "I'm not sure if it's an Anderson." I want to throw him through a display. "Let me get a hinge to check. I think it'll be too small."
The hinge fits perfectly.
Well, I can order it. How long will it take? A month.
What?
Can't you expedite it? No, because everytime UPS delivers a window, it breaks.
Nevermind why it would take a month to get here from whereever they make windows. He then tells us of a place in an industrial park.
Roush Glass, undisclosed location (can't remember). We go in, the place smells like smoke. The lady behind the counter who sounds like Joan Rivers tells us that "the guys aren't in right now," and she "doesn't know when they'll get back." I'm a bit hesitant, but I go ahead and leave the window and my out-of-state number with them, expecting absolutely nothing at this point.
Adam and I then go up to Vincent's of Greentree in PNC Park for some excellent pizza. That is followed by another trip out to Lumber Liquidators for the rest of the flooring. (First batch gathered on Wednesday on the way back from the airport.)
We get back to the condo and continue cleaning out the carpet remnants and start tearing out the tack strips and moulding. Miraculously, the glass place calls near 5 p.m. Your window is done.
Done. Sweetness. I wonder how much it is, expecting something close to $120-150.
Friday, and it's finally time to paint! First thing in the morning we start the painting, Adam taking the guest room and me taking the master bedroom.
After the first coat, we head out and get the window. Cost? $48. This is one of the highpoints of the trip. I contemplate breaking the rest of the windows since this one is much higher quality.
Now then, I need to consult with Adam on the rest of the weekend, because the timeline is getting a bit fuzzy. Well, heck, here's sort of what happened.
We did the floor in the guest bedroom first. It was really slow at first, but after a while we got a little system going. After some more time, we realized the floor was slightly crooked. We tried to fix it, but hey, that's life. It adds some character, no?
Turner and Melissa actually helped us out with the master bedroom flooring. We had a really good train rolling for a while until we hit the doorways, which was annoying and painfully slow.
The master is definitely crooked, but again, it's hard to tell. The edges are neatly covered by the trim -- which isn't real wood, but nicely primed and painted plastic stuff that's easy to work with -- so it goes quicker.
Other fun things from the weekend ...
I got to use a pneumatic nail gun for the first time. It was all I thought it would be and much more. At one point, I thought there wasn't a stud behind some of the trim. I thought the nails were going right through the damp drywall. No! You're out of nails, dumbass.
More later.
Thursday, August 2
Pittsburgh Roundup
So while I'm not going to go into daily detail of what (or wasn't done) I'll at least put forth some random tidbits from the week in Pittsburgh renovating the condo for the next tenants.
The drive to Pittsburgh from Indy is like, six hours. And until you get past Columbus, it's boring and flat. After that the hills and greenyness return, so it makes me happy.
Anyway, I borrowed the following tools from my boss who has every tool known to man:
Chop saw, nail gun, stapler, air compressor, reciprocating saw, drill, coping saw, face shield, clamps and other small things. I have a jigsaw, drill and toolbox with hammer, screw drivers etc.,
I got to Pittsburgh and found out that I didn't have the keys to my own place. I considered trying to break a window to get in (this becomes humorous later) but instead waiting a few minutes while the president of the condo association got home from work. She's got all the keys to all the units, and my former tenants left the keys in my unit, so once I was in, all was good.
The majority of the work was to be done downstairs. New floors, new paint in the two rooms. As soon as I went downstairs, I was like, "I don't want to do any of this." Not a good way to start.
Well, whatever. Time to get to it. Ripped out all the carpet in the one room (amazingly easy) and then the tiles in the other room. By this time I was quite tired. I met Turner and Melissa at the condo and we headed off for dinner. Regret No. 1. Should have finished removing the carpet underlayment and moulding.
Next morning after sleeping over at Turner's new house, I broke a window trying to open it downstairs. The fan and AC weren't working. As I hit the window (you know, cause that's how you open a jammed window.) with a workgloved hand (and safety glasses on, to boot) I busted it. Right through. Cheap two-pane job. Dammit. So then I had to take a while to remove every bit of glass. At least the air was coming through! More cleaning up, more tile removal. Then the dishwasher guys came to put in the new dishwasher.
So the old dishwasher was sort of "tiled in." That is, the ceramic tile was put right up to it, and last year the Sears plumber said that either the tile needed to be broken or the counter needed to be removed. (No and no.)
This year I decided, well, the tile needs to be busted. So I went to the Depot (trip 1 of like, 34) and bought a mortar chisel. Whack, whack, thunk, smack, nothing.
Dammit.
So I tried option no. 2. Lift counter. Pull hard (oh, no need). It came right up, about 6 inches. Sweet. Plumber came. I told him about the tile and the counter. "No problem. I do this all the time." Um, okay. Back to cleaning up downstairs.
Around 2, it was time to get cleaned up and head out to the airport to pick up Adam. Yay! No more work for the rest of the evening.
After picking up Adam, we met up with Pat who was in town taking the Bar Exam. We dinnered at Mad Mex and then putzed around Oakland. Later we met up with Turner and hung out in Shadyside.
Thursday (only 3.5 days left and no work done!) we decided to address the broken window.
More later ...
The drive to Pittsburgh from Indy is like, six hours. And until you get past Columbus, it's boring and flat. After that the hills and greenyness return, so it makes me happy.
Anyway, I borrowed the following tools from my boss who has every tool known to man:
Chop saw, nail gun, stapler, air compressor, reciprocating saw, drill, coping saw, face shield, clamps and other small things. I have a jigsaw, drill and toolbox with hammer, screw drivers etc.,
I got to Pittsburgh and found out that I didn't have the keys to my own place. I considered trying to break a window to get in (this becomes humorous later) but instead waiting a few minutes while the president of the condo association got home from work. She's got all the keys to all the units, and my former tenants left the keys in my unit, so once I was in, all was good.
The majority of the work was to be done downstairs. New floors, new paint in the two rooms. As soon as I went downstairs, I was like, "I don't want to do any of this." Not a good way to start.
Well, whatever. Time to get to it. Ripped out all the carpet in the one room (amazingly easy) and then the tiles in the other room. By this time I was quite tired. I met Turner and Melissa at the condo and we headed off for dinner. Regret No. 1. Should have finished removing the carpet underlayment and moulding.
Next morning after sleeping over at Turner's new house, I broke a window trying to open it downstairs. The fan and AC weren't working. As I hit the window (you know, cause that's how you open a jammed window.) with a workgloved hand (and safety glasses on, to boot) I busted it. Right through. Cheap two-pane job. Dammit. So then I had to take a while to remove every bit of glass. At least the air was coming through! More cleaning up, more tile removal. Then the dishwasher guys came to put in the new dishwasher.
So the old dishwasher was sort of "tiled in." That is, the ceramic tile was put right up to it, and last year the Sears plumber said that either the tile needed to be broken or the counter needed to be removed. (No and no.)
This year I decided, well, the tile needs to be busted. So I went to the Depot (trip 1 of like, 34) and bought a mortar chisel. Whack, whack, thunk, smack, nothing.
Dammit.
So I tried option no. 2. Lift counter. Pull hard (oh, no need). It came right up, about 6 inches. Sweet. Plumber came. I told him about the tile and the counter. "No problem. I do this all the time." Um, okay. Back to cleaning up downstairs.
Around 2, it was time to get cleaned up and head out to the airport to pick up Adam. Yay! No more work for the rest of the evening.
After picking up Adam, we met up with Pat who was in town taking the Bar Exam. We dinnered at Mad Mex and then putzed around Oakland. Later we met up with Turner and hung out in Shadyside.
Thursday (only 3.5 days left and no work done!) we decided to address the broken window.
More later ...
Monday, July 23
A little hiatus
I guess it's funny to say that I'm going to take a break for about a week since uh ... I do that anyway without announcing it.
Right.
Yeah, I have to go to Pittsburgh for a few days to clean up the condo, repaint, refloor and reappliance. Adam's coming, too, so it should be a good time.
As per what's been going on here ... still riding the bike whenever I can. I went for a ride yesterday (Sunday) evening and got a flat about 2/3 of the way through. I heard a ssss .... ssss sound every once in a while. I thought something was brushing something else, but when I stopped to check, I saw the distinctive Slime green around the rim of my tire. I saw that I was at a road that would take me straight home in about 2-3 miles, so I just headed out. Eventually the sound stopped (the Slime kicked in) and I nursed it home. I took weight off the wheel (got off my ass) as much as possible and generally went slow. Very annoying. I could have stopped to change it, but it was getting late. I could have stopped to put more air in it, but I'm lazy like that.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with July's riding. I should be able to hit up the last two days of July when I return to slightly edge out the 271 miles I did in June. And that's the key ... more mileage every month.
Maria's driving is getting better, too. The last thing to still do is the parallel parking. Then we'll just go for the test to see how she does. There are a few things to fine tune, but whatever. I was also thinking how the driving here is actually a bit more "complicated" than in say, Lancaster or Pittsburgh. That is, there are simply more lanes here. And you generally have to know which one to be in long before you turn into it! I mean, no big deal if you miss it, you can just keep going and turn around. But still.
Also, I found that roundabouts are really, really fun. Particularly when I say, turn right at the roundabout. And she doesn't. So we just go around again! No problem there.
Asim's having fun being a baby still. We went to get his haircut over the weekend. That was his first haircut. He didn't squirm too much which was good considering the nearby scissors. I'm glad we got it cut; the weather is fairly warm, so now he doesn't sweat as much around his forehead.
Right.
Yeah, I have to go to Pittsburgh for a few days to clean up the condo, repaint, refloor and reappliance. Adam's coming, too, so it should be a good time.
As per what's been going on here ... still riding the bike whenever I can. I went for a ride yesterday (Sunday) evening and got a flat about 2/3 of the way through. I heard a ssss .... ssss sound every once in a while. I thought something was brushing something else, but when I stopped to check, I saw the distinctive Slime green around the rim of my tire. I saw that I was at a road that would take me straight home in about 2-3 miles, so I just headed out. Eventually the sound stopped (the Slime kicked in) and I nursed it home. I took weight off the wheel (got off my ass) as much as possible and generally went slow. Very annoying. I could have stopped to change it, but it was getting late. I could have stopped to put more air in it, but I'm lazy like that.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with July's riding. I should be able to hit up the last two days of July when I return to slightly edge out the 271 miles I did in June. And that's the key ... more mileage every month.
Maria's driving is getting better, too. The last thing to still do is the parallel parking. Then we'll just go for the test to see how she does. There are a few things to fine tune, but whatever. I was also thinking how the driving here is actually a bit more "complicated" than in say, Lancaster or Pittsburgh. That is, there are simply more lanes here. And you generally have to know which one to be in long before you turn into it! I mean, no big deal if you miss it, you can just keep going and turn around. But still.
Also, I found that roundabouts are really, really fun. Particularly when I say, turn right at the roundabout. And she doesn't. So we just go around again! No problem there.
Asim's having fun being a baby still. We went to get his haircut over the weekend. That was his first haircut. He didn't squirm too much which was good considering the nearby scissors. I'm glad we got it cut; the weather is fairly warm, so now he doesn't sweat as much around his forehead.
Tuesday, July 17
Low impact
So apparently every mile I ride my bike to work, I'm saving 20 lbs of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere. I think that number's right ...(?)
Thus at the end of today, I'll be up to: 373 miles commuted x 20 = 7,460 lbs, or about 3.5 tons.
That seems like a bit much.
I will have to look into this more. I think it's assuming that for every gallon burned, you emit 20 lbs of CO2. Well, that's fine for a person with a 20 mpg car. But I can't find anything that compares the emissions of a regular petrol car with an ultra-low sulfur diesel burning one like mine.
Anyway, it rained a little bit on the way into work this morning. Let me just say how exciting that was. I actually rode part of the way in with a stranger who was commuting on his road bike for the first time. He had been a mountain biker, so he was pretty strong and quick. I tailed him for a while (ahhh ...) then lead for a very short while. I was able to keep up even when I wasn't right on his wheel drafting, so it turned out to be quite a workout. If I were to have kept up that kind of pace for a few more minutes, I would have managed a sub-50 minute ride time to work.
Also, I managed to plan ahead, and I'm trying the bit wherein I drive my clothes to work the day before and then have them there all week. It remains to be seen whether or not everything is going to be sufficiently dry when I leave, though. Not that it makes a difference anyway.
Thus at the end of today, I'll be up to: 373 miles commuted x 20 = 7,460 lbs, or about 3.5 tons.
