Monday, April 27, 2009
In order to log some training miles Jillian and I have been doing charity bike rides. Unfortunately, we're only going to get two in before it's time to leave. We did our first one on 4/26, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As usual, it became an epic journey.
Not only were we going to do the ride, we were also going to take the opportunity to scout honeymoon locations in central PA. One of the towns we passed through was Williamsport. We stopped at the scenic view there, took some photos, and noticed the bike was having trouble staying on the car rack. While my rack is built to hold three bikes, it isn't built to hold one bike as heavy as ours. Plus, we need to mount the bike on the rack diagonally. While this keeps the width of the bike to a minimum, it also puts a lot of stress on the rubber straps. The bike wasn't in any danger of falling off, but I didn't like how it'd been shifting.
We spent the night in New York at my parent's house. My parents and I went down to the rail trail and my mother went on her first bike ride in several years. We had a lot of fun, though it got rather dark.
Sunday morning we left early, and Jillian and I got in the car feeling a little rushed. We hadn't even made it to the PA line when one of the rubber straps popped off the bike. While again, the bike wasn't in any real danger of falling off, it was a bad way to start the day. Between the rush to get going and then the sudden stop, I arrived at the start line feeling very stressed.
I always forget how much I dislike the starts of charity rides. Every hurries to get there, then waits to get started, and then everybody races each other for the first few miles. It doesn't matter how much you tell yourself you're not going to do it. Once again, I felt rushed.
Then we started having chain problems. Due to our chain problem from the ride the other day, our chain had a tendency to slip off. We were just about to pass a large group of people when the chain nearly wound up on my foot. Not only had we lost the chain, but the boom had gotten twisted and slid in and we'd bruised our legs. It took a number of tries to get everything back where we wanted it. Since we'd lost nearly ten minutes it was impossible to catch most of the people.
So now I'm really stressed. The bad start to the day, now the chain, and now we're the lone bike on this ride, unable to keep up with anyone. Just in time to start a climb.
We were doing route four, which was just over fifty miles long. It had quite a bit more climbing than route three, and it turned out that all that climbing happened at once. We did a seven mile, thousand foot climb in ninety degree heat (in April, in Scanton!), only to turn a corner and discover another hundred feet of climbing over two blocks. That felt straight up. It also just felt mean. Yes, we'd signed on for the challenge ride. Yes we expected some climbing. But that last hundred feet was uncalled for, and not fun.
The worst part might have been that there was almost no downhill! We were expecting several miles of easy downhill. Instead it felt like we got it all at once, and found a stop sign at the bottom. We lost a lot of momentum. We also lost the chain again, and the Pino started to feel very wobbly. We stopped at a bank to fix the chain and look at the wobble, and stopped again not long later. I couldn't figure out where all this wobble was coming from. It wasn't until we were back at the Scranton High School parking lot that I discovered that it was just bad roads. Scranton might have the worst roads I've ever ridden. I swear there was a pothole in Carbondale that would have swallowed most of my car.
Then Jillian started to get some pain on the bottoms of her feet. We're still trying to work out exactly what it is. I'm worried it's the SPD cleat putting more pressure than she's used to, she's worried about a sock problem, and we're both worried about shoe fit. She was in a lot of pain, we won't be able to ride if she's in pain like that often. She graduates the weekend of 5/16. Hopefully then we'll find the time to look into it.
After we returned to the High School I gave my cousin and uncle rides on the Pino.
On the drive back to Frederick, that pesky rubber strap on the rack finally snapped and I spent a long time at the Hershey rest stop figuring out how to tie the straps to the bike just right so that as the bike slid they'd get tighter. It worked, but it was a pain to get the bike off when we were done.
Overall, we learned a lot. Aside from the bike/car problem, we also learned the importance of not being in a hurry. Captaining that bike takes a lot of effort and if I get stressed I get no fun. We did a good job of complimenting each other - when she was stressed I was calm, and the other way around, but we'll need to focus on this next ride. Show up really early to the ride, focus a ton on not being in a hurry during the ride, and just generally not care about keeping up with the regular bikes.
