Sui Generis is good at dealing with people

I took a few of those job-matching surveys in high school that were supposed to reveal my ideal career (they always made some impractical suggestion like "artist," or "writer"). One question I always had trouble with was, "would you rather work with people or computers?" It's a very important question. You can tell because of its binary nature. The problem was that I had no distinct preference for one over the other; I like working with both. In fact, I think that in my current job it is more rewarding to work with people, and more enjoyable to work alone on my computer.

When I do data entry type stuff or routine jobs, I can plug in my headphones and rock out, and that's awesome. Plus, if I'm writing correspondence or designing spreadsheets or powerpoint presentations, I want to do it myself. But it's also good to have friendly and competent coworkers nearby. I like having backup. And when we get together on a group project and accomplish something huge, I feel really satisfied.

I started college with a Computer Science major but switched after a semester because I was worried that working on the computer would be all I ever did. I wanted a real human connection too. I need a good balance between the two polar ends. I'm still trying to find it.

Categories: work

Sweet closure!

I checked the mail when I got home and what do you know. The University of MN informed me with regret that "the 2004 entering class has been selected and no further offers of admission will be made." Okay, but--wait. 2004? Well! Anyway, that's all she wrote, folks, I'm officially and finally not going to law school. How nice to settle it all on one day.

Categories: law school

Good bye, law school

For the record. One-half of my waitlist schools began classes today and I did not receive a panicked phone call requesting my immediate presence in Virginia. Them's the breaks. I'll keep kickin' it in MN for now. I am okay with that. Sui Generis is "down" with the Midwest.

Our upstairs neighbor B. moved out this weekend and returned to her law school, too. It is like the end of an era! The exciting thing about all this is the 0L bloggers are becoming 1Ls and will hopefully find time to tell me all about it so that I can live vicariously through them. Thanks peeps.

Even with law school on the rocks, there may be some big changes pending in my life. It's a tumultuous time at my office, job-security-wise. With layoffs on the near horizon, will I be packing my boxes and hitting the job application trail again? Stay tuned to find out!

Categories: law school, work

When it rains, it pours

Everything happened on this morning's commute. Usually my morning rides are very uneventful. Today I left a few minutes early and my trip was action-packed!

It started out with the uncanny brightness. It's been so dark lately that I checked my watch to make sure I hadn't accidentally set the alarm for 7 instead of 6. Sure enough, it was just really light out. There were people all up and about on streets that are always dead and quiet. Car alarms were going off, the lids were left off of water pipes in the street, it was madness!

Then the bike trouble started. I threw my chain way out over the front cogs, so I had to break a link to get it back together. I did it the stupid way. It felt like it took about ten or fifteen minutes to finish and my fingers were solid black with grease by the time I was done. Good thing I lubed and cleaned the chain last night! Once I finished, I rode another few miles through some torn-up construction zone streets and got a front flat. I rode as far as I could while it slowly leaked and dismounted later than I should have and turned the corner and walked the last half-mile to work, enjoying the beautiful weather and the clear blue skies.

Categories: bicycles

Scott Pilgrim is awesome!

Along with wine reviews, book reviews are something I used to do fairly regularly. Then I realized that I didn't have much to say about most of them beyond whether I liked or disliked them, and nobody cares about that. But you will care when I tell you about Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. Why? Because it is totally awesome.

The reason I am so excited about it is that Scott Pilgrim was written and drawn (I guess you would call it a graphic novel) by Brian O'Malley. I found his website way back in the day and dug his style and checked in on him every once in a while to see what he was up to. It is fun to see someone who was just a guy drawing Internet comic strips with a Sharpie who has actually produced a real life book that I can hold in my hands.

Anyway, the book is really good! It is about Scott Pilgrim's romantic foibles and totally sweet fights. It is about boys and girls growing up and figuring each other out. It is videogames and rock & roll. You will laugh and cry and learn to live again. Go to the official site to get a taste.

Categories: books

Wine Blogging Wednesday

It's been a while since I talked about wine. Great concept via Dr. Vino: I'm getting back in the game with a post on the theme of locally-produced wine. I don't know of any vineyards in the Twin Cities, but near my grandparents' house-on-a-lake there's a serious contender known as the Carlos Creek Winery. They maintain the largest grape vineyard in Minnesota, so they're a natural choice for sampling the full range of local flavors.

I visited a few weeks ago for the tour and free tastings. Sample pours are apparently offered on an all-you-can-drink policy, which I took advantage of by having a taste of nearly every wine on the menu. I gaffed by trying the port and icewine early on, but quickly recovered and sensibly made my way through the standard whites. None really jumped out at me, but neither was anything remarkably foul; it all struck me as simply passable.

Most of the reds were nothing to write home about, either. During the tour, however, we tried some Cabernet Sauvignon from the aging barrels. I drank some of the bottled stuff upstairs afterwards and liked it a lot. They also produce several tasty apple wines. In addition to the winery and tasting room, there's plenty of other stuff to see while there, such as an art gallery, maze, and the world's cleanest horse stable, and even 2- and 4-seater bicycle contraptions that you can hop on and pedal around the orchards. Overall, more than worth the trip if you're in the area.

Categories: wine

Vélolution

I didn't know what I was doing when I bought my Bianchi Strada in May except that I wanted to start biking and I needed a bike to do it. In hindsight, I might have bought something different, and someday I'd like a throughbred road bike for fun rides. For commuting, however, my hybrid bicycle has mutated into something that meets all my needs and some of my wants. Hey, if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with!