That seems like a bit much.
I will have to look into this more. I think it's assuming that for every gallon burned, you emit 20 lbs of CO2. Well, that's fine for a person with a 20 mpg car. But I can't find anything that compares the emissions of a regular petrol car with an ultra-low sulfur diesel burning one like mine.
Anyway, it rained a little bit on the way into work this morning. Let me just say how exciting that was. I actually rode part of the way in with a stranger who was commuting on his road bike for the first time. He had been a mountain biker, so he was pretty strong and quick. I tailed him for a while (ahhh ...) then lead for a very short while. I was able to keep up even when I wasn't right on his wheel drafting, so it turned out to be quite a workout. If I were to have kept up that kind of pace for a few more minutes, I would have managed a sub-50 minute ride time to work.
Also, I managed to plan ahead, and I'm trying the bit wherein I drive my clothes to work the day before and then have them there all week. It remains to be seen whether or not everything is going to be sufficiently dry when I leave, though. Not that it makes a difference anyway.
Monday, July 16
Middle America
So I spent a few days last week out in Omaha. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of the downtown bits. I drove around it, sure, but didn't get out of the car (it was late, I was tired.) I went there for three days for work at a certain cereal plant that I've worked for before in Lancaster.
The days started at about 5:45 when I met the other two guys (boss, coworker) for breakfast at the hotel. Then a short drive to the plant, and a fun 6:30-5:30 with an hour for lunch kind of day. The interesting part was having to do work all day! Dang. I actually learned a lot and got to know the process of the plant well, so I'm stoked about that. Anyway, the project we're working on is in the several millions and could go on for at least a year or more, so it's going to be one hell of a ride for me. I will have to go back out again a few times, and the next is looking like the first week in August or thereabouts.
My boss and I flew home via Chicago together, and our flight was delayed for an hour at O'Hare. That put us in Indy at near midnight Thursday night. I told Nick that I was interested in biking into work on Friday, so we should meet at 6 a.m. Well, when I finally got to bed at about 2 a.m. Friday morning, I had left him a voicemail saying that well, I'm tired, might not go into work, see you later.
6 a.m., I hear a knocking on the door. It's Nick.
He had misplaced his cell phone.
Half an hour later, (on something like, 3ish hours of sleep) I'm trudging along on the bike path, enjoying the morning and wondering what kind of comfiness the underbelly of my cubicle has to offer.
Friday's a short day for us -- worked four hours -- so we had a midday ride back. I didn't have the computer either time on the ride, but I'm reckoning it took an hour. I wasn't too interested in hammering away, although I wanted to at least keep myself going home to my comfy bed and really cute baby.
This weekend we did a bit of shopping here and there. Maria did some more driving. She's getting better every day, I think. I think her permit is expiring soon, and although you can renew it, it might be fun to see if she can pass the test on what she knows. I think the last major hurdle is the parallel parking bit. Oh boy!
The days started at about 5:45 when I met the other two guys (boss, coworker) for breakfast at the hotel. Then a short drive to the plant, and a fun 6:30-5:30 with an hour for lunch kind of day. The interesting part was having to do work all day! Dang. I actually learned a lot and got to know the process of the plant well, so I'm stoked about that. Anyway, the project we're working on is in the several millions and could go on for at least a year or more, so it's going to be one hell of a ride for me. I will have to go back out again a few times, and the next is looking like the first week in August or thereabouts.
My boss and I flew home via Chicago together, and our flight was delayed for an hour at O'Hare. That put us in Indy at near midnight Thursday night. I told Nick that I was interested in biking into work on Friday, so we should meet at 6 a.m. Well, when I finally got to bed at about 2 a.m. Friday morning, I had left him a voicemail saying that well, I'm tired, might not go into work, see you later.
6 a.m., I hear a knocking on the door. It's Nick.
He had misplaced his cell phone.
Half an hour later, (on something like, 3ish hours of sleep) I'm trudging along on the bike path, enjoying the morning and wondering what kind of comfiness the underbelly of my cubicle has to offer.
Friday's a short day for us -- worked four hours -- so we had a midday ride back. I didn't have the computer either time on the ride, but I'm reckoning it took an hour. I wasn't too interested in hammering away, although I wanted to at least keep myself going home to my comfy bed and really cute baby.
This weekend we did a bit of shopping here and there. Maria did some more driving. She's getting better every day, I think. I think her permit is expiring soon, and although you can renew it, it might be fun to see if she can pass the test on what she knows. I think the last major hurdle is the parallel parking bit. Oh boy!
Monday, July 9
One ride in
Well, the two-hour ride that I hoped for over the weekend didn't happen. Instead, I did a little over an hour on Sunday evening, which was fine. A bit over 20 miles around the area, through some neighborhoods. I also learned that if you're going to run red lights, make sure there's not a police officer behind you. After running the last light of the evening, he pulled up alongside me and asked if I knew I was supposed to stop for those. Yes. Why'd I go? Cause it was clear. You can get killed doing that. Ok. Sorry.
I suppose I can wait for some red lights. Eh. It just slows things down and kills all the momentum.
Anyway.
The weekend was low-key. Maria got some more driving in, including a very nice parking job at the mall. I was very impressed. It was one of those tight right-then-left jobs that she nailed without having to reverse. Otherwise, just a rehashing of old routes and new techniques for holding the wheel to make turns a little more comfortable.
Asim's also doing very well. All he wants to do now is play, play, play. I'm amazed at how few toys he really requires. Magazines, boxes and people are all he really needs. Which is fine by me. He's getting to the point where he can stand for about 2-5 seconds before falling on his butt. Apparently the hard falls onto his butt don't bother him, either. Stand, fall, stand, fall. Smile, laugh, stand, fall. Good times.
I didn't ride in this morning, and for good reason. Namely, I need to get my stuff (computer, papers) back to the apartment for the trip to Omaha tomorrow. Also, it's going to be bloody hot here in the afternoon. 90F+. I don't do that. I hate it because I know in the morning on days like this it's freakin' perfect, but an hour back in this is just too brutal. I guess I'll have to do pushups in the hotel room over the next few days and then get some evening rides in over the weekend to make up for all of this.
I suppose I can wait for some red lights. Eh. It just slows things down and kills all the momentum.
Anyway.
The weekend was low-key. Maria got some more driving in, including a very nice parking job at the mall. I was very impressed. It was one of those tight right-then-left jobs that she nailed without having to reverse. Otherwise, just a rehashing of old routes and new techniques for holding the wheel to make turns a little more comfortable.
Asim's also doing very well. All he wants to do now is play, play, play. I'm amazed at how few toys he really requires. Magazines, boxes and people are all he really needs. Which is fine by me. He's getting to the point where he can stand for about 2-5 seconds before falling on his butt. Apparently the hard falls onto his butt don't bother him, either. Stand, fall, stand, fall. Smile, laugh, stand, fall. Good times.
I didn't ride in this morning, and for good reason. Namely, I need to get my stuff (computer, papers) back to the apartment for the trip to Omaha tomorrow. Also, it's going to be bloody hot here in the afternoon. 90F+. I don't do that. I hate it because I know in the morning on days like this it's freakin' perfect, but an hour back in this is just too brutal. I guess I'll have to do pushups in the hotel room over the next few days and then get some evening rides in over the weekend to make up for all of this.
Friday, July 6
Finding excuses
Ok, so I'll start listing excuses for why I didn't ride in today ...
My legs are still aching. From like, last week.
Three days I rode in this week! Three! I did that last week. That ain't bad.
Tired.
Short day at work today, so I want to get home quickly.
I have to go to the post office after work to mail something.
Yeah, they're all pretty lame. Thus, I need to make up for today and mayhaps the July 4th as well. That's 60 miles. Screw that. I'll make up for today. And then some. So that's a 2.5 hour ride for the weekend, sometime. I wanted to ride last weekend Saturday a.m., but of course I lazied my way out of that, too. I have some time now, so maybe I'll go find at least a route.
Went driving again for a short trip with Maria at the wheel last night. Things went well. She's getting better at navigating the roundabouts. It's amazing how big of a difference hand positioning on the steering wheel makes. In on position, you need to do hand-over-hand. In the other, just big sweeping swings back and forth.
I feel that we should just keep on working on the fundamentals. That is, speed, braking, lane-changing and turning. When it comes to parking, I just tell her to put it into a spot. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. But basically it's just like turning onto a very narrow, very specifically-located street. Which, as you can see above, is one of the fundamentals.
My legs are still aching. From like, last week.
Three days I rode in this week! Three! I did that last week. That ain't bad.
Tired.
Short day at work today, so I want to get home quickly.
I have to go to the post office after work to mail something.
Yeah, they're all pretty lame. Thus, I need to make up for today and mayhaps the July 4th as well. That's 60 miles. Screw that. I'll make up for today. And then some. So that's a 2.5 hour ride for the weekend, sometime. I wanted to ride last weekend Saturday a.m., but of course I lazied my way out of that, too. I have some time now, so maybe I'll go find at least a route.
Went driving again for a short trip with Maria at the wheel last night. Things went well. She's getting better at navigating the roundabouts. It's amazing how big of a difference hand positioning on the steering wheel makes. In on position, you need to do hand-over-hand. In the other, just big sweeping swings back and forth.
I feel that we should just keep on working on the fundamentals. That is, speed, braking, lane-changing and turning. When it comes to parking, I just tell her to put it into a spot. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. But basically it's just like turning onto a very narrow, very specifically-located street. Which, as you can see above, is one of the fundamentals.
Tuesday, July 3
Finding new ways
Well, the bicycle commuting is certainly not a passing fad for me. I'm starting to feel bad for the Jetta, actually. I managed three days last week and am on pace for four this week (July 4th holiday). I'd like to think that I'm actually getting stronger. My speeds are slowly creeping up, and I can spin like crazy for a good chunk of the ride.
I have also been experimenting here and there with the route south of Broad Ripple. The trail south of there as I've said before is somewhat annoying -- many cross streets and the need to slow down and really pay attention for traffic. So the parallel roads offer some relief, although their quality is hit-or-miss. Today I tried Center instead of College, and while it was good south of 54, just north of that it was total crap. Quiet roads, no traffic, but really pad paving. That slows things down a lot (I noticed 14 and under) which annoys me.
I am having to make a strong effort to relax my shoulders, arms and hands during the ride. I find after a while that they've got this tense deathgrip on the bars. That doesn't help. Usually when I can relax more I can put down more energy pedaling which is good. I'm not sure if the deathgrip has to do with the bike's setup. I'm going to put down a few hundred more miles before I pass judgement on that.
Speaking of which, I've surpassed 300 total riding miles. The commuting miles are just trailing that slightly. It's really amazing to me how quickly they add up.
I guess once I'm out in Omaha I'll have to go without a bike. Unless I can find one to rent there or something. Maybe I can buy a singlespeed and pay someone to house it. Or buy a singlespeed and pack it in my suitcase. That might not be too bad.
Maria's driving is getting better and better. We're still working on basic car control, turns, which lane to be in and why and major destinations. I realize now that all those years of driving a lawnmower at my parents house really gave me a good sense of vehicle control. Maybe if we could find a lawnmower somewhere. ... Or a go-kart track ...
I have also been experimenting here and there with the route south of Broad Ripple. The trail south of there as I've said before is somewhat annoying -- many cross streets and the need to slow down and really pay attention for traffic. So the parallel roads offer some relief, although their quality is hit-or-miss. Today I tried Center instead of College, and while it was good south of 54, just north of that it was total crap. Quiet roads, no traffic, but really pad paving. That slows things down a lot (I noticed 14 and under) which annoys me.
I am having to make a strong effort to relax my shoulders, arms and hands during the ride. I find after a while that they've got this tense deathgrip on the bars. That doesn't help. Usually when I can relax more I can put down more energy pedaling which is good. I'm not sure if the deathgrip has to do with the bike's setup. I'm going to put down a few hundred more miles before I pass judgement on that.
Speaking of which, I've surpassed 300 total riding miles. The commuting miles are just trailing that slightly. It's really amazing to me how quickly they add up.
I guess once I'm out in Omaha I'll have to go without a bike. Unless I can find one to rent there or something. Maybe I can buy a singlespeed and pay someone to house it. Or buy a singlespeed and pack it in my suitcase. That might not be too bad.
