Hatred

Riding home tonight was one of those times I felt sick and sad for humanity because I started out seeing a poor little raccoon curled up tight and dead by the side of the road in a nest of leaves, and not long after a bird absolutely crushed and splattered across the road by these damn cars; then I--even I--almost ran over a squirrel who decided to dash across the street inches from my front tire but I missed the little nut hugger and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then I was yelled and honked at and I mourned for the world and this once-great land of America. I wish it didn't get to me, but it does. There's so much hatred being spread around every day I don't see how we humans can last much longer before we destroy each other. But that's the way it's always been. There is love too. Embrace it where you find it. There may not be enough to save the world but it can save your soul.

I wish it was a one-way ticket

Screw this place. We're going to Paris in September.

N.B.

Here's a snippet from a great quote on Oil is for Sissies about crazy ideas that certain people had about bikes, back in the day:

"Some physicians warned that bicycling could bring on insanity. . . and create a thirst so great that only beer would quench it"

That sounds about right, actually.

The daily commute: week three

Mon: Another beautiful day for biking. Someone honked this morning and startled me a little, but there was nothing I could do about it so I just let it slide, like my worries and plans and thoughts always slough off when I ride alone and there's nothing left behind except my self, just riding.

Tues: Hot & sweaty but mostly hassle-free.

Wed: Made good time, 54 minutes. I brought a change of clothes to work yesterday so that I could change when I arrived this morning, and I feel much better and drier than Monday.

Thurs-Fri: The heat index was over 100 and J begged me not to ride home this afternoon, so I didn't. Then on Friday night I needed my car, so I had to drive it home again and leave my bike at work. I felt like such a slacker. And I've been slacking in posting this, since I should have done it last weekend, but better tardy than absent, right?

Whatcha whatcha whatcha want?

Remember when I thought I would be going to law school this fall?

That was awesome.

I started my new job this week, which is why I haven't been posting in the mornings--at my old position, I knew when I had the time for it. Now even though I'm starting over in a way it's like I'm just continuing a downward spiral into career stasis. A coworker is starting med school this fall (which many people at my office are in medical school, which makes sense, because it's a medical company and so a smart person would only work there if he desired a medical career) and we've been talking about the difference in the application processes for graduate programs. She asked, if I wasn't going to law school this fall, and if I wasn't going to reapply next year, what exactly I was planning to do.

"Well, not this," I said, and she laughed. But I don't know what else I will do. "I had time to reconsider and now I'm not sure that I really want to go to law school."

"I bet you would feel differently if you had been accepted," she said.

And it's true, I told her that I probably would have gone to law school and been satisfied and made a career out of it. Even with this time to think it over I am no closer to coming up with an alternative course of action. Now I'm in a funk and feeling stuck and miserable. It was nice to at least have a plan.

Released from UConn waitlist

Our records indicate that your application has been placed on our waitlist. The response to our offers of admissions have been greater than expected and we are currently overenrolled by a significant number. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a seat in the first year class.

I trust that you were able to gain admission to another law school and wish you luck as you begin your legal career. However, if you wish to reapply to the School of Law for first year classes beginning in Fall 2006, our applications will be available on our website (www.law.uconn.edu) in September.

Thank you for your patience and for permitting us to consider your application. Your interest in the University of Connecticut School of Law is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Karen L. DeMeola
Assistant Dean


That's a good word for it, too, "released." Like exhaling after holding my breath for half a year. It should feel good. But it doesn't, not really.

Want To vs. Need To

When I want to do something, I do it as often as possible. When I need to do something, I may do it, but I am more likely to resist and procrastinate. This is human nature. Sometimes there will be a thing that you want to do, but you will begin to feel that you need to do it. Then, even though it began as something pleasureable, it becomes odious and undesirable. The best way is to look at the things that you need to do and cultivate your attitude so that you also want to do them. If you can achieve this, then all of life will be pleasureable, and you will never be compelled to do any task that you do not enjoy!

One night of bike work

Hey.
These bike photos have been moved to a new blog that's going to be all about the single-speed conversion. I don't want this page to be just dominated by bike stuff, not yet anyway, so if you want to read about the Monte Carlo project just click here. Hope to see you there.

One speed is all you need

I have become interested in tinkering all of a sudden. This is very unexpected. Never in the past have I been what you could call "hands-on" when it came to mechanical stuff. When I was younger, my dad tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to interest me in the internal mysteries of my car. I couldn't get into it back then, and I never really did learn much beyond installing a spare tire and replenishing fluids (which I am still not very prompt with, as my wife will attest). I just never cared about it. Now suddenly with bicycles I have this urge to take everything apart and learn how it all works.