When I bought the Batavus Monte Carlo, the first thing I did was to remove the rear rack it had on and transfer it to my Bianchi. Then Tom at the Sibley Bike Depot gave me an extra water bottle cage he wasn't using. With two water bottles, full fenders, and a rack, it's a great commuter/tourer that I could ride almost anywhere.

Along the way I added a blinky light in back and little headlight in the front, and a saddlebag to hold my emergency toolkit. After my fortuitous acquisition of cheap cycling shoes, I eventually got around down to County Cycles and picked up a new pair of Shimano M-520 clipless pedals. Lastly, I used my Sibley member's discount to order Salsa bar ends for extra hand positions. And that's where I'm stopping. I swear.

Categories: bicycles

Pimp my Fahrrad!

When I bought my first bike, I thought it fit in well with my philosophy of simplification. As it turns out, the more I get into cycling, the more I want to acquire different bicycles and biking paraphernalia. I never cared enough about my car--or cars in general--to obsess about buying a new vehicle or even consider attempting to "pimp it out," as the kids say. But my bicycle is a different story.

I guess I just didn't count on falling in love with bikes. Now I'm hooked, and I'm trying not to go overboard, but it's so easy to justify these little purchases (to myself, I mean--my wife is another story). After all, this bike is my vehicle. I use it to get to work every day, so I want it to be nice. And think of the money I'm saving on gas!

I'd like to call it quits and be content with what I have. But that's so hard to do when each new purchase affirms itself by improving the safety, comfort, or functionality of my bike! The real issue is that my bike is changing to meet my needs as I learn what those needs are through on-the-road experience. I imagine that I'll eventually reach a point where I know enough to buy a bike that meshes perfectly with my lifestyle. In the meantime, I'm working with what I've got. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the changes I've made to my commuter bike during this learning interval.

Categories: bicycles

Clipless in St. Paul

I installed clipless pedals this week. For non-cyclists, these are a lock-and-cleat system that allow the pedal and shoe to snap together. This allows me to apply power by pulling up as well as pushing down, thus making me twice as powerful! Okay, not twice as much. But it did make a noticeable difference. Namely, my right knee hurts a lot. I need to adjust that cleat before the ride home.

As cyclists know, the main drawback to clipless is the falling-over. They only disengage by swinging your ankle out sideways, and not by, say, pulling up and kicking in a panic when you realize that you've stopped and are starting to tip over and both your feet are locked to your bike and you have nothing to put on the ground for leverage and--CRASH.

Luckily, this hasn't happened to me yet, but I hear it happens at least once to everyone who goes clipless. Sooner or later, you fall, and it will probably be at the least opportune time. People will see, and they will laugh at you. There's nothing you can do except stand up and get back on the bike.

Categories: bicycles, life

N.B.

"If you hate your job, you don't quit. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American Way."

--Homer J. Simpson

Join the official SG fan club!

I was remiss in adding my email address and profile information to the sidebar. In fact, I thought it was already there until last night when I remembered that, nope, I forgot to do it. How could I be so blind?

The greatest part of blogging is an open flow of communication. In that spirit, I encourage you to shoot me off an email if you've never said "hi" before and don't want to leave a comment for all to see. Don't think that Sui Generis will spurn your email just because he is an international superstar. I always love to hear from my readers and make new friends.

Go ahead, don't be shy. Shine a little light on me. I promise to incandesce right back atcha.

Is there a meteorologist in the house?

Can anyone tell me why the hottest days this summer have also been so very windy? I suspect it has something to do with fronts, but I wouldn't know anything about that. Sui Generis always tells the truth and never fronts one bit. So you can believe me when I say that yesterday afternoon's commute was by far the most dangerous, difficult one I've ever done.

But, I did get to do my favorite trick of getting passed by an impatient driver who squealed his tires in a rush to pass me and then catchin up with him a couple of blocks later at the inevitible traffic snarl. I couldn't take it personally, though, because his driving was insane overall.

Man and the heat was so hot I forgot how I planned to end this... I had a nice three-paragraph post all planned out and now it's gone. Oh well... check out this awesome tall bike on Craig's List, instead. Meltdown weather some would say, there's a cure for this disease, go and ride a bicycle, sweat out your impurities.

Categories: bicycles

Taste Sensation

Two of our best friends stopped by for dinner last night on their way from Wisconsin to their new home in Seattle. To celebrate, we went out to the awesome Sakura restaurant in St. Paul. I realized that we had lived "in the city" for over two months and never made it to this part of downtown in all that time. I'm a fraud.

When I was in Japan, my favorite soft drink was a bizarre milky-sweet soda called Calpis. I attempted in vain to find this delicious concoction when I returned to the States. After combing all the Asian food marts in Minnesota, I gave up hope of ever drinking it again. There didn't even seem to be anyone who sold it online. I stocked up during a visit to Uwajimaya in Seattle, but my supply quickly ran dry and I was back in Calpis-less MN.

I was sad. That is, until a friend took me to dinner at Sakura and we discovered that they serve Calpis. Just a sip and it brings me back to Japan. It's crazy how a little thing can bring back the memories: smelling incense, hearing a certain ringtone, looking at photos, feeling the texture of a treasured object. For me, the taste of Calpis is a strong trigger. Maybe it's a good thing that I drink it only rarely. Too often and the effect would be dulled. This way keeps the memories strong and fresh. As long as I have these things to remind me, I will never forget.