Maria's driving is getting better and better. We're still working on basic car control, turns, which lane to be in and why and major destinations. I realize now that all those years of driving a lawnmower at my parents house really gave me a good sense of vehicle control. Maybe if we could find a lawnmower somewhere. ... Or a go-kart track ...
Sunday, July 1
Achin' quads
Well, managed three days of bike commuting this past week without killing myself. Almost got hit on what, Friday morning? Yeah. Almost.
I found a new way to get to work that's more direct (read: one less mile). So now we're down to like, 14.5 or something. I'm not sure that's such a great thing, but at least it'll take less time. Turns out there's a two-lane-each-way most of the way from where we live ... all the way into town. Very nice. However, some bits are one lane each way, and those bits have no shoulder and total crap for edges. That is, the edges are broken up and annoying to ride on. Thus, I think the ideal blend will be to start on the trail, go to Broad Ripple, then pick up College Ave the rest of the way into town. The traffic on College is 45 or less, and there's a little space between the parked cars and the adjacent lane.
For whatever reason, my quads are achin' quite a bit today (Saturday) so no ride. I'm happy to see however that I'm at 271 total miles in June, 217 of which are commuting.
Today we chilled quite a bit, CostCo, mall, blah, blah. Maria did drive to those places though. Not as much screaming from me! Either I'm getting more patient or she's getting better. I'm hoping it's the latter. No, really, things are going pretty well, and I think once she gets the hang of where we are and where things are, the driving business will be simplified.
Oh! I will be going to Omaha in about a week and a half for work. It's only a Tue-Thur kind of thing. I'm somewhat excited only because I've never been there before. I will have to travel to the 'Ha at least once a month over the next year for work. But they'll all be small trips like this, the most could be a week. The only thing that will bother me is not being able to ride the bike!
Asim is still doing well, too. He's getting better at being in the back of the car alone while Maria drives. He used to cry all the time. Now he plays or sleeps. Very nice. (This all despite the screaming (me)and somewhat erratic braking(her)).
I found a new way to get to work that's more direct (read: one less mile). So now we're down to like, 14.5 or something. I'm not sure that's such a great thing, but at least it'll take less time. Turns out there's a two-lane-each-way most of the way from where we live ... all the way into town. Very nice. However, some bits are one lane each way, and those bits have no shoulder and total crap for edges. That is, the edges are broken up and annoying to ride on. Thus, I think the ideal blend will be to start on the trail, go to Broad Ripple, then pick up College Ave the rest of the way into town. The traffic on College is 45 or less, and there's a little space between the parked cars and the adjacent lane.
For whatever reason, my quads are achin' quite a bit today (Saturday) so no ride. I'm happy to see however that I'm at 271 total miles in June, 217 of which are commuting.
Today we chilled quite a bit, CostCo, mall, blah, blah. Maria did drive to those places though. Not as much screaming from me! Either I'm getting more patient or she's getting better. I'm hoping it's the latter. No, really, things are going pretty well, and I think once she gets the hang of where we are and where things are, the driving business will be simplified.
Oh! I will be going to Omaha in about a week and a half for work. It's only a Tue-Thur kind of thing. I'm somewhat excited only because I've never been there before. I will have to travel to the 'Ha at least once a month over the next year for work. But they'll all be small trips like this, the most could be a week. The only thing that will bother me is not being able to ride the bike!
Asim is still doing well, too. He's getting better at being in the back of the car alone while Maria drives. He used to cry all the time. Now he plays or sleeps. Very nice. (This all despite the screaming (me)and somewhat erratic braking(her)).
Wednesday, June 27
Riding in the rain
So yesterday I had to ride home in the rain on the bicycle. This is not a big deal. Riding to work in the rain, a big deal. Well, annoying really. Because I can't shower at work. Anyway, as I was coming home, I saw someone about a half-mile ahead of me. We were going at the same speed, so I figured, hey, why don't I try to catch up to him! I pounded for about three miles (in the pouring-ass rain, no less) and finally got the guy. Then I stayed with him, and boy, was he deceptively quick. (slightly overweight guy, but HUGE calves) Either that or I was running on fumes from having run him down.
I've found that this can be a rather fun mental and physical exercise in the morning and afternoon. Might as well add a bit more of a challenge to the workout. Not sure if I've lost weight from all this (over 200 miles pedaled already!) but my pants sure do fit better!
No new updates on Maria's driving. We need to get crackin' on that. There was still some yelling last time. I need to calm down.
Asim is doing this thing where he'll stand for about a second or so and then fall back on his butt. So he's slowly progressing to even faster modes of independence. I spent part of the weekend baby-proofing the kitchen by putting those plastic catches on the lower cabinet doors. Not entirely easy.
This weekend (Sunday) I also went out for about an hour on the bike, just for fun. I wanted to see if I could go certain places (a large neighborhood) and see, generally, how good the roads around here are for biking. Well, on a Sunday evening they're quite ideal. I managed to cover 19.2 miles in just over an hour. Very happy. The great part was that as I was getting home near the hour mark, I was thinking that I could probably go for another hour. I will have to try a 2-hour Saturday morning ride this weekend.
Ok, so the house.
Right.
Things are slowly happening still. Namely, the builder (Ryland) is bailing on the neighborhood. This isn't entirely confirmed yet (or is it?) But should be by the end of this week. But they are committed to building our home. So far they've built two model homes and another couple have put down money for the lot two over from ours. (They got a corner lot, ours is an interior one.)
Salesguy calls me and asks if we wouldn't mind moving to the lot adjacent to the couple. That's fine. And there's even some financial incentive for doing so! Yay! Then I suggest that we move both houses next to the model homes, cause, well, why not. He asks how much it would take for me to consider that. I tell him. He laughs. I tell him half the amount and then say, yeah, really, that would do it. He's going to find out. (He needs to talk to the other couple, too.)
Another developer is going to build homes on the rest of the lots. A nice builder. He couldn't say who, but the two who are there now make really great, really expensive homes. So that's good for us. Salesguy said (and this isn't entirely clear to me or whatever, but that's all moot) that the homes aren't really (my words here) economically feasible considering the amount of changes that people wanted to make. Like how much they wanted to customize the homes. He said that my demands were "typical" of the others. And since Ryland doesn't own the land and does it lot-by-lot, it's easier to bail. Also, the family of homes they can build there is only being built in one other neighborhood. And those are very custom (and $100K more). So maybe they're seeing that they can't quite "cookie-cutter" these ones like their typical "American-style" homes. (McMansions)
I have to be honest and say that I saw something like this coming. I thought it would be a complete up-and-go, we're-not-doing-it-at-all kind of thing. Because when I asked him over the past few months about people buying in or not, nobody had bought in. Except for the one couple. However, he added that the neighborhood hadn't undergone the Grand Opening. Usually after that things take off. But then again, once you miss that done-by-August window for folks with school-aged kids, you're SOL for a while. (I didn't even consider that).
I have also been wondering that, in the land of big lots, garages-out-front and huge floorplans, who would buy these homes? People out here just want houses. They don't want a lifestyle (walk to stuff, small tree-lined streets, garage-out-back, tiny lots, no cul-de-sacs) stuffed down their throats. These homes are square-shaped. that's a departure from the rectangular box. They reflect home styles from the 1800's. They're actually interesting.
So anyway, the home is still under permit review and all that, but should be done by Thanksgiving at least. We'll probably use the extra money they gave us for moving the lot on giving the interior one paint color (brownish instead of white) and maybe a refrigerator. What's left will just get hacked off the mortgage which of course thrills me to no end.
I'm also going to "call" something right now. The one model home they have completed is the same floor plan as our home. I'm assuming that Salesguy will at least try to pitch it to us. Oddly, it's listed for the same as our home, and I'd rather have our home (obviously). The model doesn't have a nice bay window in the dining room and two windows in the family room. It also doesn't have the monstrous 9' ceilings in the basement. And that's definitely a no-no. Although I guess for the right price ...
I've found that this can be a rather fun mental and physical exercise in the morning and afternoon. Might as well add a bit more of a challenge to the workout. Not sure if I've lost weight from all this (over 200 miles pedaled already!) but my pants sure do fit better!
No new updates on Maria's driving. We need to get crackin' on that. There was still some yelling last time. I need to calm down.
Asim is doing this thing where he'll stand for about a second or so and then fall back on his butt. So he's slowly progressing to even faster modes of independence. I spent part of the weekend baby-proofing the kitchen by putting those plastic catches on the lower cabinet doors. Not entirely easy.
This weekend (Sunday) I also went out for about an hour on the bike, just for fun. I wanted to see if I could go certain places (a large neighborhood) and see, generally, how good the roads around here are for biking. Well, on a Sunday evening they're quite ideal. I managed to cover 19.2 miles in just over an hour. Very happy. The great part was that as I was getting home near the hour mark, I was thinking that I could probably go for another hour. I will have to try a 2-hour Saturday morning ride this weekend.
Ok, so the house.
Right.
Things are slowly happening still. Namely, the builder (Ryland) is bailing on the neighborhood. This isn't entirely confirmed yet (or is it?) But should be by the end of this week. But they are committed to building our home. So far they've built two model homes and another couple have put down money for the lot two over from ours. (They got a corner lot, ours is an interior one.)
Salesguy calls me and asks if we wouldn't mind moving to the lot adjacent to the couple. That's fine. And there's even some financial incentive for doing so! Yay! Then I suggest that we move both houses next to the model homes, cause, well, why not. He asks how much it would take for me to consider that. I tell him. He laughs. I tell him half the amount and then say, yeah, really, that would do it. He's going to find out. (He needs to talk to the other couple, too.)
Another developer is going to build homes on the rest of the lots. A nice builder. He couldn't say who, but the two who are there now make really great, really expensive homes. So that's good for us. Salesguy said (and this isn't entirely clear to me or whatever, but that's all moot) that the homes aren't really (my words here) economically feasible considering the amount of changes that people wanted to make. Like how much they wanted to customize the homes. He said that my demands were "typical" of the others. And since Ryland doesn't own the land and does it lot-by-lot, it's easier to bail. Also, the family of homes they can build there is only being built in one other neighborhood. And those are very custom (and $100K more). So maybe they're seeing that they can't quite "cookie-cutter" these ones like their typical "American-style" homes. (McMansions)
I have to be honest and say that I saw something like this coming. I thought it would be a complete up-and-go, we're-not-doing-it-at-all kind of thing. Because when I asked him over the past few months about people buying in or not, nobody had bought in. Except for the one couple. However, he added that the neighborhood hadn't undergone the Grand Opening. Usually after that things take off. But then again, once you miss that done-by-August window for folks with school-aged kids, you're SOL for a while. (I didn't even consider that).
I have also been wondering that, in the land of big lots, garages-out-front and huge floorplans, who would buy these homes? People out here just want houses. They don't want a lifestyle (walk to stuff, small tree-lined streets, garage-out-back, tiny lots, no cul-de-sacs) stuffed down their throats. These homes are square-shaped. that's a departure from the rectangular box. They reflect home styles from the 1800's. They're actually interesting.
So anyway, the home is still under permit review and all that, but should be done by Thanksgiving at least. We'll probably use the extra money they gave us for moving the lot on giving the interior one paint color (brownish instead of white) and maybe a refrigerator. What's left will just get hacked off the mortgage which of course thrills me to no end.
I'm also going to "call" something right now. The one model home they have completed is the same floor plan as our home. I'm assuming that Salesguy will at least try to pitch it to us. Oddly, it's listed for the same as our home, and I'd rather have our home (obviously). The model doesn't have a nice bay window in the dining room and two windows in the family room. It also doesn't have the monstrous 9' ceilings in the basement. And that's definitely a no-no. Although I guess for the right price ...
Thursday, June 21
The cheapest stuff I could find
Well, of course I thought that the cheapest bike commuting gear at Nashbar would work ...somewhat. And I guess it does. I got a straight rack (the kind that attaches to the seatpost) and some panniers (they were even cheaper since they were returns). Anyway, so it seemed simple. Hang pannier on rack.
Uh, no.
On the rack, they forgot to drill out one of the two holes for the bolts. So last night I had fun with the drill and filled my lungs with tiny metal shavings. Good times. Then this morning when I headed out with the panniers, they kept on bumping the wheels. I stopped four times (last time I finally got a decent solution) to sort them out. They have racks that attach to the seat post and the rear wheel hub, but that's not what I got. The advantage of those is that they have metal wires perpendicular to the wheel, so the panniers can rest on them and not bump around. I didn't get one of those because I wasn't sure how it would fit (or not) to the bike.
Anyway.