To that end, I have acquired a cheap old bicycle that I can rip apart and play with to my heart's content without worrying about ruining anything. I found a beat-up Batavus Monte Carlo (made in Holland!) on Craig's List yesterday and drove into Uptown to pick it up. The seller's two car garage was half-filled with cruisers and fun bikes, including a Rockhopper hanging up on racks.

My new bike is a real winner. The frame actually is pretty cool looking, maybe with some rust spots here and there, but that's the extent of the damage. Some rusted nuts and bolts and stuff. One of the pedals is squashed in like it got melted somehow. The rear tube is thrashed beyond repair, but the tire seems okay. Cables are duct-taped and zip-tied onto the frame. Half of them don't go anywhere and the ones that are connected to something tend not to be in working order. He thought there was at least one functional derailleur and one brake, but we tested it and only the rear brake works; no shifting capabilities.

So, basically what I've got is a single-speed bike. Since this is what my bicycle obviously longs to be, I have taken it upon myself to complete the transition from crappy wrecked geared beater to a hopefully less crappy and more efficient machine. First thing, I took off the rear rack for my Strada to acheive the full touring/commuter effect on that bike. Next, I'll take off both of the Monte Carlo's derailleurs and shifting levers since they aren't doing anything anyway. Just to get it in basic riding condition, I need to reroute the brake cables and fix the flat and probably make a couple dozen other adjustments. Then, it's single-speed conversion time!

Categories: bicycles

Twenty Questions

Artificial Intelligence guessing games! I heard about this program on the radio yesterday morning (93x Half-Assed Morning Show, of course); they didn't give the URL, but I found it myself. It's very simple. You think of something, and it will ask 20 questions to find out what it is. I was skeptical, even though they ran an example on the show, but now that I have used it myself I have to say that this thing is unbelievable.

I just can't stop playing with it. Things that the AI managed to guess by the twentieth question: skull, octopus, tattoo, ghost, cloud, beer, alpaca, unicorn(!), and bicycle (which it believes are not found in houses, but I disagree--there are three in mine). Actually, the interesting thing is that it gets this information from other people who play the game.

Obviously, this means that if you try to trick it by giving evasive answers, then you can, because it only knows as much as you tell it. Also, I tried some obscure things and noticed that someone had fed in a lot of wrong information about them, which ruins the game. More common items will be corrected quickly as users play with the program and tell it what they believe about them. I bet you will be amazed at what it can guess if you try to give it the most correct response.

Go ahead and try it out!

Community gardening

I sort of posted about clearing out some garden space in our yard last week, but I didn't mention how we meet someone every time we're out there working in the yard. Most people assume we're the new owners (because renters don't normally dig up and replant gardens, maybe?) but they're just as happy to talk with us when they find out we're temporary residents.

A few days ago, our alley-neighbor got to talking about her own garden and how she had some plants to spare, and since we hadn't planted anything yet would we like some vegetable seedlings? We sure did!

She dug up three of her plants of an indeterminate species and we transplanted them into our little dirt plot. Sadly, she chopped the sprout away from the root of one little plant, but we buried it anyway and hope it will grow again. The other two seem to have made themselves at home and are standing up firm and tall. I hope at least one of them survives long enough for us to find out what kind of vegetables they are!

Time for the next fad diet

Local restaurant chain Davanni's says their skillets are 'so good to eat that they outlasted the "low carb craze."' Does that mean it's finally over? Atkins no longer has America's collective balls in a vise? This sounds too good to be true.

Early in the morning our song will rise

I rode bikes with my wife J last night after scoping out the route in the morning. It didn't go as well as I hoped but it wasn't as bad as I feared. I'm not used to having someone with me, and I was nervous and worried about her and couldn't think straight, so I didn't have much fun. Anyway, I did discover where a trail connects so that I can loop around into St. Paul or head out east without too much road biking. So it wasn't a total loss.

I was also looking up stuff to do in St. Paul, since we live so near to the city now, and I'm not that familiar with it. Turns out there just isn't that much going on over here. I've always been more of an Uptown boy myself, and downtown Minneapolis is more fun than downtown St. Paul any day. But so maybe St. Paul isn't as happening as Minneapolis; at least we don't have Somali gangs assualting bicyclists. Heal up and hang tough, Mark.