Categories: life

Why I don't read the newspaper

Leave it to a blogger to provide some facts for a change while the city rag prints ignorant opinions. Here's the final word on scofflaw bicycles v. innocent motorists. Thinking about it only makes me angry so I'm not going to post about it anymore. Breaking the law is bad, okay? Whether you're driving a car or riding a bike. Don't generalize and broadcast your hatred over either group, just be nice to each other and watch out for the idiots (bikers or drivers) who are trying to kill themselves and others.

Categories: bicycles

Sui Generis is all over August like special sauce on a Big Mac

July is nearly over (finally!) and my next post will be all up in glorious August. It's gonna be a great month. We have classes starting at my waitlisted law schools and then I can wave goodbye to what might have been, a missed opportunity or the worst mistake of my life.

Each week is seven days closer to my September vacation in France, during which time I plan to drink at least a bottle of wine a day and live it up à la Hemingway. No but really I hope that Paris will inspire me to write without driving me to depression, alcoholism, and suicide.

In the States, single-gear enthusiasts have two big events to get excited about. The 1st International Fixed Gear Symposium is being held in Traverse City, MI, and the next weekend we have the Single Speed World Championship in PA. Locally, the MBMA invites you to attend the Bicycle Film Fest on the 20th. I wish I could go but I think my wife would veto that plan, because...

Most importantly, August 20 is my first anniversary of marriage to Mrs. Generis. It's been a happy year and I'm looking forward to many more. See, I didn't forget! Love you, baby.

Disgusting

Something about all the exercize is turning me into a healthy eater. Not by choice, either; I just don't have the same appetite for junk food that I used to. The other day I turned down a smorgasbord of donuts--my favorite pastry treat!--in favor of half a walnut muffin. I don't even like walnuts that much. But just looking at the donuts made me sick, so I choked down the muffin and my tummy was happy.

Today I ate an entire giant Perkin's muffin (Bavarian creme), and now I feel like I'm going to puke.

Categories: bicycles

the first step to eternal life is you have to die

Daily bicycling is making it difficult for me to concentrate on work at the office. It's like that scene from Fight Club. An ordinary person's evening might be just as dull as working in a cubicle, but spend your nights getting punched in the face, and the contrast is dramatic.

For Tyler Durden, it's fighting with sweaty guys in a bar basement and blowing up tall buildings. For me, it's riding my bike two hours a day. When real life becomes so real, vivid and visceral, the volume gets turned down on everything else. Instead of loathing my car commute, now I live for my bike commute; it's the highlight of my day.

I arrived at the same time as a cycling coworker this morning. After parking our bikes and chatting about the nice cool weather, he said, "have a nice day." I should have said, "I already did!"

Categories: bicycles, work

Beware of bicycles

Intelligent response to an idiotic article in the St. Paul rag today. I'm posting it here because Matt has captured my sentiments exactly. At the Daily Spirit-Human, John attempts a dialogue with this goon. My expectations for a reasonable response are low.

Like it or not, Bob Sancevere is representative of a percentage of motorists who have a dangerous attitude re: cyclists and always will. Even if he changes his mind, he's not the only one who feels this way, and he's already spread his poison. There will always be entitled drivers who try to kill you, but all you can do is obey the law, ride for your life, and pray that today is not your day to die.

Happy riding!

Categories: bicycles

Today is going to be awesome

First, a bike ride, always a great way to start the day. I missed my turn and ended up taking Edgerton almost all the way up from St. Paul, which allowed me to ride past scenic Vadnais Lake. Sunrise on the water: bonus!

J confirmed our Paris apartment reservation so we have a place to stay when we arrive in France.

And when my computer had started up and I opened the main program that I use to do most of my work, the Tip of the Day window (which always appears on startup, no matter how many times I tell it not to) offered this piece of wisdom:

Fine-tuning the route

My commuting route was working okay, but I started to dread the afternoon ride because of a certain stretch of the trip where I've been hassled by motorists on several occasions. Then I happened to pick up a good book that gave me an idea. I can't avoid the crappy bit entirely, but with some creative planning I worked out a new route that cuts out most of that area, and also crosses the highways at points where there is no access (i.e. entrance & exit ramps). I rode it this morning. It was nice.

In theory, the afternoon commute should be lighter because cars will eschew these roads in favor of major arterials with highway accessibility. Maybe less car traffic will beget less driver rage will beget a friendlier commute. Or maybe it will turn out to be worse for some reason. I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: Um, it needs some work. Basically pretty good but partly bad. At least now I have options.

Intention v. Motivation

Our house is for sale. I don't know if I ever mentioned it before, but the place we're renting is on the market, which means we need to evacuate for showings and open houses. In exchange for our cooperation, we are paying a reduced monthly rent. The real estate office has been good about giving notice 24 hours in advance, and we have always been able to accomodate them. On Sunday morning, however, the listing agent called to say there was an open house scheduled. . . for that afternoon. We had about four hours to clean and get out of the way.

It was an inconvenience for us because of the short warning, but we were planning to be out of the house during that time anyway. The only thing that really changed was that we spent our morning cleaning instead of lazing around. In a way, I was glad that we were forced to do something (cleaning) that we should have done in any case.

J and I both like being in an orderly house, and we both have good intentions when it comes to picking up after ourselves, but we also both have a tendency toward sloppiness. The imminent arrival of visitors is a great motivator to prod us to action, especially when it's this hot and sticky and we don't feel like doing anything at all. Sometimes life is the same way: we resist taking action until we are forced into it, and then we are glad for the change that results, even if we resent the catalyst. Be thankful for interruptions in your routine. They may turn out for your own good.