The panniers are brilliant, though. I love riding without a backpack, and the extra weight on the bike isn't really noticeable (I mean, I was carrying it anyway). The bike's still good in turns and my legs clear them really well.
I also worked out a slightly shorter (by one mile) path to the Monon Trail. The advantage of this is that I spend less time on traffic-laden roads, particularly one with a construction zone and no shoulder. It's not so much that I don't like playing in traffic, but really, if you don't have to, why bother.
My speed this morning was still pretty good, around 16 mph. I also focused today more on riding than on checking my speed, which made things a lot more enjoyable. I mean, hell, I'm already getting there silly early, so what's the big hurry?
Uh, no.
On the rack, they forgot to drill out one of the two holes for the bolts. So last night I had fun with the drill and filled my lungs with tiny metal shavings. Good times. Then this morning when I headed out with the panniers, they kept on bumping the wheels. I stopped four times (last time I finally got a decent solution) to sort them out. They have racks that attach to the seat post and the rear wheel hub, but that's not what I got. The advantage of those is that they have metal wires perpendicular to the wheel, so the panniers can rest on them and not bump around. I didn't get one of those because I wasn't sure how it would fit (or not) to the bike.
Anyway.
The panniers are brilliant, though. I love riding without a backpack, and the extra weight on the bike isn't really noticeable (I mean, I was carrying it anyway). The bike's still good in turns and my legs clear them really well.
I also worked out a slightly shorter (by one mile) path to the Monon Trail. The advantage of this is that I spend less time on traffic-laden roads, particularly one with a construction zone and no shoulder. It's not so much that I don't like playing in traffic, but really, if you don't have to, why bother.
My speed this morning was still pretty good, around 16 mph. I also focused today more on riding than on checking my speed, which made things a lot more enjoyable. I mean, hell, I'm already getting there silly early, so what's the big hurry?
Tuesday, June 19
This really is better
So I didn't ride at all this past weekend. Didn't feel great about that, but there was much tv to watch and one rather cute baby to play with.
Anyway, since I spend most of my day out on site thinking about the next bike ride, I thought I'd try to do a comparison between driving and riding to work. Keep in mind that riding takes an hour each way, so that's two hours that I need to make up, exercise-wise. Here goes:
Bike
5:30 a.m. Wake up, sort out bike, wash up, get a little something to eat. No shower. (Clothes and gear have been laid out the night before. This is a huge help.)
6 a.m. Leave
7 a.m. Arrive at office
7:15 a.m. Cleaned up from ride, some snack, working.
+9 hours
4:15 p.m. leave
5:15 p.m. Arrive at home, shower, eat
5:45 p.m. Ready for evening
Car (assuming same wake time)
5:30 a.m. Wake up, shower, eat
6:15 a.m. Leave
6:45 a.m. Arrive at office
+9 hours
3:45 p.m. leave
4:15 p.m. Arrive at home, change, leave for two-hour workout at gym. (This is definitely the worst part ... go home, say hi to the kid, then be like, ok, well, I'll be back in two more hours.)
4:25 p.m. Start workout at gym
6:25 p.m. End of two-hour workout
6:35 p.m. Leave gym, go home to shower (again) and change, eat.
7 p.m. Ready for evening
Notice there are two showers with the car. Even if you took out the first one to make things completely equal, I'd still be ready for the evening (car-wise) at about 6:45 p.m. So although the actual traveling time via bicycle is an extra half hour each way, the workout portion is benefiting me.
The other nice thing is that it simply forces me to workout. When you get home via car, you can always find an excuse not to go to the gym. Bam, that's a two-hour workout down the drain. It's also insanely easier for me to leave a lot earlier in the morning since Maria and Asim are asleep anyway. It's the time in the evening that I need to maximize.
In other news, Maria went driving again last night. There is a lot less screaming now and more coaching and instructing. I want her to have some sound fundamentals in car control before we move onto identifying signs and navigating around the suburbs. We have yet to go over the in-car comfort controls (AC, radio) but first things first -- keep the car going down the center of the lane. At some point she'll get more comfy with the speed and direction so that she can see what else is around, check out obstacles, identify other cars coming and going and where pedestrians might lurk.
Anyway, since I spend most of my day out on site thinking about the next bike ride, I thought I'd try to do a comparison between driving and riding to work. Keep in mind that riding takes an hour each way, so that's two hours that I need to make up, exercise-wise. Here goes:
Bike
5:30 a.m. Wake up, sort out bike, wash up, get a little something to eat. No shower. (Clothes and gear have been laid out the night before. This is a huge help.)
6 a.m. Leave
7 a.m. Arrive at office
7:15 a.m. Cleaned up from ride, some snack, working.
+9 hours
4:15 p.m. leave
5:15 p.m. Arrive at home, shower, eat
5:45 p.m. Ready for evening
Car (assuming same wake time)
5:30 a.m. Wake up, shower, eat
6:15 a.m. Leave
6:45 a.m. Arrive at office
+9 hours
3:45 p.m. leave
4:15 p.m. Arrive at home, change, leave for two-hour workout at gym. (This is definitely the worst part ... go home, say hi to the kid, then be like, ok, well, I'll be back in two more hours.)
4:25 p.m. Start workout at gym
6:25 p.m. End of two-hour workout
6:35 p.m. Leave gym, go home to shower (again) and change, eat.
7 p.m. Ready for evening
Notice there are two showers with the car. Even if you took out the first one to make things completely equal, I'd still be ready for the evening (car-wise) at about 6:45 p.m. So although the actual traveling time via bicycle is an extra half hour each way, the workout portion is benefiting me.
The other nice thing is that it simply forces me to workout. When you get home via car, you can always find an excuse not to go to the gym. Bam, that's a two-hour workout down the drain. It's also insanely easier for me to leave a lot earlier in the morning since Maria and Asim are asleep anyway. It's the time in the evening that I need to maximize.
In other news, Maria went driving again last night. There is a lot less screaming now and more coaching and instructing. I want her to have some sound fundamentals in car control before we move onto identifying signs and navigating around the suburbs. We have yet to go over the in-car comfort controls (AC, radio) but first things first -- keep the car going down the center of the lane. At some point she'll get more comfy with the speed and direction so that she can see what else is around, check out obstacles, identify other cars coming and going and where pedestrians might lurk.
Friday, June 15
Third ride in
Ride last night was pretty good, but at a slower pace. It was pretty hot and after a while the wind starting getting to me. I can see how the evenings are going to be pretty rough. What I really need to figure out is my nutrition during the day so that I'm not starving before I leave. Not sure if a burrito from Qdoba was the best idea. Actually, the chips and salsa on top of the burrito were probably what didn't help.
This morning Nick came over, and we started from the Carmel Community Park Activity Monon Fitness Center Place and Emporium. It shaved about 3.5 miles off the trip (the part we take from my place to the trail that's on regular roads). It took less than an hour, but I was feeling it. I did notice, however, that there is some comfort in pulling the tallest gear I've got at a slow cadence and still getting on at 18 mph. I think that's a good "cruise control" setting for the longer stretches of the trail. Otherwise I pick an easier gear and spin a lot more. I think the change up is probably good for my fitness.
I found a great site to track this madness, too. And now you can play along at home!
The first two rides are a little off, time-wise. But after that I was a little more careful about recording the information off the computer. The only issue I have is that the computer will keep on recording even as you walk your bike through the lobby and then from the elevator. But whatever. It's close enough, and it gets the mileage, which is the most important thing.
I also found out that I will likely be working off and on on a project in Omaha (somewhere in middle America) come July. It'll probably be just a few days a month out there. Otherwise I'll be at the office in Indy and that'll be great since I can bike down.
Not sure what this weekend holds ... I was thinking of a 20-miler around the northside here early on Saturday morning before there's a lot of traffic. The trail is good for the commute, but if I had a choice, I'd hit up the roads.
I think one of the more important things to do is ride assertively on the roads around here. There aren't many cyclists, but it's good for the motorists to see that we are here, and we need our space, too. I haven't been honked at or cursed at, so I see that as a good sign. Overall I've had a positive on-street cycling experience here in Indy. I find if you use hand signals and seem to know what you're doing, people are happy to slow down and give you room. (Very helpful when you need to cross the lane and get into the left-turn lane, for instance.)
This morning Nick came over, and we started from the Carmel Community Park Activity Monon Fitness Center Place and Emporium. It shaved about 3.5 miles off the trip (the part we take from my place to the trail that's on regular roads). It took less than an hour, but I was feeling it. I did notice, however, that there is some comfort in pulling the tallest gear I've got at a slow cadence and still getting on at 18 mph. I think that's a good "cruise control" setting for the longer stretches of the trail. Otherwise I pick an easier gear and spin a lot more. I think the change up is probably good for my fitness.
I found a great site to track this madness, too. And now you can play along at home!
The first two rides are a little off, time-wise. But after that I was a little more careful about recording the information off the computer. The only issue I have is that the computer will keep on recording even as you walk your bike through the lobby and then from the elevator. But whatever. It's close enough, and it gets the mileage, which is the most important thing.
I also found out that I will likely be working off and on on a project in Omaha (somewhere in middle America) come July. It'll probably be just a few days a month out there. Otherwise I'll be at the office in Indy and that'll be great since I can bike down.
Not sure what this weekend holds ... I was thinking of a 20-miler around the northside here early on Saturday morning before there's a lot of traffic. The trail is good for the commute, but if I had a choice, I'd hit up the roads.
I think one of the more important things to do is ride assertively on the roads around here. There aren't many cyclists, but it's good for the motorists to see that we are here, and we need our space, too. I haven't been honked at or cursed at, so I see that as a good sign. Overall I've had a positive on-street cycling experience here in Indy. I find if you use hand signals and seem to know what you're doing, people are happy to slow down and give you room. (Very helpful when you need to cross the lane and get into the left-turn lane, for instance.)
Thursday, June 14
Commuting Summary, Thursday 6/14
Left at 6:05 a.m., got to work right after 7. The cycling computer says just under an hour -- I think it doesn't count if you're not moving, which is nice. I managed to blow through quite a few red lights and stop signs, so I was pretty stoked. Since Nick wasn't around for the ride, I averaged about 16.5 mph and started out on a nice cruise at about 19-20 mph.
About halfway through, I could feel myself running out of gas (I actually had a bowl of cereal this morning, though) but kept on pushing since I wanted to break an hour.
My ultimate goal from the apartment is 45 minutes.
I ordered some panniers and other stuff but it hasn't shown up yet. I had to carry the backpack again which is rather annoying. I don't think it slows me down per se, but I don't feel that comfortable.
About halfway through, I could feel myself running out of gas (I actually had a bowl of cereal this morning, though) but kept on pushing since I wanted to break an hour.
My ultimate goal from the apartment is 45 minutes.
I ordered some panniers and other stuff but it hasn't shown up yet. I had to carry the backpack again which is rather annoying. I don't think it slows me down per se, but I don't feel that comfortable.
Tuesday, June 12
50 Questions
Well, $9 and 50 questions later, Maria has her learner's permit. I will say that she didn't pass the exam the first time around -- missed by two questions. I would give her crap about this, but, oh, wait, I failed my written test the first time, too. (Passed the road test first time, though. Shocker.)
Anyway, that was on Saturday morning. So of course, we took a quick lesson around a neighborhood right after that. We didn't hit anything. She stayed on the right side of the road. Good and good.
Sunday we went for a longer lesson (Asim cried throughout the entire Saturday lesson) and Asim was a bit more calm. We went around a parking lot nearby a couple of dozen times. While she's driven in Pakistan just a little bit, we were basically starting from scratch. And I didn't realize how much I took for granted driving. For instance, try to describe in words to someone else where you put your hands when making a sharp right turn. And no, palming the wheel with one hand is not the answer.
After a while I got a better idea of hand-over-hand and we just kept on going around and around the parking lot. Again, we didn't hit anything. Then we went out onto a mostly empty road for a little bit. Around the back of the Meijer, past our apartment, through a (green) light and onward. We decided to end the lesson when Asim started screaming again, and Maria tore into a parking lot. I just started laughing. It was pretty impressive, really.
I am trying not to yell too much. I think doing the same thing over and over is good, too. The car is insanely easy to drive (automatic) so that's not a problem. I think the next thing will be some more road driving where there's not a lot of traffic.