Back to the 50's!

Lola

Lola would like to wish everyone a moist and nutritious weekend.

The daily commute: week two

Mon: 53 minutes, back on my original route. What made it easier: I bought a tidy Trek saddle bag to replace my jury-rigged camera case full of crap. This way I wasn't adjusting it the whole ride and bobbling it between my knees when it came loose. Much improvement in the quality of my commute. The bag is holding my spare tube, CO2 pump, tire levers, a couple of allen wrenches, and a big ol' wrench for removing my rear tire if I get a flat.

Tues: A couple of "a-ha" moments today, plus a quick stop at County Cycle to buy a multi-tool, spoke wrench and chain tool. A few miles later, I thought, "I need to tighten up the low limiting screw on my front derailleur when I get home--a-ha!--I can do it right now with the multi tool I just bought!" Total independence.

Later, I realized that my legs were no longer my only limiting factor. I was pushing as hard as I could and everything felt much easier than it did this at time last week, except that my stomach was hurting. Suddenly--a-ha!--excruciating pain in my right side! I pulled over for a while until it subsided and finished the ride without exerting myself. I guess I'll have to be careful to take it easy tomorrow.

Wed: Who cares about the wind and rain when I got to see a big old great blue heron perched on somebody's dock in Lake McCarron this morning.

Thurs: I can almost watch my muscles growing from all this exercize. I cranked up my saddle to get maximum use of my legs today and hit the hills hard and slow instead of spinning up. I was feeling great. Then I put my left leg down at a stoplight, oops, a little too far, and felt my calf tighten. When the light changed I tried to push down with my left foot and the leg just seized up. I limped through the intersection. After that it was another ten-minute break and careful ride home but I still got to my front door about 70 minutes after leaving the office.

Another cycler was pulling an empty trailer and I wanted to catch up and ask him what he used it for. But he snuck through a yellow light that turned into a red that I had to stop for a second later, and got away from me. Um, I guess that was a lame story.

Fri: Took about 64 minutes, favored my right leg, slipped the chain once, and still managed to kill the hill that always beat me before. Victory!

(Fri part deux update:) The weather was so nice, and I felt so good, that I rode my bike home again. I was stopped behind a motorcyclist while we waited for a long freight train runnin' by. I drank some squirts of water. After about a minute, he put the kickstand down, turned off the engine, and walked back to talk with me. He was a really cool guy. He told me that day was the epitome of perfect Minnesota weather and I agreed that it was a great day for a ride.

Being stuck at that stoplight on my bicycle was a hundred times better than driving 75 on the 55-mph speed limit higway with traffic zipping suicidally by at 90+. Having fun and being happy on my commute instead of getting angry and vengeful every day? I never want to drive my car again.

N.B.

I had nuffin',
No, I hadn't got nuffin',
So I didn't go down
To the market square;
But I walked on the common,
The old-gold common...
And I saw little rabbits
'Most everywhere!

from Market Square, by A.A. Milne

Specialized Crossroads joins the bike family

My mom's side of the family got together at her house for her 50th birthday on Sunday. I mentioned that I have been biking to work which was a fun surprise for my mom and grandmother who gave me her 'I don't understand you kids' look. My aunt (the cool one) said that I could have her bike if I wanted to pick it up. She bought it a few years ago and only rode it a couple of times before getting into a serious accident (not on the bike) that has made bicycle posture hazardous to her back health.

J and I brought Lola out to my aunt's apartment on Tuesday night to pick it up, and I saw that it was a men's Specialized Crossroads. Not the Roubaix that I hoped for in my wildest dreams, but still nicer than my Strada. The thing was pristine except for the flat tires and dust.

I took it home and scrubbed it with some hot soapy water to clean the frame, pumped up the tires, wiped the components, lubed the chain, adjusted the seat, aligned the stem with the front forks, put it all back together and went for a test ride around the neighborhood. Before we picked it up, I had already told J that she could use it as her bike, but throw some fenders on and I bet this puppy would make a great little commuter. Did I mention the awesome gold paint job? Well, you can see it for yourself.

Categories: bicycles

Stormy Weather

On Monday we decided to yank out all the weeds in the little rectangular garden area next to our house. J grabbed all the tools she could find and set to work plucking while I followed with a little hand-tiller thingie and dug up the soil. Under the sandy rocky surface was a nice layer of black dirt that looks good for a late-season vegetable garden.