That also means we've learned we're a lot slower than regular bikes. We'll be even slower with a trailer. We're still going to shoot for that 10mph average though.
| posted at: 21:00 |
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
It's been a while, I know. Unfortunately I still have two busy weeks of work (a 25 page seminar paper and possibly thesis revisions) before I'll have time to post properly, but here are a few of the highlights of the past few weeks.
Kyle bought the bike and brought it home. It's all ours at last! Unfortunately when Kyle and David tried to take it out for a long ride the back break got stuck in the on position, so now it has to go back to the shop. I'm sad even though I'm not there to ride it anyway.
My parents visited one weekend to watch UVA play Maryland in baseball, partly because they know one of Maryland's players and partly because we're all a bit crazy about watching sports. In the second game of the series my dad got to see his friend's son earn the save in an upset win, and then the next night all three of us watched the game together. It was a blowout win by UVA but the game still had its moments. My dad managed to catch a foul ball hit by the only player I know - one of my students in the writing center. And at one point a fielder broke his belt during a play - I'm not sure how either, but it happened - so he jogged towards the dugout to dispose of it and was met halfway by one of his teammates. After the beltless player gestured the other guy took off his own belt and gave it to him. Everyone cheered the amusing display of teamwork. It was a good time all around.
Remember Bike to Uganda from last entry? Well not only did UVA's organization meet their goals - they raised over $11,000 and covered the 7,354 miles between Charlottesville and Uganda a few hours early - but we beat VA Tech!
Speaking of stationary bikes, I'm back in the gym after a hiatus, but it's becoming frustrating there. They've started blasting mediocre music all the time so I can no longer listen to my stories (yes, I realize I sound like I'm 80). Plus my lifting is severely limited by my tender shoulder and my sometimes creaky knees. Why are so many muscles attached to them? Arg.
Generally, though, my shoulder is feeling better and has been out of the sling for a while. Of course I occasionally overuse it, but I've avoided anything dangerous. I even turned down the chance to scrimmage while assisting at an ultimate frisbee clinic, and stuck to teaching flicks on the sideline instead (which was actually quite fulfilling.) I'm also not riding outside yet, largely in the fear that I'll fall on my shoulder and re-dislocate it in the middle of nowhere, hence the gym time.
I stayed here for Easter thanks to the thesis, and I got to celebrate by...dealing with flooding! Our hot water heater inexplicably sprung a leak. As always happens (see the great washing machine flooding of 2007) I was alone in the house. Thankfully I have probably the best landlord ever, and he and his father came over to replace the pipe and clean up the flooding on Easter! I was incredibly amazed and grateful. I still had to go without hot water for almost two days, but at least there wasn't any long term damage.
I also had a birthday this month. I am now a quarter of a century old, which blows my mind a bit. I didn't really celebrate because I was immersed in thesis hell at the time, but Pat presented me with a ShamWow and a book of short stories, and some of my relatives generously donated to the Jillian-wants-a-DSLR-fund. I'm hoping to buy the camera this weekend or soon after (and I will definitely report back when I do!).
Finally, Hydra just updated their awesome website and included a countdown shoutout to our upcoming wedding! I love those girls more and more.
Sorry the updates are choppy and brief, but it's about time I get back to the grindstone. See you in May if not sooner!
| posted at: 22:27 |
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Monday, April 06, 2009
David, the Best Man in the wedding, finally got his transfer to move to Germantown from Atlanta. We picked the first weekend in April to do the move. I volunteered to help him out, since it is a very long drive from Atlanta to Frederick.