Categories: life

Cat's out of the blog

Yesterday was the first time that I met another blogger in person and actually knew about it. After getting to know John at the Sibley Bike Depot and slowly making the connection between him and his blog (hmm, British 3-speeds, Depot volunteer, all-around nice guy, this must be the same person!), I finally verified it with him last night. John is as friendly and well-spoken in person as he comes across on his blog, and I was glad to solve that mystery and connect the two halves of his persona.

When I told John that I had been reading his posts while seeing him at the shop, I felt as if I were confessing to a sort of secret voyeurism. But that's the entire point of blogs anyway, isn't it. You can read his blog, The Daily Spirit - Human. I check it every day, and sometimes his positive attitude is just the boost I need to lift my spirits up. Other times I need the white-hot rage of A Flower Called Nowhere. Everything in moderation.

As long as I'm throwing up blogs, I also just added another local legal/bicycle crossover blogger, Ladyvelo (via teammate DC). Check out both of them for hott racing action!

Sui Generis can't handle the truth

I'm a rejected law school applicant. It should come as no surprise that I have spent a lot of time over the past several months thinking about whether or not legal practice would be a good career fit for me. I still don't know. But blogs have been a good source of information and provide good food for thought while I try to decide what I really want to do.

There's a great mix of opinions about law school and legal practice out there. Some love it, some see the good and bad, and some really hate it. Towards the end of one of her characteristically long and passionate posts, Jojo seizes on an important aspect of the law that many people don't seem to consider:

I remember watching TV or reading books about crimes and thinking that I could Never defend a person who I knew was guilty. I still feel this way. However, it never becomes an issue, because I never know the truth.

Ignorance of the facts may make you a better lawyer since you can advocate for your client with a clean conscience, but wouldn't it just drive you crazy? Wouldn't it keep you up at night? How can you go through life without always wondering if you unintentionally aided a horrible criminal, or convicted an innocent person? Apparently, some people can. I don't know that I could.

Categories: law school, work

Not my finest moment

A driver yelled something at me the other day, and I yelled something back. I get so tired of being harassed on my afternoon rides that I just want to snap sometimes, but that's no excuse for sinking to their level. I try to hold myself to a higher standard. But, hmmm, which advice do I follow?

Proverbs 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.

or:

Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Sui Generis gets to the fine point

In my new collections position at work, I have discovered something about my professional areas of motivation. I don't enjoy dealing with cash flow; or at least, a job where I send out claims and collect on debts is not personally satisfying. I have no qualms about spending money, and I enjoyed somewhat the invoice-approval aspect of my old job. Withholding paychecks? That's kind of fun. Collecting on bills? Not so much.

For some reason or another, I just don't care about the profit-making end of my company. A horrible attitude from their point of view, no doubt. The fact is, money doesn't inspire me. People do, I think. I enjoy working with ideas and development plans and creative projects. I like to research and write and share what I've learned. I just don't like doing what I am doing.

So what action should I take with this new awareness? Well, I need to get out of this job, for one thing. The big question is, what positive steps do I take next to find a career that I do find satisfying and enjoyable and even (dare I hope?) fun? That's really what this blog is all about; it's not about law school or biking, it's about making choices and taking action to improve all areas of life.

Categories: work, life

Law school blurb

Hey! It's only four weeks until classes begin at William & Mary, if the information I gathered half a year ago is still accurate. In 28 days, I should know whether or not I made the cut. It could happen!

The speed of life

Life is going so fast! Seems all my friends are getting married, having babies, buying houses, and moving all over the world. Sometimes when I look at all the activity around me, I feel that I have stagnated, but I am traveling along with J at our own velocity.

Biking helps me to slow down a little and consider my priorities from a position of detachment with my circumstances. When I was in Japan, one of my favorite pastimes was simply walking from one place to another, especially the daily one-hour journey to and from the University. This structured time with nothing to do but think allowed me to sort a lot of new (and some old) ideas that sparked an ongoing revolution in my life in which bicycle commuting has been the most recent development.

It's easy to get caught up in the inertia of living day-to-day and get swept along the same path. Maybe everything in your life is just the way it should be, but imperfections have a way of sneaking into the fabric of life over time. We all need something to shake us up now and then before we can see the spots that need mending.

Categories: life, bicycles

Get me to the church on time

See you suckers next week! I have a wedding to get to. It should be a good one. I'm in it, for one thing, and a lot of my college friends that I haven't seen in a while are going to be there for one last party before they all split for the ends of the earth. Time to get this party started.

Drug me or jail me, stamp me and mail me.

I could fry an egg

Still riding one way and driving the other to work and back, even though I wanted to try cutting out the car this week. Trouble was that J's car broke down on Tuesday and I had to drive over to pick her up, so that destroyed my plan. Besides, it's been so hot lately that I'm not totally amped about biking in the afternoons, knowing I'll be dripping like a sweat mop when I get home... but I get out and do it and love it.

Riding in the mornings is sheer bliss with the light traffic, perfect weather (hovering around 80 the last couple of weeks), and friendly forest creatures still hopping around. Riding home in the afternoons is much harder. Belligerent drivers and the HOT (~100 degrees!) air make up a cocktail of extreme sucktitude sometimes. Still, I wouldn't trade it for the air-conditioned car ride.