While we worked, the clouds rolled in and the air got thick and weirdly dim like a huge storm was on its way. I just finished loosening the last inch of earth when the rain started to fall and soon was blanketing down with hail and severe weather sirens and tornado warnings nearby.

I was dry on my ride yesterday but it rained this morning and I got wet and filthy from road silt. Also,

moped sighting!: I once observed this totally sweet moped scooting around Uptown and kicked myself for leaving the house without my camera once again. Here's the photo proof that you can never have too many mirrors.

UPDATE! I discovered one of my yogurts pushed into the back corner of our big industrial refridgerator at the office. I opened it up and took a scoop but it was all coated with a layer of white slime mold. Yum!

Going to the races

Stillwater on Sunday = tonnes of fun. We brought Lola along and stayed to watch the amateur mens' and pro womens' races. There was a mild collision with a fence during the amateur race, but from what I could see, the guy was okay and kept on going. The woman who hit that spot during the next event was less fortunate, and went down hard.

We were right next to her when it happened (although J felt it would be in poor taste to take a photo) and I worried for a moment that she was seriously hurt as she lay on the street in a daze. But she got back up with some help and was able to walk out of there, so it could have been worse. An ambulance and fire engine were standing by just in case.

I jogged to the top of the hill to watch the end of the amateur race from the finish line. It was amazing to watch the leaders come sprinting up that incline. Truly incredible to see these athletes at work.

How to succeed

In my last year of college, I took an Entrepreneur class that taught us how to make as much money as possible before we died. This was their definition of success. Granted, it was a business class, and making lots of money is synonymous with success in the business world; anything more might be outside the scope of the business school. The scary thing was that most of our professors seemed to personally share and believe in this meaning of success.

I didn't buy into it, and I had some good conversations with a classmate about alternative views on what makes a person successful. We listed the ways that we wanted to succeed in our daily living and goals for long-term success. Having a moderate income would help us to achieve some of our goals, such as raising a family or owning a home; others were not defined in material terms at all and could be done for free, like voluteering our time or just becoming a more loving person.

I think that everyone looks at success in a different way. How do you define success? Are you currently succeeding in the things you want to do now? Are you doing something today that will contribute to success in your long-term goals for success?

The daily commute: week one

Wed (afternoon, to home): 65 minutes. (5 less than Tuesday and about 25 less than Monday). The other direction is more uphill, but this way has some gnarly hills too. Rough headwind for the first part of the ride. Tonnes of downed branches from the storms this morning. My left leg felt tight at first, but it loosened up as I rode and it felt pretty easy overall.

I'd like to find a better way to get from my office to the rest of the route, as this is the worst part of my ride. But it's in the suburbs and only the major roads connect to anything. I tried to take the Trout Brook/Gateway Trails into St. Paul, but the entrance was closed. I crossed over it on a bridge and it looked like a really nice trail; I'll try to enter it from the other end tomorrow.

Thurs (morning, to work): 99 minutes. The trail does not exist. I never saw the entrance and went the opposite direction for some distance before figuring it out and heading back, then tried to find it again when I got back to where it should have been, and failed. Got lost and went in a wrongish direction but eventually found my way to work.

At least when I was on the wrong trail (eastbound Gateway) it was really quiet and pretty, and I saw lots of bounding forest creatures. One little furball was hard to identify, but I decided that it was a baby rabbit. My legs are angry.

Fri (back home for the weekend): about two hours. Road closed due to construction; had to follow traffic-jammed detour around to trail opening, rained the whole time. Once I got on the trail, the rain stopped and I had a great ride home. This route would work except for the construction. I need to find a way around it.

Five days of commuting under my belt! I need this weekend to relax and prepare for next week.

Friday's bike route

Sui Generis is the toughest criterium in North America

Apparently I didn't get the memo about the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival in Stillwater this Sunday. Watching a real race (up a really steep hill) seems a good way to round out and wrap up my first big biking week. I will be there. Photos to follow.

I'm not going to law school this fall.

I've delayed this post for long enough. It's nice to think that I might get through on a waitlist, but it's time to face the music. That's probably (I would say almost certainly) not going to happen. 0L no more. I am nonexistant on the law career continuum.

Law links have been slimmed down to reflect my descent from pre-law-blog-stardom. Do not be hurt if you were cut. I love you all.

Other than that, things will continue as normal around here. Not so much law school talk was going on anyway, but the Application Watch will remain until there is nothing left to record. If something does happen, you will be the first to know.

