A Guide for the Clueless

Out of necessity, I ride my bike across across areas heavily populated by pedestrians. This is an area where pedestrians and bikes (theoretically) share the sidewalk. In practice, the pedestrians are clueless about the existence of bicycles and seem constantly surprised by their presence. I have created these handy rules to vent my frustration for pedestrians who want to be more bike-friendly:

1. Even when there is seemingly no one else around, do not walk down the middle of the damn sidewalk. If you do, do not be surprised when I ride past you. This is especially true if you are also talking on your cell phone.


2. When I ring my bell, do not turn around like I just sounded an airhorn at you, move directly into the path of my bicycle, and then titter to your friends after I pass. It will only make me want to run you over...more.


3. Do not weave all over the sidewalk in the manner of drunken sailors. It makes very difficult for me to avoid hitting you. If you are doing this, I will ring my bell at you (see # 2).


4. When I say, "Coming up on your left," do not move over to the left.


5. If you stop to have a conversation, do not take up the entire sidewalk to do so. If you are having a conversation with someone on opposite sides of the sidewalk, do not be surprised when I go between you.


6. [ETA] If you are walking perpendicular to my path, just keep going. This makes it very easy for me to adjust my speed and go after you have crossed my path. Do NOT stop and stare at me and look at me as though you are doing me a favor. In all the time it takes us to collectively figure out who's going and who's stopping, we both could have been on our merry ways.


7. Do not make snarky comments about my helmet. I wear a helmet because there are cars in other areas I ride in. Oddly, I am fond of my brains in their current location, safely within the confines of my skull. I realize that yours are on some sort of bubble-headed permanent vacation, but in the event that a delivery truck runs over my head, I like knowing that my helmet is there.

Happy Anniversary to my beautiful Zhenia!

Lotus Cricket We got her at the end of January, but I'm only getting around to posting about it now. [Note: Despite their striking similarity, this is NOT the same kitten we found across the street in mid-January.] Lotus Cricket is 6 months old and an extremely sweet and loving thing. We found her online; she came from a rescue organization that works mostly with feral cats in a nearby rural area. They concentrate on TNR (trap-neuter-return) since most feral cats cannot be successfully domesticated...unless they are young kittens. Lotus Cricket and her littermates were the last litter her mama had before being fixed.

( +4 under here... )

As a butter tart purist myself, I scoff at gratuitous ingredients.

This was the title of a spam message in my inbox this morning. When you plug the phrase into Google, you get actually get a result! I love it. Perhaps I will take this as a sign that I should make butter tarts this weekend.

I am back to civilization and back at work. My body is still sort of on Pacific time, my mind is still sort of in a vacation mode, and my soul would very much like to retire to the Pacific Northwest now. I was once again reminded that the Cascade Mountains in Oregon are breathtakingly beautiful. Portland is a lovely city and I am SO jealous of their public transportation (easy, free in downtown!, generally awesome) and their bike friendliness (bike paths are everywhere and so are people on bikes). I am also jealous of their downtown knitting store. I'll write more about the trip and post some pics when I get them uploaded from the camera.

It's hard to be back in the real world.

As I'm sure many of you are aware, it's Lightening Safety Awareness Week. To celebrate, I rode my bike into work on a day that thunderstorms are predicted in my area. Common sense is apparently not my strong point today. This bodes well for the week, I'm sure.

Our front room is almost completely covered in boxes. I scored big time at work the other day when a 20 box shipment of paper came in. So we went from zero to more-boxes-than-we-can-cope-with very quickly. I almost couldn't get to the cookbooks the other day to pack them up. Also, there's no way that Zhenia could ride her bike to work right now for the simple fact that she couldn't get it past all the boxes. It's too cold ride right now anyway. *sigh* I gave in and bought a parking pass for the next few months because I'm a big wimp and I can't handle the cold. Although I miss my Blue Bike of Joy terribly.

We move into our house on the 20th and I can barely contain myself I'm so excited. Now, if I could just contain all our things over the course of the next 13 days. Thus far, I have packed 3 boxes. Zhenia has sorted through a stack of Vegetarian Times magazines and then put the keepers in a box. She's also gone through one of her academic bookshelves. I took 4 boxes of books to Half Price the other day. I hardly thought it was possible, but they gave us $65!

I was taunted mercilessly last night while freaking out about how soon the move is. I will feel better when I can see more progress and less mountain of empty boxes. I'm in that totally overwhelmed place where it just seems like there is so much to do and not enough time to do it in.

Perfectionism is a real bitch. I want to sort through things and get rid of stuff I've been holding onto for no good reason. I want to pack perfectly and I need to face the fact that I can't. Although, to my credit, I have made some real progress slogging through the stuff in our 2nd bedroom. So much stuff! Some of it was stuff that I hadn't gone through since K and I broke up...5 years ago. If I had no heart, I would tell you that I threw it away. But I didn't. I kept the letters and poems because they still mean something to me. I haven't yet touched the attic, but we can leave it in the apartment and sort through it after we've moved into the new place. Then, at least, we won't end up moving stuff we don't want.

For those who are local, we will be getting rid of some things that could use new homes. I will probably post a detailed list at some point, but I know for a fact that we are getting rid of an HP inkjet printer (that works!), a Specialized mountain bike (it's old and could use a tune-up, but also still works), and a metal and glass end table (it's modern looking). If you want any of them, let me know. Anything not taken by friends will be Freecycled.