I like the morning ride because it's fun. I like the evening ride because it's difficult. Jockeying with drivers, learning to ride aggressively and take control of the road, gasping for air and water, pushing through the crap parts when I want to stop, stopping at the beautiful parts when I really hurt and walking it off and spitting and getting back on when I can just breathe again. I don't know if it makes me feel tuff or cool but it makes me feel alive. Is that sick or what?

Categories: bicycles

Shoe shopping serendipity

Last night while I was volunteering at Sibley, an older gentleman stopped by with four boxes of discount merchandise for sale. He inherited it from a bike shop that had gone out of business. One box was full of water bottles, one with saddles, and two with cycling shoes. He was selling this stuff at a serious markdown, so lots of people came over to dig through it, but most of them didn't buy anything.

I found a pair of Shimano shoes my size (10.5) but they were a bit too tight for comfort. I was debating buying them anyway, and then I saw another box of 10.5s on a chair under the table. The man told me that another volunteer had decided to buy them and was just going out to get cash. I tried them on, just for kicks, and they fit perfectly. So when the buyer returned, I asked him if he would try on the slightly smaller pair. They fit!

It was a win-win-win situation. We traded shoes and I got a pair that fit for 80% off the sticker price. The ones he ended up buying were even higher quality than the ones he originally picked out, plus he got them for something on the magnitude of 90% off. The man who had come to unload this stuff made two sales instead of one, and we all left happy. Once the glee of consumerism had passed, however, I realized that I had to trasport a shoebox home on my bike. I knew I should have installed that rack! I ended up throwing out the box and Velcroing the shoes' straps around my top tube, and I got home that way without undue hassle.

Of course, as I realized, and J was quick to point out, the shoes are useless until I buy clipless pedals to go along with them. Well, I never thought I'd get special cycling shoes because they're too expensive, but look what happened last night! Next week a guy could show up at Sibley with cheap pedals for sale. You never know!

Design notes + bike flask

Yeah, I know my new template is a bit duller than the old one, but what can I say? I actually like it. When I throw the photos on here they should pop out a lot more, and I should have some photos coming from our trip to the Carlos Creek Winery. I'm waiting to write about it until then. Until that happens, everyone should check out One Speed Revolution. It's a bike zine with the archives online and it's pretty sweet. Now I know what I want for Christmas this year.

R.I.P.

Keith Alexander--Technologist, Teacher, Musician, Body Artist--died in a bicycle accident on Monday. The truly sad part about this is that it sounds like his death could have been averted if he'd been wearing a helmet. It is even more of a tragedy for its preventability. Ride safe, everyone.

Bicycle lifestyle

To inaugurate my blog's new bikey direction, I'm going to bring everyone up to speed on my transportation situation. I was bitten by the bicycle bug this year and now I'm all about bike commuting. Last month, I bought a used Bianchi Strada that's tuff enough to roll through the crap streets and fast enough to do the ~12.5 mile route in under an hour. I rode either to or from work so far almost every day since June 6 (that was five weeks ago!). It is awesome.

After a few weeks with that (mostly) maintenance-free bike, I was ready for a challenge and plunked down $20 on a real fixer-upper, an old Batavus Monte Carlo. Not only did I fix 'er up, I also converted it into a single-speed just for kicks. Now I'm hooked and I want to keep tinkering, so luckily there's Volunteer Night at the Sibley Bike Depot. I also want to get a road bike for serious speed/distance travel, but that's not in the budget for the near future.

Meanwhile, I'm riding every day and want to use my bike exclusively for daily trips by the end of the summer. When winter comes, who knows? I don't want to give up biking. Maybe I'll ride all year, maybe not. Until then I'm just swinging a leg over and taking the bikes out any chance I get and loving it. A local shop/cult sums up my newfound philosophy more nicely than I ever could: Bicycles are freedom, get some.

Categories: bicycles

The transition begins

Or maybe it began here. In any case, my content is changing. I have nothing more to say to this blog about law school stuff, and so I haven't been posting much of anything. On the other hand, bike commuting is changing my life. So maybe it's a good idea to talk about that. Plus I'll keep talking about my life journey and all the observations about books and wine and the other stuff that you're used to, so it's not all different.

When the start of law school rolls around and I'm dropped off my two remaining waitlists for good and all of that nonsense is over & done with, then I'll probably stop talking about it entirely. Until then, maybe some more musings on applications and a legal career are upcoming.

Thanks again to my legal readers and I hope you'll stick around but I understand if you don't. It's been a good trip. And hopefully I'll see a big crowd of bike people coming in here and lighting up the comments boxes so I can make some new friends. I look forward to hearing from you. Come on along and talk about bike stuff with me. Why don't you start by reading about my completed single-speed conversion on my side blog?

So, the 4th of July.

J grew up in the country and so did I, mostly, so until this year we always saw the annual fireworks displays in small towns and suburbs. This was the first time that either of us had been in the city for the 4th of July, and we weren't quite sure what to expect. I think we can both agree on one thing. It was insane.

We walked down to the edge of the bluff, just a few blocks away, and had a clear view of St. Paul and all around. Big fireworks were going off all around the skyline. We were so confused and overwhelmed by the gratuitous display that we spent half the time watching traffic at the intersection of 3rd and Mounds Blvd. Vehicles moved independantly of traffic lights and without regard for pedestrians or other vehicles; I am amazed that we did not witness a crash. The police came through several times but didn't stop to ticket any blatant red-light-runners. I guess they were going to an awesome party.