On Friday we went to the Design Studio (finally!) to pick out our colors and faucets and all that stuff. It went very smoothly and very quickly, and the woman wasn't nearly as big of a bitch as she has been. The only snag was that we want a custom microwave cabinet, and she has to get the price this week sometime. You see, we don't want the microwave above the stove -- we want a vent hood that sucks the air outside instead. And we don't want their microwave, we want to use ours since it's only about two years old and quite dandy. So we thought that having a cubby hole for the microwave would be nice so it's off the counter.
She also told us that we have to pay, in cash, for our custom options. What? Salesguy never mentioned this. So that's $3,000 for the insulation, $2,200 for the tankless water heater, and probably $300 for this cabinet. Ouch.
We went to see Salesguy afterward, and he apologized about it. He said that he should have told us that. And here's the thing -- had I known, I could have saved up for it. But I was under the impression that we were just cruising toward only having to pay closing costs (less than $2,000) so I could go ahead and start killing some credit card debt.
Well, hopefully he can work something out and we can pay a little bit very fortnight or something. Otherwise it's back to cash-advancing a credit card (ick) to appease them.
Not to mention that on Friday I also signed papers locking in our interest rate for 180 days. So the house better be done by then, otherwise I'm out a couple hundred more bucks!
Of course after making our selections, we thought about colors and whatnot even more and now need to go back and change some stuff. I'm hoping they don't give us a hard time about this. Particularly because nothing is set in stone, and we know exactly what we want to change to. (All the changes are color-related. Like, the color of the house.)
And no, we're not getting a blue or green house. Those aren't options.
Asim is still doing very well. He behaved nicely during the Design Studio appointment. I continue to feel bad for him because the apartment is heinously small, and I imagine he must get bored very quickly. (You know, like me.) He can crawl ridiculously fast now. I like to try to tire him out by walking across the apartment from one bedroom to the other so he has to crawl after me.
Work-wise, things are going well. I should be done with the long commute at the end of June still. There is work back in the office to go to, so I'm stoked about that. I'm more stoked at the possibility of bike commuting every day. I guess I'll start out at every other day and then go from there. I've ordered some panniers and new cleats for my shoes, so I'll be better equipped to handle the commute.
Anyway, that was on Saturday morning. So of course, we took a quick lesson around a neighborhood right after that. We didn't hit anything. She stayed on the right side of the road. Good and good.
Sunday we went for a longer lesson (Asim cried throughout the entire Saturday lesson) and Asim was a bit more calm. We went around a parking lot nearby a couple of dozen times. While she's driven in Pakistan just a little bit, we were basically starting from scratch. And I didn't realize how much I took for granted driving. For instance, try to describe in words to someone else where you put your hands when making a sharp right turn. And no, palming the wheel with one hand is not the answer.
After a while I got a better idea of hand-over-hand and we just kept on going around and around the parking lot. Again, we didn't hit anything. Then we went out onto a mostly empty road for a little bit. Around the back of the Meijer, past our apartment, through a (green) light and onward. We decided to end the lesson when Asim started screaming again, and Maria tore into a parking lot. I just started laughing. It was pretty impressive, really.
I am trying not to yell too much. I think doing the same thing over and over is good, too. The car is insanely easy to drive (automatic) so that's not a problem. I think the next thing will be some more road driving where there's not a lot of traffic.
On Friday we went to the Design Studio (finally!) to pick out our colors and faucets and all that stuff. It went very smoothly and very quickly, and the woman wasn't nearly as big of a bitch as she has been. The only snag was that we want a custom microwave cabinet, and she has to get the price this week sometime. You see, we don't want the microwave above the stove -- we want a vent hood that sucks the air outside instead. And we don't want their microwave, we want to use ours since it's only about two years old and quite dandy. So we thought that having a cubby hole for the microwave would be nice so it's off the counter.
She also told us that we have to pay, in cash, for our custom options. What? Salesguy never mentioned this. So that's $3,000 for the insulation, $2,200 for the tankless water heater, and probably $300 for this cabinet. Ouch.
We went to see Salesguy afterward, and he apologized about it. He said that he should have told us that. And here's the thing -- had I known, I could have saved up for it. But I was under the impression that we were just cruising toward only having to pay closing costs (less than $2,000) so I could go ahead and start killing some credit card debt.
Well, hopefully he can work something out and we can pay a little bit very fortnight or something. Otherwise it's back to cash-advancing a credit card (ick) to appease them.
Not to mention that on Friday I also signed papers locking in our interest rate for 180 days. So the house better be done by then, otherwise I'm out a couple hundred more bucks!
Of course after making our selections, we thought about colors and whatnot even more and now need to go back and change some stuff. I'm hoping they don't give us a hard time about this. Particularly because nothing is set in stone, and we know exactly what we want to change to. (All the changes are color-related. Like, the color of the house.)
And no, we're not getting a blue or green house. Those aren't options.
Asim is still doing very well. He behaved nicely during the Design Studio appointment. I continue to feel bad for him because the apartment is heinously small, and I imagine he must get bored very quickly. (You know, like me.) He can crawl ridiculously fast now. I like to try to tire him out by walking across the apartment from one bedroom to the other so he has to crawl after me.
Work-wise, things are going well. I should be done with the long commute at the end of June still. There is work back in the office to go to, so I'm stoked about that. I'm more stoked at the possibility of bike commuting every day. I guess I'll start out at every other day and then go from there. I've ordered some panniers and new cleats for my shoes, so I'll be better equipped to handle the commute.
Thursday, June 7
Ridin'
I suppose I should write about our trip to the zoo last weekend. But instead I'll tell you about today's commute into work.
Nick (coworker buddy of mine) and I decided a few weeks ago that we should ride our bikes into work. This appealed to me greatly, although I was apprehensive about the logistics of changing once we got to work, carrying stuff and all that.
The positive side is that I do have a good, light, sturdy bike to use. And it's a road bike. Nick, on the other hand, has a second (or possibly fifth) hand Huffy. It's basically a pallet of bricks on wheels. Stupid heavy.
So anyway, this morning I intended to wake up at 5, get some cereal, take a shower, and then take my time getting ready for the ride. This did not happen. I got up at 6 -- when Nick said he'd be at my place. I called him and found out he was outside. I asked for more time. He ran over to the Meijer next door to pick up some forgotten items. I hustled to get ready. Fortunately, I had put my change of clothes and everything else out and ready the night before. This degree of foresight for me is quite astounding, although I was pretty pleased with myself.
I don't like carrying anything on my back while I ride, but since I don't have panniers, I threw on the bag, and we headed out. Nick had a backpack as well. We live up around 126th Street north of Indy. Our office is at 10th. 116 blocks and what turned out to be about 16 3/8 miles.
The first three miles or so were spent simply getting to the Monon Trail. This is one of those rails-to-trails deal here in Indy. It's pretty fantastic, and it runs from downtown north to where I live. However, they're rerouting part of the trail under one of the roads, so it's closed for a bit. We had to use regular roads until about 111th street where we picked up the trail.
The Monon is wide, paved and flat. You're supposed to stop at cross streets, but drivers will usually stop instead and let you go. Up north, the cross streets are about every 10-15 blocks. As you get closer to town, it's more like every 5, which is really annoying.
The ride for me was amazingly good considering I haven't ridden the bike in several months. Also, I hadn't eaten anything. Nothing. Not even water. I thought this would bite me in the ass, but now.
Since Nick is relatively new to the whole biking thing, I told him that his best bet to make the trip easier would be to draft off of me. He was amazed at the results. The pacing was pretty easy for me because of the lighter bike -- he had to really stay on top of things to get his Huffbeast at speed.
For whatever reason, I thought the ride down would be a lot harder. It was insanely easy and comfortable, I daresay. The time went by (for me at least) really fast. And while there weren't frequent milemarkers, the descending street numbers were a huge plus. Sometimes we'd be really surprised at how much we'd covered.
At 16th St. we left the trail and headed over to Meridian, about 6 blocks away or something. I needed to go to the bank. I went through the drivethrough ATM for the first time on a bike, which was amusing. Our office is right off Meridian at 10th, so the ride there was easy and in traffic. Fun.
Not a lot of folks at the office at 7:30ish -- the whole ride took about an hour and 10 minutes or so. Not bad. We averaged close to 14 mph. Since the morning was very cool, my sweat wasn't out of control. We changed and stowed the bikes in empty cubicles nearby. It's amazing that once you change into dry clothes (and slather on extra deodorant) you really don't feel the sweat and heat any more.
We thought that the ride home would be a little more difficult since the city is lower in elevation than Carmel. But it's very slight. However, there was an insane amount of wind blowing.
We found out once on the trail again that the wind was blowing ... north. Perfect! It helped out and helped mitigate the burning sun. Fortunately the trail is mostly covered with trees. Nick was struggling a lot more after we got up to about 75th street, though. The bike was getting to be more and more of a pain to slug along. He was hurting for water which we eventually got at 96th street (I bought some Gatorade before we left.)
The trip home took only 3 or so minutes more than the trip down. Some of the crosswinds had to do with that, I think.
I will definitely do this again. I think every Thursday, actually. I truly have no reason not to. I think once I'm done with the silly commuting out to Terre Haute and Beyond I might even consider riding the bike up to three days a week.
I checked the maps online and our new house is ... 25 miles from the office on local roads. And some of those local roads are divided four-lane highway types. Yikes. Not exactly what I want to be riding on considering how Hoosiers really aren't used to bicyclists. I am going to look for smaller roads obviously. But that's for this fall. I'm really not concerned about the 25 miles. The trick is just finding the fastest way onto the trail and going from there.
Nick (coworker buddy of mine) and I decided a few weeks ago that we should ride our bikes into work. This appealed to me greatly, although I was apprehensive about the logistics of changing once we got to work, carrying stuff and all that.
The positive side is that I do have a good, light, sturdy bike to use. And it's a road bike. Nick, on the other hand, has a second (or possibly fifth) hand Huffy. It's basically a pallet of bricks on wheels. Stupid heavy.
So anyway, this morning I intended to wake up at 5, get some cereal, take a shower, and then take my time getting ready for the ride. This did not happen. I got up at 6 -- when Nick said he'd be at my place. I called him and found out he was outside. I asked for more time. He ran over to the Meijer next door to pick up some forgotten items. I hustled to get ready. Fortunately, I had put my change of clothes and everything else out and ready the night before. This degree of foresight for me is quite astounding, although I was pretty pleased with myself.
I don't like carrying anything on my back while I ride, but since I don't have panniers, I threw on the bag, and we headed out. Nick had a backpack as well. We live up around 126th Street north of Indy. Our office is at 10th. 116 blocks and what turned out to be about 16 3/8 miles.
The first three miles or so were spent simply getting to the Monon Trail. This is one of those rails-to-trails deal here in Indy. It's pretty fantastic, and it runs from downtown north to where I live. However, they're rerouting part of the trail under one of the roads, so it's closed for a bit. We had to use regular roads until about 111th street where we picked up the trail.
The Monon is wide, paved and flat. You're supposed to stop at cross streets, but drivers will usually stop instead and let you go. Up north, the cross streets are about every 10-15 blocks. As you get closer to town, it's more like every 5, which is really annoying.
The ride for me was amazingly good considering I haven't ridden the bike in several months. Also, I hadn't eaten anything. Nothing. Not even water. I thought this would bite me in the ass, but now.
Since Nick is relatively new to the whole biking thing, I told him that his best bet to make the trip easier would be to draft off of me. He was amazed at the results. The pacing was pretty easy for me because of the lighter bike -- he had to really stay on top of things to get his Huffbeast at speed.
For whatever reason, I thought the ride down would be a lot harder. It was insanely easy and comfortable, I daresay. The time went by (for me at least) really fast. And while there weren't frequent milemarkers, the descending street numbers were a huge plus. Sometimes we'd be really surprised at how much we'd covered.
At 16th St. we left the trail and headed over to Meridian, about 6 blocks away or something. I needed to go to the bank. I went through the drivethrough ATM for the first time on a bike, which was amusing. Our office is right off Meridian at 10th, so the ride there was easy and in traffic. Fun.
Not a lot of folks at the office at 7:30ish -- the whole ride took about an hour and 10 minutes or so. Not bad. We averaged close to 14 mph. Since the morning was very cool, my sweat wasn't out of control. We changed and stowed the bikes in empty cubicles nearby. It's amazing that once you change into dry clothes (and slather on extra deodorant) you really don't feel the sweat and heat any more.
We thought that the ride home would be a little more difficult since the city is lower in elevation than Carmel. But it's very slight. However, there was an insane amount of wind blowing.