Whopper drove us both after school on Friday to Dullas, which was surprisingly empty. Although we were two men in crew cuts with no luggage and only one way tickets, we weren't searched. This was the start of the best flying experience I've ever had. Because there hadn't been any coach seats available, Dave's company had bought us first class seats. We weren't even boarded before the flight attendant was serving us complementary beverages. I was able to move and stretch the entire flight. Too bad I'll probably never fly first class again.
We landed at 9:30 and promptly began walking to the exit, since Dave doesn't care for the train. The walk is more than a mile, through something like six terminals. We passed time by criticizing the ridiculous art in between the people movers. Then it was time to pick up the rental car.
The rental car lady offered us a Mitsubishi. Dave was flexible, he said "Sure, we'll just take whatever the reservation was for." We ended up with a "Black Cherry" PT Cruiser, who Jillian named Wanda by phone. We drove to Walmart, picked up some exceptionally large Tupperware containers and some terrible food for dinner, and then went back to his apartment.
A few weeks ago, David had made another trip to Atlanta. At the time, he had no idea he was going to be moving to Maryland, so he didn't bother packing anything. However, he was stuck cleaning up some bees. It seems that bees had decided to occupy an entire wall of his apartment. There were still a lot of things in the apartment that had honey on them, which made packing things an incredibly unpleasant experience. If you look very closely at the picture of Dave's living room, you can just barely notice the yellow stain on the wall in the top right hand corner. That's from where the wall had honey leaking through it.
The bees were actually really terrible. It seems the exterminators hadn't quite finished cleaning everything. There were hundreds of bees left by windows and hiding in light features. Nothing alive, but it made for fun cleaning.
Dave spent a little bit of time packing up and I just went to bed. In order to get going quickly, we were up and picked up the U-Haul at 7am. For the next few hours Dave would pack things up and I'd load them into the truck. He only had a 10 foot truck, and I was convinced it was going to be a really tight fit.
By noon we were all packed up, which isn't so bad when you remember that he hadn't had an opportunity to pack at all ahead of time. It took us three tries to find the Comcast building, and when we did find it the line was wrapped up in a spiral shape in order to fit everyone. It ended up taking two hours for him to drop his cable subscription, most of it spent waiting in line. We returned to his place, got the U-Haul, and struck out to drop off the rental car and get on the road at last. We arrived at the Avis at 4:10pm to find that they closed at 4. David spent the next thirty minutes on the phone with Avis National trying to find another drop off location on the North side of Atlanta. I finally told him we'd suck it up and go all the way back to the Airport and drop off the car.
By the time we were done dropping off the car it was almost 6. Dave took the first driving shift. I fell asleep some time after we hit the North Carolina border, only to have Dave wake me back up after Charlotte to ask me to take over driving. I climbed behind the wheel at 11 and drove until about 2:30 when we switched again right after the Virginia border. I slept until the North side of Richmond. If you can count that as sleep, it meant I got about three hours in the truck. Dave got a similar amount. We finally rolled in to my high school, where we'd parked our cars, at 5am. Dave drove a truck and I drove my car onward to Frederick, where we both hit our beds at 6.
We were up again at 9. By noon we'd successfully moved his stuff either into the apartment or into storage. We used the truck to drop off an old couch at Goodwill, then returned it and found lunch. I packed some stuff for a trip to Charlottesville and then we were on the road again.
Unfortunately, right outside of my school I realized that I'd forgotten three or four different things I needed. So though I could drop Dave off to pick up his car, I was stuck driving back to Frederick. I finally got to Charlottesville last night at 8:30 to find a very sick Jillian.
I'd say it was a really terrible experience driving hundreds of miles over night on only three hours of sleep, but that first class place ticket made it all worth it. Plus now I have a roommate who will be staying in my apartment while Jillian and I are out riding across the country.
| posted at: 15:23 |
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Friday, April 03, 2009
With the dislocation I won't be able to enjoy springtime on my bicycle for a while, especially since, as we know, I tend to fall on my left shoulder far too often. Last night, however, I got to ride outside - on a stationary bike in support of Building Tomorrow's Bike to Uganda Fundraiser. The organization works to raise "awareness and funds to build and support educational infrastructure projects for vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa." For the bike fundraiser, anyone can sign up to ride for an hour or more on stationary bikes set up on the university lawn near the Rotunda, and sponsors donate money for each mile ridden. The goal is to collectively ride 7,354 miles and raise $40,000. As an added bonus, we are apparently racing VA Tech to see which school can reach their goal first.