People were crowding in on lawns and sidewalks and setting off firecrackers and crap all over the place. Some boys on the 3rd St. bridge were shooting bottle rockets out of their hands. What I assume was the official professional display started around 10:30 and was underwhelming compared to the grand Stillwater show that I grew up with. Meanwhile, amateur operators continued their personal light shows unabated. It was like the middle of a frickin' warzone walking home with flashes of light and loud pops going off around every corner, with the occasional rocket flying overhead.

On the way back, we talked about how maybe we would be happier living out in the country after all. But there was one big advantage to the city location: we were able to walk home and be in bed ten minutes after the (official) fireworks ended. The drawback, of course, was the unsanctioned explosions that went off all night long.

Categories: life

Kiss kiss

Where have I been? Well, biking, mostly. Still commuting every day that I can, and doing a little lunchtime circuit during my lunch break when it's super nice out and I haven't got my fill of riding for the day. I started a new position at work, and that's been interesting. No word yet from the two waitlist schools. I'm reading Should You Really be a Lawyer? (finally). I haven't finished the book yet so I am still on sure whether or not I should really be a lawyer. I'm leaning towards "not," but that could be the rejections talking, or it could be the rare sound of common sense.

The exciting news is, of course, International Kissing Day. We're more of a hugging couple, J and myself, on a daily basis. But I usually kiss her good morning when I leave early for work. And I always kiss her good night when I come to bed late. Today I will kiss her as often as she would like to be kissed, but I normally do that anyway.

Don't explode your fingers off

Have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend, Americans! Don't commit any crimes!

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.

relocation

MOVING
all weekend working on packing and loading and unloading until everything was moved from one apartment to our NEW HOME! and working out the quirks of this old house using the gas stove and lifting a ceiling lamp above forehead level and adjusting the toilet tank so that it fills up with water and doesn't leak mostly, but after all that it's a GREAT place and we love just being here and can't wait for the new short commute tomorrow too.

CYCLING
after a weekend of watching perfect weather go by without the time to get on my bike, I finally touched some rubber to the road on Monday night--after reattaching the chain that had slipped off the front gears and adjusting the fender that was rubbing on my wheel something fierce because it was installed at a sloppy angle by the guys at NOW bikes & fitness--but my legs were so distroyed I only went for a few blocks anyway.

DOG CARE
it was a difficult time for Lola and she puked a few times we think from the stress of moving boxes everywhere and messing up her home enviroment after only two short weeks and finally getting settled down, so she spent Sunday at my in-laws' house during the bulk of the moving and seemed to do okay there altho she was so happy to see us again at the new house and made herself at home right away, plus she hasn't puked since then altho she's made some weird sounds and scratched the doors a bit.

FRIENDS
both our families came to see the new place (J's dad was a huge factor in helping with the move and her mom took Lola too, plus my brother gave us a hand, and everyone else just came to check it out) and two of my college friends came for the day to see us before they move to Florida, and we ran into our upstairs neighbor B watering flowers on the front porch so we talked awhile and she's really nice.

SO
all I'm really trying to say is that we had a full weekend and after all that we are still not connected to any internets, which adds to the authentic antiquity of the house, but makes it difficult to share the photos I took and can only be bad news for blogging. I'll do what I can.

Denied at Wisconsin!

Oh boy, my first waitlist rejection... this is so exciting! I'm really grinding into the home stretch now. At least I finally got some solid numbers out of all this nebulous waitlist muck: 300 people accepted an offer of admission to join a class of 270 students. That doesn't leave much room for anyone to slip in off the waitlist. And thus I joined the "myriad of qualified applicants" who was turned away from law school in the Badger State.

For those keeping score at home, that leaves three waitlisted schools with rejections yet to come. Just three thin envelopes away from returning to a life without law school. And whatever happens next...

Reading is Fundamental

Hmm so okay. Chickenmagazine wonders about books that I'm vaguely embarassed not to have read. The truth is, there aren't any. Asked me a couple of years ago and I would have listed off a bunch of books that I felt incomplete without. Great novels or important works of non-fiction that I was a fool for not having read.

But now I've come to an understanding with books. I don't have to read certain books to feel like I'm smart, or to impress other people, or out of some vague guilt that it's something I ought to do. I read what I want, when I want, and if it's not cutting the mustard then I feel no qualms about tossing it aside. Reading isn't school. It's fun! Read the books that you enjoy and bollocks to the rest.

So, no, there are no books I'm embarassed not to have read. Only books I'm looking forward to reading and may or may not enjoy, as the case may be. The fact that anyone would feel embarassed for not reading a particular book seems to stem from the idea that there is an absolute quantitative quality attached to certain books that makes them inherently worth reading. That's nonsense.

Categories: books

Basic bike repair at the Sibley Bike Depot

It's been one thing after the nother in the life of Sui G but I'd be lax to slack on the opportunity to share about the basic bike repair class at Sibley. After buying a U-Lock and cable at REI, picking up the keys and signing a rental agreement at our new home, and eating a delicious sandwich at Jimmy John's, I arrived about an hour early for class. I dragged my de-wheeled bicycle out of the trunk of my Saturn and reassembled it on the sidewalk.

Terry let me into the shop so I could drop it off, and we chatted for a while about the organization and how donations work. I got a mocha from the café next door. He took me out to the junk pile and showed me a sweet frame from a donated bike that had got them all excited until they realized that it was cracked and terminally unsafe. Some neighbor kids came by and asked if they could have the bikes for free ("no"). Soon, other people started showing up for class and we migrated into the shop.