We found out once on the trail again that the wind was blowing ... north. Perfect! It helped out and helped mitigate the burning sun. Fortunately the trail is mostly covered with trees. Nick was struggling a lot more after we got up to about 75th street, though. The bike was getting to be more and more of a pain to slug along. He was hurting for water which we eventually got at 96th street (I bought some Gatorade before we left.)
The trip home took only 3 or so minutes more than the trip down. Some of the crosswinds had to do with that, I think.
I will definitely do this again. I think every Thursday, actually. I truly have no reason not to. I think once I'm done with the silly commuting out to Terre Haute and Beyond I might even consider riding the bike up to three days a week.
I checked the maps online and our new house is ... 25 miles from the office on local roads. And some of those local roads are divided four-lane highway types. Yikes. Not exactly what I want to be riding on considering how Hoosiers really aren't used to bicyclists. I am going to look for smaller roads obviously. But that's for this fall. I'm really not concerned about the 25 miles. The trick is just finding the fastest way onto the trail and going from there.
Tuesday, June 5
Real quick - Asim's never been to Walmart
I was just reading this article about how much Walmart blows when I thought I'd share why Asim has never been to Walmart. Because daddy deplores it. Here's the thing. I'll go, but just not with him. You see, if I go to a Walmart, I am 100% sure that I will have a miserable experience the moment I pull into the parking lot. Errant strollers, oil puddles, confused drivers, asinine parking attempts.
Then of course, it gets worse. Bad lighting, crowded aisles, miserable-looking customers and of course, the absolute worst part -- long checkout lines. And the thing is, you see the checkout lines as soon as you walk in the door. So while you can run in and grab that $2 barbecue brush, it doesn't matter. You'll still waste away half an hour of your life in line.
I noticed in the past that I got very worked up at Walmart. That's when I decided that Asim will never go to one. Because I don't want to impart my negative energy onto him. He should see me happy and cheerful. And I'm very happy and cheerful (as is he) at Target. Bright lights, clean store, clean parking lot and -- short, almost non-existent lines. And the Target Greatlands? Oh, glorious Target Greatlands. Cheap cereal! Chips! Salsa! Huzzah! See? I'm happy just thinking about it.
Then of course, it gets worse. Bad lighting, crowded aisles, miserable-looking customers and of course, the absolute worst part -- long checkout lines. And the thing is, you see the checkout lines as soon as you walk in the door. So while you can run in and grab that $2 barbecue brush, it doesn't matter. You'll still waste away half an hour of your life in line.
I noticed in the past that I got very worked up at Walmart. That's when I decided that Asim will never go to one. Because I don't want to impart my negative energy onto him. He should see me happy and cheerful. And I'm very happy and cheerful (as is he) at Target. Bright lights, clean store, clean parking lot and -- short, almost non-existent lines. And the Target Greatlands? Oh, glorious Target Greatlands. Cheap cereal! Chips! Salsa! Huzzah! See? I'm happy just thinking about it.
Monday, June 4
House? Finally?
Well, well. I think we might maybe perhaps sorta be at the groundbreaking. Still hard to tell. Salesguy e-mailed me to say that the permits will be done by the end of this week. This week! And get this -- the Great Design Center Lady finally e-mailed, too. Appointment is on Friday. Lots happening with the house on Friday -- Salesguy to add the new insulation stuff, Design Center and then a meeting with the mortgage lady to lock in our rate for 180 days. 6.5% for 30 years fixed ... sounds decent enough, although I asked for interest-only ... and we only gave 5% down, so uh, are financing 95% at that rate? Seems unlikely. Guess we'll find out.
So that's that.
Back to Memorial Day for just a minute. My parents, having upgraded their entire kitchen, decided that they should take a break from upgrading the house. However, my brother and I decided that no, they still need a new television. They were rocking the console business. You know, the one on the floor, in the cabinet?
Off to CostCo. We got a nice HD-ready forty-some inch flat panel LCD there. Pretty nice. But I have an issue with CostCo's insistence that you need an HD tuner and HD cable or Dish to get HD channels. Not true. I thought it was, but after flipping through the channels, I found out that the locals -- ABC, CBS, etc., all have an HD broadcast for some of the programming available on the non-digital cable my parents have. PBS also has it, and boy is some of that stuff sweet.
Anyway, the viewing highlight came on Sunday. The Indy 500 was on ABC. In HD. Now obviously since I live here now I should have just headed on down there (in the rain) to see the thing myself. But watching it on HD? Spectaculicious. So, so, so nice. Made me seriously consider getting an HD tv right there on the spot. The double bonus was that during the rain delay we went out for some shopping. When we got back, the race resumed.
The only issue that I would have now other than price and space is that there aren't enough channels and programming in HD. Specifically the Tour De France on Versus is probably not going to be in HD. And um, well, I guess everything else is. Although all that HGTV stuff probably isn't ... Anyway. The other issue is that I don't want to buy a really expensive tv because then I'll have to watch it. Then again, I paid a lot for the bicycle I have, and it's not like I'm riding that everyday.
So we drove back via Pittsburgh which was fun as usual. I'll get the rest of the week updated including the trip to the Velodrome later. But first, something completely different. (And it's late, and I have to go to sleep).
I read this past week in At Home with Jennifer, a Whirl publication, that the average American moves 11 times in their life. I decided to count the lifetime moves in my now 28 years. Here we go.
0. Somerville, NJ
1. Lancaster, PA
2. Lancaster, PA (we moved down the street. But I'm going to count this because it was pretty significant.)
3. Pittsburgh, freshman and sophomore years (no need to count the trip back to Lancaster o'er the summer, although it was a full-blown move. Had I lived in different rooms freshman and sophomore year I would have counted it. But somehow I didn't.)
4. Pittsburgh Bates Hill (South Oakland for life!)
5. Pittsburgh Ward Street (You suck, Favish)
6. Pittsburgh Hardie Way (Baba Yaga)
7. Lancaster, again
8. Philly, Chestnut Hill (The Villagio)
9. Ardmore, Walton Ave (Oscar!)
10. Lancaster, again
11. Pittsburgh
12. Carmel, IN
(13). Fishers, IN (Where we're building)
(14). Beach House (Some beach ...some place. Where we're retiring)
Thankfully I'm most of the way through the moves.
So that's that.
Back to Memorial Day for just a minute. My parents, having upgraded their entire kitchen, decided that they should take a break from upgrading the house. However, my brother and I decided that no, they still need a new television. They were rocking the console business. You know, the one on the floor, in the cabinet?
Off to CostCo. We got a nice HD-ready forty-some inch flat panel LCD there. Pretty nice. But I have an issue with CostCo's insistence that you need an HD tuner and HD cable or Dish to get HD channels. Not true. I thought it was, but after flipping through the channels, I found out that the locals -- ABC, CBS, etc., all have an HD broadcast for some of the programming available on the non-digital cable my parents have. PBS also has it, and boy is some of that stuff sweet.
Anyway, the viewing highlight came on Sunday. The Indy 500 was on ABC. In HD. Now obviously since I live here now I should have just headed on down there (in the rain) to see the thing myself. But watching it on HD? Spectaculicious. So, so, so nice. Made me seriously consider getting an HD tv right there on the spot. The double bonus was that during the rain delay we went out for some shopping. When we got back, the race resumed.
The only issue that I would have now other than price and space is that there aren't enough channels and programming in HD. Specifically the Tour De France on Versus is probably not going to be in HD. And um, well, I guess everything else is. Although all that HGTV stuff probably isn't ... Anyway. The other issue is that I don't want to buy a really expensive tv because then I'll have to watch it. Then again, I paid a lot for the bicycle I have, and it's not like I'm riding that everyday.
So we drove back via Pittsburgh which was fun as usual. I'll get the rest of the week updated including the trip to the Velodrome later. But first, something completely different. (And it's late, and I have to go to sleep).
I read this past week in At Home with Jennifer, a Whirl publication, that the average American moves 11 times in their life. I decided to count the lifetime moves in my now 28 years. Here we go.
0. Somerville, NJ
1. Lancaster, PA
2. Lancaster, PA (we moved down the street. But I'm going to count this because it was pretty significant.)
3. Pittsburgh, freshman and sophomore years (no need to count the trip back to Lancaster o'er the summer, although it was a full-blown move. Had I lived in different rooms freshman and sophomore year I would have counted it. But somehow I didn't.)
4. Pittsburgh Bates Hill (South Oakland for life!)
5. Pittsburgh Ward Street (You suck, Favish)
6. Pittsburgh Hardie Way (Baba Yaga)
7. Lancaster, again
8. Philly, Chestnut Hill (The Villagio)
9. Ardmore, Walton Ave (Oscar!)
10. Lancaster, again
11. Pittsburgh
12. Carmel, IN
(13). Fishers, IN (Where we're building)
(14). Beach House (Some beach ...some place. Where we're retiring)
Thankfully I'm most of the way through the moves.
Tuesday, May 29
Bank account, closed
I have much to post about the weekend, but I'll give you this before I head off to sleep (after 10 hours of westerly driving today).
On Thursday during a quick run-through Pittsburgh, I had a chance to stop in the same PNC branch that I opened my bank account in when I was a student. This time I was going to close it. I could have gone to any branch, but I liked the idea of it being opened and closed in the same place.
Anyway, after a few years of having the account just in my name, I added Maria's name. A joint account as the kids call it. So I strolled on into the bank solo -- wife and baby in the car outside chilling -- and asked to close the account. (I had been meaning to do this for a while, and there was like, only a hundred bucks left in there). The guy does some magic on the computer, prints out two cashier's checks -- one for the savings and one for checking -- and hands them to me. They have my name on them as well as Maria's. He tells me I can go and cash them right now at any teller.
So I do.
Now obviously Maria knew that I was doing this. But I was somewhat astounded at how simple it is to clean out a joint checking account. I would have thought that a cosigner would at least be needed on the back of the checks ... I'm pretty sure this is something I learned while I was a teller way back when.
Oh well. I guess that's how PNC rolls.
On Thursday during a quick run-through Pittsburgh, I had a chance to stop in the same PNC branch that I opened my bank account in when I was a student. This time I was going to close it. I could have gone to any branch, but I liked the idea of it being opened and closed in the same place.
Anyway, after a few years of having the account just in my name, I added Maria's name. A joint account as the kids call it. So I strolled on into the bank solo -- wife and baby in the car outside chilling -- and asked to close the account. (I had been meaning to do this for a while, and there was like, only a hundred bucks left in there). The guy does some magic on the computer, prints out two cashier's checks -- one for the savings and one for checking -- and hands them to me. They have my name on them as well as Maria's. He tells me I can go and cash them right now at any teller.
So I do.
Now obviously Maria knew that I was doing this. But I was somewhat astounded at how simple it is to clean out a joint checking account. I would have thought that a cosigner would at least be needed on the back of the checks ... I'm pretty sure this is something I learned while I was a teller way back when.
Oh well. I guess that's how PNC rolls.
Tuesday, May 22
A new battery
This isn't particularly exciting, but I got a new battery for the Jetta last week. The battery suffered pretty badly this winter after I ran it down and had to have it jumped. This time it just didn't have enough juice to start the car. Fortunately, we have two cars! So the adventure began.
Took the Volvo and slowly juiced up the Jetta. This took nearly 20 minutes. I think every time during that 20 minutes that I tried to start the Jetta, it went back to no juice. So after a while I just kind of gave up and waited.
Drove over to the Autozone and left the car running in the parking lot. Can you check my battery? Well, yes, but it'll need to be able to recover from a load being put on it. Oh. Can you jump it if it doesn't start then? Yes. Well, let's just check if you have the battery. We do. It's $119. (This, I found out, is the typical price for this particular battery.) Can you put it in? No. Why? Well, on your VW -- and this is only on VWs -- you need to use a tool that holds the computer's memory while you take out the battery. Otherwise, it'll completely reset, the fuel injection won't work, and the car won't start. Oh. Maybe you can see if Firestone across the street could install it. Went over to Firestone. Left the car running, again. Will you install this? Eh, well, usually we don't do it that way. Do you have the battery? No, but we can order it. (Lot of good that'll do me.) How about I just bring it from them and have you install it? Ok. Go back to Autozone, car still running. Buy damn battery. Firestone, 45 minutes later. Take old battery back to Autozone for core refund ($12). Car is now working like a champ.