To all you law folks, thanks for reading. Perhaps you will still find something here to interest you--I guess if you've stuck around for this long, then you already have--it was fun while it lasted, in any case.

I'm looking forward especially to reading about you new 1Ls as you begin classes in a couple of months. Blog well. I'm going to be living vicariously through you, just a little bit. On your good days I will smile wistfully and think, "that could have been me." On your bad days I will shudder with disbelief that it could have been me. And there will be much rejoicing.

Categories: law school

Big weekend for beer biking!

Two big events in Minneapolis this weekend for local bicyclists/boozehounds:

Saturday: Dead Brewery Tour
Sunday: 4th Annual Drunken Bike Tour

Even though I've heard that the Drunken Tour is a good time, I'm going to pass. My slight lack of balance and coordination on a bike even when sober + the fact that I'm such a lightweight drinker = certain injury if I tried to ride after a couple of beers. Maybe that's the point (observe the shirt), but falling off a bike and getting hurt is not my idea of a good time. I've done that already and I got the scars to prove.

The Brewery Tour, on the other hand, is something I'm into. Only problem is I have to ride 9-some miles from St. Paul to the starting point plus the "20-ish mile" route and then back home again... a bit beyond the 13 miles/day I've been doing this week. Okay that's not the only problem. It's being hosted by Surly who are apparently hardcore bike folks and maybe they're nice to newcomers or will I be snubbed as just a dork on a beater? Anybody know?

Plus I'm nervous about the group aspect. The scars I mentioned earlier? Got 'em from a tangle crash with another rider a few years back that buffed the skin off my right knee and scared me away from biking until just recently, and I'm still afraid of a redux. On the other hand, I can't put it off forever. Biking with other people is fun, or so I've heard. Maybe it's time to swallow my fear and get back in the pack.

What do you want out of your life?

A great man once said that the first step to getting what you want out of life is to figure out what you want out of life.

Lying in the grass yesterday watching clouds talking to a wonderful friend on the phone after biking to work was another content growing-up moment where everything clicked: this is perfect. This is right. With everything considered, this is an excellent place to be right now. I spent the first twenty years of my life getting to know myself and preparing for experiences like this, and in the last few years (Japan was the catalyst) I've been having them one after another.

Not that I have everything figured out, or have obtained everything that I am pursuing, but I know what I want out of life. I know what makes me happy. I know what satisfies me. Most importantly, I now know how to pursue those things, and I have the drive and ability to do it.

What brings you the most joy in your life?

Categories: life

Amazing Commuting Adventure!

On Monday morning I drove to work with my bike in the trunk. I rode it home last night and back to work again this morning for a total of over 25 miles. It was awesome.

Yesterday I spent more time trying to find the route and keeping a slow, steady pace so as not to wear myself out. Other than a stop at County Cycle to buy a mini-pump and tire levers, and another stop to call J for help after I missed my turn, I spent about 90 minutes riding from work to home. I expected that it might take around two hours, so this was a satisfying result. I felt great when I got home. I drank half a quart of Powerade and went on a walk with J and Lola, and rested for the rest of the evening.

This morning I woke up at 5:30, took a quick shower and made breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast before taking off. The forecast called for T-storms, but it looked nice and felt warm outside. On this ride I realized that there is much more uphill on the way to work than on the way back, and I struggled up a few inclines. Car traffic was lighter. I rode all the way through for an official time of approximately 70 minutes. It was a good thing, too: about fifteen minutes after I arrived, it was pitch black outside with pouring rain and hail! I'm glad I didn't have to bike through that mess.

I was sweaty and tired at the end of today's ride and my legs were a bit worse for wear, but it was a thoroughly rewarding experience. I'm going to leave my bike at work tonight and ride again tomorrow afternoon. My goal for this week is to go to or from work on every day.

The long-term goal is to ride both ways, every day. For now, I'm very satisfied with what I've managed to accomplish so far.

whoa, mindbender

It's so weird to do something and then read about it on somebody else's blog. I was part of the very small group that heard Tom's touring story that night, and I think I met everyone else who was there. Now the only question is, which one of them looked like a 31-year-old blogger with eclectic musical taste?