I wasn't sure what type of people would attend, but the turnout that night was really diverse. There were two women who left before class was over, and two men, all in their 40s or 50s let's say; a couple of girls my age, (one who seemed experienced and one who had just inherited an old bike from her sister and taken her first ride); a guy who couldn't have been over 26 and had just returned from a hardcore bicycle tour in the South; a younger girl who seemed to know that guy from work and had to be somewhere else about halfway through; and a man who brought in his wife's bike for repairs and hijacked the class for a while with specific personal questions. A total of ten students, including me.

The instructor clearly knew and loved bikes and enjoyed talking about them. We got sidetracked plenty of times and ended up going about an hour over the scheduled ending time, which stretched the class to a healthy three hours. At $15 dollars for the class, I felt like I got my money's worth out of that time. He showed us how to fix a flat, adjust gears, replace a chain, and discussed a hundred other tangential topics.

I didn't feel comfortable asking him to look at my own bike until the class had been officially over for a long time and most of the other students had left. He checked my shifters, lubed the chain, and tightened up the brake lever that was bothering me. Then he pronounced it good. I was relieved to find out that all the parts are in the right places and I've got a sound and sturdy bicycle with no major problems. I removed the front tire again and packed it back into my trunk for the long drive across the Twin Cities back to my apartment.

The cool thing is that the place we are moving into this weekend is really close to downtown St. Paul where this shop is located, so I'll be able to take advantage of their knowledge, experience, and great deals on secondhand chains. I'm going to continue taking classes and hopefully return on Wednesdays for their volunteer nights, since they made it sound like even someone as inexperienced as me would be able to help out somehow, and I can learn a lot more about bikes by actually working on them.

Besides that, I was looking for somewhere to volunteer, and what better way to do it than to combine my new interest in cycling with a non-profit organization that fixes up donated bikes and gives them to people who can really use them?

Behold: our new home! We are renting the ground story of this mammoth Victorian in a historical neighborhood of St. Paul as of this weekend, and I'm so psyched. We got a bargain on the month-to-month rent since the owner is putting it on the market and we will have to evacuate for showings and open houses. But we don't care because the place is amazing.

It's a beautiful house with tall ceilings, a huge yard, and a ginormous kitchen (by the standards of rentals in the city in this price range) with tons of counter space. It's located in between my office and J's new job, so we no longer have to drive upwards of eighty miles a day just to commute (plus all the driving we've been doing to look at apartments this month--the gas is killing us). Also--check this out--our upstairs neighbor is a law student working at a firm in the city. I'm really looking forward to meeting her and talking with a real person about all the stuff I talk about on here.

So, anyway, we got a house!

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Reading this book so close on the heels of Infinite Jest makes comparison inevitable. The style of the two novels is very similar in that both books go on and on without explanation or logical progression or obvious meaning, and the endings leave many questions unanswered. It seems like a bad formula for fiction, and judging by the Amazon reviews, it's not for everyone (you like that, Scott?). But personally, I found both books to be so well-written that I was happy just to go along for the ride (in fact absolutely compelled to continue reading), because the journey was its own reward.

Now for the differences. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is more bizarre and darkly sinister than the Jest. It's also more accessible, I think, because--apart from being much shorter--the language is clearer and more straightforward and easier to skim through. Which I found myself doing several times, because the mood is so emotionally detached and surreal that it just floats along without a care for rhyme or reason. I didn't get as emotionally involved with the characters in this book because they don't display any emotions to get involved with. Besides that, new characters that appear to play a major role in the plot will build up tension and stories around themselves and then suddenly disappear.

These little shakeups are good, though, because the reader is conditioned not to expect anything in the way of resolution, and that way the ending isn't as jarring as it could have been. It is seen as natural and fitting that so many questions should be left to the imagination. In fact, as the story winds up its inscrutable spring, twisting up the plot beyond the limits of credulity and normalcy, it would be truly unsettling to reach a typical conclusion at the end. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle succeeds in creating a reality of its own, and it excels by staying true to that version of reality. I bought into it entirely. That, for me, is something that makes a great book.

Categories: books

As soon as certain people started posting eyes, I knew right away what photo I wanted to use: the most disgusting one I have! This is a 'morning after' shot taken when I returned home from a rave at Club Karma in Osaka. That purple under my eyes faded after a day's sleep, but I felt about as awful as I look here. That was one of the best nights of my life.

Should I stay or should I go?

It's not just coincidental that I haven't been writing as much about law school lately, nor have I stopped thinking about it less now that I have nothing but waitlists to hang on. I have been thinking about the law--I've been thinking that it might have been a terrible mistake for me to go to law school. Or it might have been exactly what I needed.

Scheherazade at Stay of Execution lists some systematic problems with the profession in a post titled, "Legal Lies." Which makes the study of law sound like a poor course of action, but at least knowing the truth beforehand allows one to make an educated decision. I've been reading that stuff for a long time. There's a lot of it out there, and it's fairly easy to find. Then on the other hand we have the law bloggers who say, "I may complain every now and then but I really love doing this." And I've met with practicing lawyers who love their jobs, so I know that it's not all bad; at least not for everybody.

So I still wrestle with the question of whether I should go to law school if I get the call, or drop all my waitlists now and get some closure. I'm not thinking about whether I will re-apply next fall or not. Most days I'm tempted not to even think about the waitlists and take the attitude that "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," since I could be doing a whole lot of pointless agonizing if nothing pans out. On the other hand, if I do get an offer, I need to be ready with an answer.