The Firestone install was something like $50. The car is 2.5 years old and has 75K on it. I guess I can live with that. Next year we'll have a garage, so the cold starts shouldn't be as bad. Although last year in Pittsburgh, the car was outside. Maybe it wasn't as cold. Eh.
An update on the house
So it looks like I'll have to concede on the spray-foam insulation. But wait! I will be getting something better. The company that does all the Ryland contracts also does blow-in-bag insulation (BIB). What they do is put a "net" over the framing and then fill in the spaces with fiberglass bits that have a bit of glue on them. It's not supposed to settle like some blow in processes. It's an extra $3,000, but allegedly it'll be worth it. But again, there's an issue. Namely, if they say it's so good, then why aren't they going to do air balancing and maybe give me a smaller HVAC unit?
Whatever.
At this point I just want it to start. We still haven't been called about going in to pick cabinet colors and the like. And the house won't start until that party starts.
Took the Volvo and slowly juiced up the Jetta. This took nearly 20 minutes. I think every time during that 20 minutes that I tried to start the Jetta, it went back to no juice. So after a while I just kind of gave up and waited.
Drove over to the Autozone and left the car running in the parking lot. Can you check my battery? Well, yes, but it'll need to be able to recover from a load being put on it. Oh. Can you jump it if it doesn't start then? Yes. Well, let's just check if you have the battery. We do. It's $119. (This, I found out, is the typical price for this particular battery.) Can you put it in? No. Why? Well, on your VW -- and this is only on VWs -- you need to use a tool that holds the computer's memory while you take out the battery. Otherwise, it'll completely reset, the fuel injection won't work, and the car won't start. Oh. Maybe you can see if Firestone across the street could install it. Went over to Firestone. Left the car running, again. Will you install this? Eh, well, usually we don't do it that way. Do you have the battery? No, but we can order it. (Lot of good that'll do me.) How about I just bring it from them and have you install it? Ok. Go back to Autozone, car still running. Buy damn battery. Firestone, 45 minutes later. Take old battery back to Autozone for core refund ($12). Car is now working like a champ.
The Firestone install was something like $50. The car is 2.5 years old and has 75K on it. I guess I can live with that. Next year we'll have a garage, so the cold starts shouldn't be as bad. Although last year in Pittsburgh, the car was outside. Maybe it wasn't as cold. Eh.
An update on the house
So it looks like I'll have to concede on the spray-foam insulation. But wait! I will be getting something better. The company that does all the Ryland contracts also does blow-in-bag insulation (BIB). What they do is put a "net" over the framing and then fill in the spaces with fiberglass bits that have a bit of glue on them. It's not supposed to settle like some blow in processes. It's an extra $3,000, but allegedly it'll be worth it. But again, there's an issue. Namely, if they say it's so good, then why aren't they going to do air balancing and maybe give me a smaller HVAC unit?
Whatever.
At this point I just want it to start. We still haven't been called about going in to pick cabinet colors and the like. And the house won't start until that party starts.
Monday, May 14
Where the red ferns kill mockingbirds. Or something.
Oh. So I totally forgot.
Right.
Well, on Saturday or maybe Sunday ... Friday? I dunno. Anyway, we decided it would be nice to go for a walk around our apartment complex. Normally we walk around the same little trail. The trail goes around the newer construction that we live in as well as the new townhomes they built up that are part of the same area.
But then there's the old part.
About a month after we moved in, the apartment folks sold off the "old" part of the apartment complex. It's probably like, 20+ years old or something. At least it looks that way. I guess it might be like, 10-15, but since they're apartments, they age twice as fast.
Anywho, I wanted to really see where some of the roads went and how vast the older part is. I never knew and never paid attention when I looked at the satellite photos. Mayhaps a shortcut would show up! Or the road or sidewalk would connect to something fun!
So we're walking. And walking. And it's getting uglier and uglier. There are a lot of fountains, though. Asim liked those. And then I see that it just kind of ends. There's a road, but you'd have to cut across the grass. And besides, there's no sidewalk on that road. So Asim's getting a little fussy now, time to head on back. We venture onward, hoping a parking lot will loop back around.
Then Maria freaks out.
Sitting on top of a Dumpster is this giant freakin' coon. Like, huge. About twice the size of Asim. I didn't bother checking Asim's reaction -- I was too busy hauling him and the stroller away from this potentially rabid beast. And the coon just stared at us, like, what? It's the middle of the day, I gotta eat too, you know.
Since parking lot didn't loop around, we rumbled and bumbled through a lot of uncut grass to get back to another parking lot that got us in the right direction. And until we got back to our nicer part of the complex, we scurried quickly past every trash recepticle.
What's interesting here is that there are numerous Dumpsters in the older part of the complex. They are located under the various car ports. However in our newer part, there is only one. It's this giant beast of a compactor. You open the squeaky door, heave stuff in there (I throw stuff in there as hard as I can so it slams off the back wall and echos loudly ... it's even better if there's glass that breaks. Remember we're in a red state. So we don't recycle here.) and after every few openings/closings the thing automatically compacts. It's funny because it draws so much amperage to compact that the street lights around it go out when it starts up.
I haven't seen a coon since Machi and I were walking aimlessly around our hotel in Miami back in 2001. That one was also hanging around the trash.
Right.
Well, on Saturday or maybe Sunday ... Friday? I dunno. Anyway, we decided it would be nice to go for a walk around our apartment complex. Normally we walk around the same little trail. The trail goes around the newer construction that we live in as well as the new townhomes they built up that are part of the same area.
But then there's the old part.
About a month after we moved in, the apartment folks sold off the "old" part of the apartment complex. It's probably like, 20+ years old or something. At least it looks that way. I guess it might be like, 10-15, but since they're apartments, they age twice as fast.
Anywho, I wanted to really see where some of the roads went and how vast the older part is. I never knew and never paid attention when I looked at the satellite photos. Mayhaps a shortcut would show up! Or the road or sidewalk would connect to something fun!
So we're walking. And walking. And it's getting uglier and uglier. There are a lot of fountains, though. Asim liked those. And then I see that it just kind of ends. There's a road, but you'd have to cut across the grass. And besides, there's no sidewalk on that road. So Asim's getting a little fussy now, time to head on back. We venture onward, hoping a parking lot will loop back around.
Then Maria freaks out.
Sitting on top of a Dumpster is this giant freakin' coon. Like, huge. About twice the size of Asim. I didn't bother checking Asim's reaction -- I was too busy hauling him and the stroller away from this potentially rabid beast. And the coon just stared at us, like, what? It's the middle of the day, I gotta eat too, you know.
Since parking lot didn't loop around, we rumbled and bumbled through a lot of uncut grass to get back to another parking lot that got us in the right direction. And until we got back to our nicer part of the complex, we scurried quickly past every trash recepticle.
What's interesting here is that there are numerous Dumpsters in the older part of the complex. They are located under the various car ports. However in our newer part, there is only one. It's this giant beast of a compactor. You open the squeaky door, heave stuff in there (I throw stuff in there as hard as I can so it slams off the back wall and echos loudly ... it's even better if there's glass that breaks. Remember we're in a red state. So we don't recycle here.) and after every few openings/closings the thing automatically compacts. It's funny because it draws so much amperage to compact that the street lights around it go out when it starts up.
I haven't seen a coon since Machi and I were walking aimlessly around our hotel in Miami back in 2001. That one was also hanging around the trash.
Plug and play this
So I bought a printer for the ol' iMac.
It's an HP 2600n. I bought this because it's a color laser that's really cheap. $238, including free shipping.
I saw this advertised on Apple's Web site for $399. I thought that since it was on their site, it would work well with my computer. So I went to Amazon to see how much it was there. $241 + $11 S&H. But they stupidly say that it's going to come from Beach Camera. So I went to the Beach Camera site and well, it's only $238 there with free shipping.
It arrived on Friday afternoon.
Three hours after opening it and connecting it, it still wasn't working. If it wasn't for the nice weather and Asim's great smile, I would have thrown this thing out the window. The Mac simply wasn't getting along with it at all. Didn't show up, wouldn't print. Some test pages came out, but other than that, nothing.
When the hell did hooking up a printer get so hard? Isn't this supposed to be plug and play? My iPods were, my cameras were, and now my printers aren't?
I called HP support on Saturday to find out that the unit is a commercial one. So I'd have to call back during the week. I'm not doing that.
I poked around and queried on Apple's forums and got nudged this way and that on help. Nothing has worked, though. I've sort of gathered that maybe HP's updates are lagging behind Apple's OSX operating system.
Here's the strange part, though. When I went back to Beach to see what their return policy was, I noticed that the price had gone up! And they are now charging for shipping and handling. Incidentally, their restocking fee is 10%.
Thus, I will just sell it back on Amazon and hopefully break even.
As per having a printer ... well, I wasn't exactly hard up for one. I just kind of wanted to print out some random photos, blah, blah, blah. So not having one isn't a big deal. I think what I will do is go to the Apple store and see what they have there ... and make them prove to me that what they've got there works with OSX 10.4.9.
In other news, we went to a park near our house on Saturday for Asim's first barbecue. They have those nice outdoor grills that you chuck your own charcoal into. Although it was windy, things eventually worked out, and we enjoyed some nice weather and burgers. There will be some photos of this up soon on the Flickr ...
Also, I haven't given any love to the Diesel Jetta in a while ... so here goes ... this morning when I filled up I set a new record on 14.5 gallons -- 702 miles. The light was on for nearly a half hour and I was getting a little bit nervous. But I think the reserve is 2 gallons. I only had about 40 until the gas station ($2.65 for diesel!).
For my birthday weekend coming up, we'll be heading down to Louisville to hang out with my brother as he house hunts. Memorial Day is a nice long road trip to Lancaster with a possible stop in Pittsburgh if we feel like it. Asim hasn't been, so this might be a good time to show him where he'll be going to school.
It's an HP 2600n. I bought this because it's a color laser that's really cheap. $238, including free shipping.
I saw this advertised on Apple's Web site for $399. I thought that since it was on their site, it would work well with my computer. So I went to Amazon to see how much it was there. $241 + $11 S&H. But they stupidly say that it's going to come from Beach Camera. So I went to the Beach Camera site and well, it's only $238 there with free shipping.
It arrived on Friday afternoon.
Three hours after opening it and connecting it, it still wasn't working. If it wasn't for the nice weather and Asim's great smile, I would have thrown this thing out the window. The Mac simply wasn't getting along with it at all. Didn't show up, wouldn't print. Some test pages came out, but other than that, nothing.
When the hell did hooking up a printer get so hard? Isn't this supposed to be plug and play? My iPods were, my cameras were, and now my printers aren't?
I called HP support on Saturday to find out that the unit is a commercial one. So I'd have to call back during the week. I'm not doing that.
I poked around and queried on Apple's forums and got nudged this way and that on help. Nothing has worked, though. I've sort of gathered that maybe HP's updates are lagging behind Apple's OSX operating system.
Here's the strange part, though. When I went back to Beach to see what their return policy was, I noticed that the price had gone up! And they are now charging for shipping and handling. Incidentally, their restocking fee is 10%.
Thus, I will just sell it back on Amazon and hopefully break even.
As per having a printer ... well, I wasn't exactly hard up for one. I just kind of wanted to print out some random photos, blah, blah, blah. So not having one isn't a big deal. I think what I will do is go to the Apple store and see what they have there ... and make them prove to me that what they've got there works with OSX 10.4.9.
In other news, we went to a park near our house on Saturday for Asim's first barbecue. They have those nice outdoor grills that you chuck your own charcoal into. Although it was windy, things eventually worked out, and we enjoyed some nice weather and burgers. There will be some photos of this up soon on the Flickr ...
Also, I haven't given any love to the Diesel Jetta in a while ... so here goes ... this morning when I filled up I set a new record on 14.5 gallons -- 702 miles. The light was on for nearly a half hour and I was getting a little bit nervous. But I think the reserve is 2 gallons. I only had about 40 until the gas station ($2.65 for diesel!).
For my birthday weekend coming up, we'll be heading down to Louisville to hang out with my brother as he house hunts. Memorial Day is a nice long road trip to Lancaster with a possible stop in Pittsburgh if we feel like it. Asim hasn't been, so this might be a good time to show him where he'll be going to school.
Friday, May 11
If you're an idiot, don't talk to me.
So about a fortnight ago, I got a call from someone who I thought was a new friend here in Indy asking if I was interested in a "business" that he and his wife were getting into.
Oh boy.
I agreed during that call to meet him a few days later. Maybe he and his wife would like to come over and talk? Sure. That'd be great.