Back to basics

For those of you just joining us, let's take a moment to recap. Sui Generis (the blog) was started to chronicle the (mis-)adventures of Sui Generis (blogger extraordinaire) as he made his way through the law school application process and then (he hoped) three years of law school itself. Along the way, he has taken chunks of time to talk about novel writing, Bahamian vacations, and bicycling,* but the blog at its core has always been 'about' law school and we here at SG Industries have tried to return to that focus after every digression.

With that in mind, let's talk about applications today. What's been going on lately re: law school chez Generis? A whole lotta nothing, that's what! SG stock is dropping. My applications, sparkling with hope and certainty a mere seven months ago, are languishing in the slush piles of vice presidents of admissions. Once, they seemed like paper keys to my future career. Now they don't do anything except get moved from deferrals to waitlists and from waitlists to rubbish bins.

There may not be a whole lot more for me to say about law school, but I'll try for at least a weekly status update. Tomorrow, I'll write about my 25-mile bicycle trip from work to home and back again.

*plus the occasional photos and wine and book reviews

Tomorrow I start bicycle commuting

That is all.

This is our street.

Sui Generis is aptly applied to the essay

Are you between 20-29 years old? Can you write in English? You may be eligible to win $20,000. That is, if you can write an essay better than Sui Generis can. Wanna go head-to-head in a contest of words against the SG? Random House is soliciting nonfiction essays "about, but not limited to, the following subjects: Family, Career, Sex, Society, and Self." Instructions that vague would seem to bestow a hefty portion of artistic license, but they narrow it down a bit by requiring the essay to discuss "something that defines you as a member of this burgeoning generation."

Hmm.

Something that defines me? If you've been reading this blog* for any length of time I'm sure you've noticed that it suffers from a bit of a personality crisis. Is it about law school? Is it about reading, or writing? Bikes? Dogs? Victorian-era homes? I mean, come on.

How do I define myself, after all? What is the specific "something" about me in particular that sets me apart from the other members of my "burgeoning generation"? That is the question I must answer before I can write an award-winning essay and pocket twenty large. But what a question!--it gets at the heart of my very self and soul--I've got some digging to do. I'd better get started. Although, with the deadline located conveniently at the end of National Novel Writing Month, I'm hard-pressed to resist the temptation to procrastinate and write the whole mess in one bloody night.

*and what is this blog except a series of short nonfiction essays about myself?

All he ever talks about is bikes!

With the help of this detailed map I worked out a promising route from my home to my office that adds up to twelve miles and some change. That's too much to take on all at once, but I'm hoping to bike the first part and then drive the rest of the way. If I can even pull that off, it means I get some fresh air and exercise and fun first thing in the morning and on my way home at night. Maybe in time I can work up to riding the full circuit.

I rode downtown to volunteer at the Sibley Bike Depot yesterday and initially got turned away at the door because some kids were using the space, so I rode a path between the river and the bluffs, with graffitied freight trains rumbling by on the tracks across the street and private planes flying overhead to and from the nearby airport. Nice break from street riding, it was all level ground and I just took it easy.

Back at the shop, I recognized a guy from the repair class and we started talking. Andrew Koebrick, who I was supposed to meet and help with data entry, came up to us and handed us some volunteer sheets and then disappeared before I got a chance to introduce myself. He never came back, so I spent the next hour just hanging out around the shop and listening to bike stories and admiring the infamous cork truck.

I will be a bicycle commuter

Yesterday I was feeling good and the weather was good so I pumped up my tires and went for an unguided bicycle tour of east St. Paul. I rode along 4th St E as far as I could go and then I continued on 6th as far as I could go and then I kept on going until I found a promising-looking dead-end and rode to the end to rest in the shade behind a privacy fence across the street from a church that I wished I had a camera so I could take a photo of it. But I didn't have any way to save the moment, so I just savored it and drank my water and stretched out and watched the clouds.

On my way home I took 3rd, which was a more direct route and therefore more car-traffic heavy. Having those drivers on my back was good motivation to hammer up a few hills! The hills kept coming; I couldn't do any more at speed after I'd gone a mile or so, but I shifted gears until I could take it and kept on going until I made it home. Purt near five miles in all, round trip.

I'm going to start bike commuting this summer. A direct highway route to my office is about ten miles long, and if I can do even half of that by bicycle then I'll be pretty thrilled. I just need to work out the logistics of where to leave my car during the night and where to leave my bike during the day, and then I can get started, and it doesn't seem unreasonable that I could make the whole trip on bike by the end of the summer. So, that's my newest goal for this year. Law school smlaw school, riding bikes is more fun than cite-checking anyway probably.