It would have been so easy if I'd been accepted right off the bat. I could have taken the offer and not thought twice about it. Now I'm reconsidering my decision to apply and overwhelmed with the number of alternative career paths I could choose. To her credit, Scheherazade identified her big dream and decided to pursue it. I'm still not sure what my big dream is, and I don't know what's next for me, but one thing's for sure: I can't stay here.

Categories: law school

Beer, Bikes, and Belated Law School Application Advice

J's sister and brother-in-law came over yesterday to meet Lola and go out for dinner at Granite City restaurant and microbrewery. They only sell their own beers, which struck me as a bold move. I tried their light beer along with my walleye and tasted some of my sister-in-law's Maibock. Yum! The light was very good and I'll definitely need to return some time for a full pint of Maibock.

Another place that deserves a return visit is Grandma's Saloon & Grill. They offer a celebrated wine list, but I decided to go with their house beer when we visited last weekend and was not disappointed. Best of all, they accidentally brought me two glasses of the Trusty Old Brew so I got two for the price of one!

I forgot what I was going to say about my bike. It's still a blast to ride and I went out early this morning and almost got blown over by the wind a couple of times. Later I saw that it was gusting up to 30mph. Whoa. Also I locked the gears while going up a hill and had to walk it the rest of the way up, but that was no big deal. I'm going to be taking a repair class at the Sibley Bike Depot soon. Oh, now I remember what I set out to share: After biking down to Medicine Lake and watching the waves and exalting in the early Sunday, I saw a dead duck by the side of the road. At first I thought it was just sleeping but then I saw the neck was askew and oh the feathers, it was a sad thing to see so early in the morning.

My grandma called and a friend of hers had recommended University of Virginia, so she told me to apply there if it wasn't too late. I told her I probably missed my chance for this year.

Rider's-eye view of the Strada

Three quick bike stories

Heads up. I changed the blog links a bit yesterday and added some local cyclers. Their adventures may only be of interest to me, but there you are. If you know of another biker/blogger who's fun to read, by all means let me know.

Speaking of, J and I toured a duplex yesterday that was home to five grad students and twice as many bicycles. Actually, from looking at the house I got the feeling that these were some guys I would like to hang out with. Aside from the bikes jammed everywhere, the best part was a basement full of amps and a drum set surrounded by empty bottles of Leinenkugel's.* The nicest bike was US Postal Service issue and looked totally frickin' sweet: clipless pedals, the whole works, with some nice shoes and other gear festooning the stairs nearby.

When we got home from there, I went on a long ride that ended up being far longer than I intended. I got totally lost and somehow ended up miles off course. And I loved every minute of it. Once I found my bearings and started to head back home, anyway.

*dubious claim to local beer industry fame: I once met Jacob Leinenkugel. True story. I later returned for the full brewery tour and far exceeded their stated limit of free samples.

Hard week at the plant

Two weeks ago, my company changed the program that we do all of our work on from a FileMaker to JDE-based system. The new system was designed by programmers in India without much regard for how we actually do our jobs or what type of functionality we need (which is corporate's fault, of course; not the Indians'). As a result, our work is harder, counter-intuitive, and far more time-consuming than it was before the switch. This is not just a temporary symptom of learning how the new program works. We learned it, and it sucks.

All this is just to say that it's been a little crazy around there lately. I personally didn't do my own job for the entire week because I was helping other departments, like Customer Service, whose jobs got even more screwed up than mine did. A few days ago, one of the Customer Service employees walked out. Just up and left her desk and quit. It was in this kind of atmosphere that HQ decided to send in a perky woman to build morale. There was a mean, ugly mood in that conference room that day.

It's tiring; actually physically difficult to work in conditions like that. I can feel the hostility pumping through the air vents and steaming in the coffee pots. Lucky for me, I'm moving upstairs soon into my new financial job, which may not be quite as dependent on the new system. Unfortunately, the extra time and stress demands have impacted my blogging and my daily life, and the new job might take even more of my time. I'm writing this on a Saturday morning--usually I write during breaks at work. In fact, I don't want to write any more now. I'm going to watch cartoons and not think about work until Monday at 7:00 AM.

More thoughts on contentment

Getting married and then settling down again after all this law school jive and adopting a dog has been one crazy thing after another but last night I had the strange revelation that my real life is actually starting to resemble the one that I always hoped for. I came home yesterday afternoon from a job that I don't hate too bad, rode bikes in the park with my wife, took our dog for a walk, cleaned a bit, settled down to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and thought: This is what I've been looking forward to all my life. Here is where I want to be. I have arrived.

In other words, I'm growing up.

And I'm happy. I like the way that my life is going, despite (or because of) the fact that there are so many great things I still want to accomplish. I'm looking forward to the future. You're welcome if you want to join me.

Categories: life

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

It's been a crazy week; I haven't gotten around to this review and I'm already waist-deep into The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Here we go. My review of Breakfast of Champions.

If you don't read novels because there aren't enough pictures, then Breakfast of Champions is the book for you.

No, seriously, I liked it. Slaughterhouse-5 was better. But this one has its own kind of charm. I think I'd have enjoyed it more if I were more familiar with the whole Vonnegut oeuvre. I've never read a book like it: he uses himself as a character in the book, but not in an annoying or pretentious way. It's like a playground of words and drawings that he freely messes with. Just plain fun to read, but also thought-provoking, of course. Next on the Vonnegut reading list: Cat's Cradle.