Then I thought about it.
I called him back and told him that I wasn't interested. I'd heard of this before, and no, I'm not that hard up for money.
Here's the deal.
Back when we were living in Lancaster, I was mindlessly perusing the magazine section at Barnes and Noble. A guy my age started talking to me, asking me if I knew stuff about digital cameras (I was reading a digital camera magazine) blah, blah, blah, we got to talking, would I like to hear about this business he and his wife were just getting into. Not knowing anything, I saw them a few days later at the same Barnes and Noble and they explained -- very, very vaguely -- what the deal was.
Basically you buy stuff from this Web site after you log in with another person's account. The other person would be someone who signed you up. Allegedly, you could buy all sorts of stuff from this site. The more you buy, the more you make.
But that's not really what's happening. The person who signs you up is making the money. Or a small cut of it. And the person who signed them up makes a cut. And you make nothing really -- unless you can sucker your friends or people at the mall -- into it.
Anyway, back to this idiot in Indy. He actually approached us in the mall several months ago. We started talking and thinking things were cool because they were also brown. They had just moved here as well, etc., etc., Wouldn't it be nice to know some other young people here.
Well, as I was telling him that no, I wasn't interested over the phone, he asked if I had heard of BWW before. My, my. I had not heard an actual name. Google it all you want and find out that yes, it's a scam! And it preys on -- get this -- young idiots and immigrants. Yay!
It's also great because when you read about it online, there are people brainwashed enough to defend it.
The thing that really pisses me off about this whole thing is that a few days before he called me trying to get me into his scam, we had lunch and chatted for a while and things were rather pleasant. But his entire intent was to lure me into this idiocy! Bastard.
I was going to call him back (again) and tell him that it's a scam, but hey, stupid is as stupid does.
Oh boy.
I agreed during that call to meet him a few days later. Maybe he and his wife would like to come over and talk? Sure. That'd be great.
Then I thought about it.
I called him back and told him that I wasn't interested. I'd heard of this before, and no, I'm not that hard up for money.
Here's the deal.
Back when we were living in Lancaster, I was mindlessly perusing the magazine section at Barnes and Noble. A guy my age started talking to me, asking me if I knew stuff about digital cameras (I was reading a digital camera magazine) blah, blah, blah, we got to talking, would I like to hear about this business he and his wife were just getting into. Not knowing anything, I saw them a few days later at the same Barnes and Noble and they explained -- very, very vaguely -- what the deal was.
Basically you buy stuff from this Web site after you log in with another person's account. The other person would be someone who signed you up. Allegedly, you could buy all sorts of stuff from this site. The more you buy, the more you make.
But that's not really what's happening. The person who signs you up is making the money. Or a small cut of it. And the person who signed them up makes a cut. And you make nothing really -- unless you can sucker your friends or people at the mall -- into it.
Anyway, back to this idiot in Indy. He actually approached us in the mall several months ago. We started talking and thinking things were cool because they were also brown. They had just moved here as well, etc., etc., Wouldn't it be nice to know some other young people here.
Well, as I was telling him that no, I wasn't interested over the phone, he asked if I had heard of BWW before. My, my. I had not heard an actual name. Google it all you want and find out that yes, it's a scam! And it preys on -- get this -- young idiots and immigrants. Yay!
It's also great because when you read about it online, there are people brainwashed enough to defend it.
The thing that really pisses me off about this whole thing is that a few days before he called me trying to get me into his scam, we had lunch and chatted for a while and things were rather pleasant. But his entire intent was to lure me into this idiocy! Bastard.
I was going to call him back (again) and tell him that it's a scam, but hey, stupid is as stupid does.
Monday, May 7
Marathoned
So I finished a half marathon. Essentially my baseline time is set, so from here on out I will be a failure if I don't improve on the time. That time, mind you, was 2 hours, 50 minutes. I know what I said before "2 hours." After seeing how fast a pace that would be, I realized I was sadly mistaken. In my mind, I upped it to something more reasonable, like, 2.5 hours. So 2:50 ain't all that bad. I also didn't train nearly as much as I should have. Like, following a schedule and all that. Maybe next time. Anyway, here's how the day played out:
Leave house at about 6:20 a.m. The paperwork said to be in the corrals at 7, race would start at 7:30. I got downtown, parked, went to the bathroom and started following all the other runners. Turns out things were more lax than I thought. I hadn't brought a watch because at each mile they give you the elapsed time. So the only thing I had on me was a timing chip and my VW key looped into my shoelaces (this worked out very well.) I also had the iPod shuffle and a hat. I thought the clouds would bust open to rain, so I wanted a cover.
Because of Nick's time in the 15K that he ran in my name, I was in Corral L out of uh, I think all 26 letters pretty much. The folks around me had done something like 8:30-9:15/miles on the 15k. I mentally prepared myself for all the passing that would ensue.
And we're off. Not sure of the time, but whatever. A quick walk turned into a quick shuffle turned into my race pace (probably the "jog" of others.) I crossed under the start gate at 10:45 elapsed. So, from each mile marker, I'd have to subtract that. Later, I found simple math was getting tricky, so subtracting 10 or 11 would work well.
Mile 1. I've already got to pee. I see some people ducking off into the woods, but I'm thinking I'll get caught or slip on urine. That would be mighty horrid. I decide to wait until the first rest stop.
After about 2 miles (I'm still running, yay!) the porta-johns show up. I wait about a minute for one, then go running off like I know what I'm doing. The scenery isn't all that interesting. Most of the course goes through somewhat rundown areas. I think they feel the whole point is to get you to the Brickyard and back.
After mile 4, I walk for a little bit, taking a water break. I'm not feeling too bad, and while there are still people passing me, I'm getting past slower runners and a bunch of walkers. My pace at this point is still something 11-minutes per mile, so I'm pretty happy.
Mile 5. I decide to do some more walking. The thinking is that I'd like to run all the way (2.5 miles) around the Brickyard. Although I know this is somewhat unrealistic, it seems like a nice idea. As we get in front of the massive stadium, I jog on in.
It's a little disheartening to see people leaving the racetrack as I and hundreds around me are entering. But whatever. Also, seeing the winner of the race on the jumbotron at the track (after one hour and a little change) was annoying.
I run for about a half mile then it's back to walking. I can feel myself running out of gas now. The legs are starting to feel just a little heavy. I hit up some more water and gatorade and mix up the running and walking. I try to look around as much as possible, because hell, I'm walking on one of the most historical racetracks in the world!
As I slowly ran out of the track, I notice that there were ... hundreds of people streaming in. Most are walking and maybe jogging, but hey, at least I won't be the very last person. I had this idea that the group would maybe thin out after a while. But no. Turns out that when you run 13.1 miles with 35,000 people, there will be several thousand in front and behind you at all times.
Out of the stadium we cross Mile 9 and then 10. This is when the trouble starts. My legs start cramping up something fierce. I stop to stretch. Still cramped. I hobble along. Stretch slower and longer. Better. I also noticed that with the water and gatorade, it took a little while to absorb. That is, if I kept on running right after, my stomach would feel terrible. So now I was loading up on gatorade (when I left the track I was actually hungry), letting it go down and then trying to run. Well, after the cramping bit, another problem surfaced. Namely the chafing in my chest area. That is, my nipples were causing a lot of discomfort. I remembered seeing something about this before. Like, using lotion or bandaids or whatever. I hadn't thought of this. And now it was kicking my ass.
Between 10 and 13 I was walking about 70% and running 30%. Things got pretty bad. However, the actual race was still amusing ... we ran by two bars that were giving away beer in small cups. And yes, people were taking them. I guess they do this sort of thing every year. I also saw two people get carried off on stretchers, so I was happy to at least still be going. The best sign that I saw during the run was "At least it's not a marathon."
When I passed 12, I did some quick math (or tried really hard to) and figured that as long as I did the last mile in 25 minutes or less, I would finish in under three hours, my new goal. So that made me happy.
The last half mile seemed to take an eternity, but since there were thousands lined up on either side of the street, I decided that I should probably make a run for it. I saw the clock just click past 3 hours when I crossed.
My 13-minute miles certainly aren't impressive, but considering what went into it, I guess I'm somewhat pleased. I'm not sure if this is the distance for me or not ... I think I might want to try a few more 10K runs and then eventually work up to a more decent pace.
Leave house at about 6:20 a.m. The paperwork said to be in the corrals at 7, race would start at 7:30. I got downtown, parked, went to the bathroom and started following all the other runners. Turns out things were more lax than I thought. I hadn't brought a watch because at each mile they give you the elapsed time. So the only thing I had on me was a timing chip and my VW key looped into my shoelaces (this worked out very well.) I also had the iPod shuffle and a hat. I thought the clouds would bust open to rain, so I wanted a cover.
Because of Nick's time in the 15K that he ran in my name, I was in Corral L out of uh, I think all 26 letters pretty much. The folks around me had done something like 8:30-9:15/miles on the 15k. I mentally prepared myself for all the passing that would ensue.
And we're off. Not sure of the time, but whatever. A quick walk turned into a quick shuffle turned into my race pace (probably the "jog" of others.) I crossed under the start gate at 10:45 elapsed. So, from each mile marker, I'd have to subtract that. Later, I found simple math was getting tricky, so subtracting 10 or 11 would work well.
Mile 1. I've already got to pee. I see some people ducking off into the woods, but I'm thinking I'll get caught or slip on urine. That would be mighty horrid. I decide to wait until the first rest stop.
After about 2 miles (I'm still running, yay!) the porta-johns show up. I wait about a minute for one, then go running off like I know what I'm doing. The scenery isn't all that interesting. Most of the course goes through somewhat rundown areas. I think they feel the whole point is to get you to the Brickyard and back.
After mile 4, I walk for a little bit, taking a water break. I'm not feeling too bad, and while there are still people passing me, I'm getting past slower runners and a bunch of walkers. My pace at this point is still something 11-minutes per mile, so I'm pretty happy.
Mile 5. I decide to do some more walking. The thinking is that I'd like to run all the way (2.5 miles) around the Brickyard. Although I know this is somewhat unrealistic, it seems like a nice idea. As we get in front of the massive stadium, I jog on in.
It's a little disheartening to see people leaving the racetrack as I and hundreds around me are entering. But whatever. Also, seeing the winner of the race on the jumbotron at the track (after one hour and a little change) was annoying.
I run for about a half mile then it's back to walking. I can feel myself running out of gas now. The legs are starting to feel just a little heavy. I hit up some more water and gatorade and mix up the running and walking. I try to look around as much as possible, because hell, I'm walking on one of the most historical racetracks in the world!
As I slowly ran out of the track, I notice that there were ... hundreds of people streaming in. Most are walking and maybe jogging, but hey, at least I won't be the very last person. I had this idea that the group would maybe thin out after a while. But no. Turns out that when you run 13.1 miles with 35,000 people, there will be several thousand in front and behind you at all times.
Out of the stadium we cross Mile 9 and then 10. This is when the trouble starts. My legs start cramping up something fierce. I stop to stretch. Still cramped. I hobble along. Stretch slower and longer. Better. I also noticed that with the water and gatorade, it took a little while to absorb. That is, if I kept on running right after, my stomach would feel terrible. So now I was loading up on gatorade (when I left the track I was actually hungry), letting it go down and then trying to run. Well, after the cramping bit, another problem surfaced. Namely the chafing in my chest area. That is, my nipples were causing a lot of discomfort. I remembered seeing something about this before. Like, using lotion or bandaids or whatever. I hadn't thought of this. And now it was kicking my ass.
Between 10 and 13 I was walking about 70% and running 30%. Things got pretty bad. However, the actual race was still amusing ... we ran by two bars that were giving away beer in small cups. And yes, people were taking them. I guess they do this sort of thing every year. I also saw two people get carried off on stretchers, so I was happy to at least still be going. The best sign that I saw during the run was "At least it's not a marathon."
When I passed 12, I did some quick math (or tried really hard to) and figured that as long as I did the last mile in 25 minutes or less, I would finish in under three hours, my new goal. So that made me happy.
The last half mile seemed to take an eternity, but since there were thousands lined up on either side of the street, I decided that I should probably make a run for it. I saw the clock just click past 3 hours when I crossed.
My 13-minute miles certainly aren't impressive, but considering what went into it, I guess I'm somewhat pleased. I'm not sure if this is the distance for me or not ... I think I might want to try a few more 10K runs and then eventually work up to a more decent pace.
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