Ah, the joys of moving!

The air this morning when I rode in was crisp and moist. The streets were still wet from the rain yesterday and my tires made that mesmerizing noise of water on pavement. The humidity gave everything a kind of ethereal quality, dulling the colors of the autumn leaves when you saw them from a distance. But then I'd get right up to one of the trees and the colors were suddenly these amazing, brilliant reds and oranges and yellows. When I got to work, my cheeks were red from the cold, but I couldn't help but grin.

I'm finally getting around to posting photos of my birthday octopus. I have a strange obsession with octopi. I watched a lot of nature specials at an impressionable age.

( Something Tentacle-y This Way Comes... )

Not normally one for quizzes, but the categories in this one were too good to pass up! It's a fair characterization of me.

( What Kind of Dyke Am I?... )

ruchka, you should take this quiz! I have suspicions I want confirmed (or not) about how yours would turn out. :)

A few random thoughts this morning:

* White sugar creeps me out. We ran out of turbinado sugar and I had to use white sugar in my coffee this morning. Seriously, that stuff gives me the willies!

* Between Friday night when I came home from work and Monday morning when I left for work, I only left my house once.

* I had a weird binge on Saturday and Sunday and got rid of a bunch of clothes and shoes. *praises self*

* I still managed to avoid going through the currently threatening to erupt Mount Saint Mail Pile.

* I got no knitting done.

* I got new glasses for working on the computer. They are keen.

Okay, so I've noticed that sororities and fraternities often have items (t-shirts, mugs, etc.) made for the various events that they sponsor. But could someone please explain the logic behind having SWEATPANTS made in honor of the Greek Greek Letter FORMAL?

swift knitting wishes
wool in spring too toasty warm
finish sweater soon

I'm sorry to report that our beloved coffeemaker died this morning. RIP, my friend, RIP! The distinct lack of caffeinated beverages in our house meant that I had to stop at the Big Gay Bagel Shop to get my precious (yesssssss precioussss, we needs it, yesss) coffee. I also picked up a salt bagel with cream cheese and cucumber. Mmmmm, mmmmm, I can feel my blood pressure spiking right now! And I almost never eat this early in the morning, so I'm kind of hyper now.

I'm investigating possible replacements for our dearly departed and find it telling that we'll probably spend more on a new coffeemaker than we do on a new DVD player. I know where my priorities are.

This is SO incredibly wrong: Some pharmacists say no to filling birth-control prescriptions

Seriously, I have no words for this.

Okay, I apologize for this, but I just can't keep it to myself...this pattern for a dog "sweater" is TERRIFYING. Utterly and completely terrifying. I feel sorry for those dogs. However, it's possibly even more terrifying that there is a pattern for a matching scarf for the owner. This is the pet equivalent of parents wearing clothing that matches their child's/children's - which I feel is equally unwise. It's an over-coordination no-no in my book.

mimazu, weren't you looking for patterns for dog sweaters or am I making that up? If you still are, there are some less terrifying sweater patterns to be found here. The nice thing is that they're made with cheap yarn, which I think is appropriate for something a dog is going to wear. I mean wool is so expensive I would be unwilling to spend it on something for my pet. Although that is partially because I know our dog wouldn't tolerate the sweater for longer than 10 minutes. I'm tempted to make the rainbow one just so I can take a big, gay doggie picture. Okay, in the case of our dog, a little, gay doggie picture. Good thing I'm sure it'll never happen.

I was just futzing around online looking at information about The Fleece Fair. As terrifying as I find the prospect of spending my day with other crafty folks that I undoubtedly have little in common with, I might use it as an excuse to visit the p&m. My mom got some pretty cool yarn there last year.

While perusing their web links section, I found some information on Guard Llamas. Yup, guard llamas!! I can't tell you how funny I find the concept of guard llamas. I will be repeating this in my head all day and giggling to myself. GUARD LLAMAS!

So I might have accidentally bought a digital camera just now. It might be this model right here. I am an incorrigible consumer who cannot wait to my new toy in my hot little hands (theoretically of course, because this purchase is purely hypothetical).

*insert evil laughter here*

Senior Year of High School Meme

What year was it? 1992-93

What were your three favorite bands or musical artists? Wonder Stuff, XTC, and John Wesley Harding (They Might Be Giants and Beautiful South are close runners-up)

What was your favorite outfit? Don't recall, but I remember wearing more necklaces than was probably advisable. I wore Chuck Taylors a lot with jeans and t-shirts that were way too large on me. I think I was also going through something of a hippie phase. I had a blue and white hippie dress that I remember liking a lot.

What was up with your hair? It got shorter and shorter throughout high school and by senior year, it was chin-length. I don't remember if I still had bangs or not. Probably not.

Who were your best friends? Heather S was my best friend, but I also hung out with Sue C and Jessica G a lot at that point. Katie M had gone away to college, but I still kept in touch with her as well.
( Senior Year of High School Meme continued... )

I'm about this * * close to buying a digital camera. Budget-Be-Damned!! Don't know where the bug came from, but it bit me hard yesterday. I'd like a 4+ megapixel camera, but it's probably more reasonable to get a 3.2 instead. I mean, how large do I really need the prints to be? We'll see if I survive to the weekend without walking out of Cord Camera with a new pretty pretty. I'm thinking a Canon or a Nikon. When I did research last year, those brands were the finalists. And prices have gone done considerably since then. Retail therapy, take me away!