Last year I didn't find out about the event until I saw people riding on one of the last days, and the same thing might have happened this year if one of the Hydra girls hadn't emailed everyone about it. She was able to recruit a number of frisbee girls and guys, including some of my favorite winter league teammates, and we all had a good time pedaling away on the fog covered Lawn. It was a highly entertaining ride, though it would have been a lot more fun if I hadn't been sick. Yup, the universe decided that going through thesis crunch time with an injured arm wasn't annoying enough, so it saddled me with a monster of a sore throat too. I wasn't, however, the only one wearing a sling - one of the frisbee guys had injured his shoulder at a tournament the same weekend but came out to ride as well.
I didn't keep track of how far I rode - very unlike me, I know - but most of the time when I looked down at the speedometer I was pleasantly surprised to be going around 20 mph. My legs never got tired but breathing got very difficult, so I was actually glad that the organizers decided to pack things up a little early. I wanted to support them more by buying a Bike to Uganda t-shirt, and since they only had large sizes left (of course) I got one for Kyle, who was really disappointed that the event didn't coincide with one of his visits. They threw in a free UVA shirt in my size and entered me in a raffle, which was exciting; I don't have any idea what I could win, but I'm not going to turn down a raffle. (Unless it's that colonoscopy raffle that I keep seeing advertised - what is going on there?) Anyway, I'm very glad that I dragged my sick and injured body out in the misting rain to ride a bit of the way to Uganda. Major kudos to Building Tomorrow; I really hope they reach their goals and I encourage everyone to support them however you can.
| posted at: 18:26 |
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Thursday, April 02, 2009
I found a Dell Mini 9
on sale for $198 including tax and shipping the other day. Seeing as this is an easy $50 less than I usually see them, I bought it right away. A few notes.
It arrived with 512MB of RAM. This really wasn't enough. It would work, but not if I wanted to launch more than one application at a time. $30 at NewEgg and now it has 2GB of RAM. It feels very snappy.
It runs Ubuntu Hardy LTS. I can understand why Dell would want me to use an LTS version, but I'm a little nervous about changing the software sources over to Intrepid and giving it an upgrade, even though I'd like some of the new software features.
If I enter a WPA key under my login and then give it to Jillian she needs to enter the WPA key all over again. I understand this is how Keyring works, but what a pain. We'll end up using only one login.
The SD Card slot works great.
Jillian has named it Cooper. This is a break from my normal naming scheme of naming my machines after computer scientists.
The apostrophe key is in a really dumb spot - down just to the right of the space bar. I try to type an apostrophe and I end up hitting the enter key. It would help if I had smaller fingers.
It really does run totally silent (and not that hot). I have trouble telling if it's on sometimes. I'd like solid state drives in all my laptops.
There isn't much space on it. Even after removing a bunch of packages I don't need I still have less than 2GB of storage available.
I didn't realize this, but I often rest my right thumb below the spacebar when I'm typing, and use my left thumb exclusively for hitting the spacebar. This is fine most of the time, but it means my thumb gets dragged on the touchpad of the Mini. I think this is why windows sometimes minimize by themselves and the mouse cursor seems to move around the screen randomly.
Still, I'm happy with it. It's easily half the weight and size of my Toshiba. We'll probably buy a collection of SD Cards or USB drives and mail them back to one of our Parents to keep track of as we go. But this laptop should work fine for writing entries on the blog, even if we need to go a little slower until we're used to the smaller keyboard.
| posted at: 11:00 |
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