13 posts tagged “bicycling”

Got in another ride this past Sunday.  Better Half and Little One and I first stopped off at a tire store in Gdale to get BH's flat tire repaired and from there I started my ride.  I headed toward the LA river bike path that runs parallel to I-5 and Griffith Park.  Can't say there was much to it in terms of scenery.  The LA river is pretty dismal and riding alongside the 5 with its constant hum of traffic is not exactly peaceful.  That said, I did see some rather interesting birds in the river bed.  Might have been some sort of Heron.  At the end of the path, I circled back around through the edge of Griffith Park on Riverside/Crystal Springs and then wound my way through Atwater Village, Glassell Park and finally back through Eagle Rock.  I definitely want to explore Griffith Park more, both by bike and on foot.  All told, the ride was just shy of 16 miles on the Brommie.  Doable, but as I've noted before, the Brommie is not really ideal for longer rides.  So, yes, I'm starting to think I'd like to get a third bike, one specifically for recreational rides.  My other two bikes are more utilitarian.

In other news, there's another cold front in relations with BH.  Lots of bickering going on and then one evening about a week ago, she just completely lost it on me in front of Little One.  LO got very scared, in fact.  These outbursts are intense, but invariably we perceive them much differently.  To me, they are signs of existential crises.  To her, they seem to be no big deal.  This difference in perception makes resolution difficult.

Saturday we hosted a Halloween Party for LO and her friends.  Sent an evite to all the kids in her class and also invited a friend from after school program as well as some neighboring kids. Predictably, most of the parents did not even bother to respond to the evite.  But, two kids from her class came along with the kid from after school program and the two boys across the street.

I had wanted to provide the kids some structure for the party rather than have them all run around wildly.  To that end, I had prepared some arts and crafts projects and a couple of ideas for games.  Unfortunately, in the end, chaos reigned.  I got no support from BH on providing structure; instead she got to socialize with the adult guests while I tried to deal with kids and pick up the pizza (next time I'm definitely doing delivery, even though it was darn good pie).  LO had multiple meltdowns when things weren't going as she had hoped, one little boy fell down the stairs (luckily no harm done), and another kid broke a glass pane in our coffee table (again, we were just lucky she didn't get hurt).  On top of it all, the Schmaz shows up in a French Maid costume, and despite my expressed request to NOT lift up her skirt to show her panties when the guests were there (our neighbors across the street are fairly religious, and I was concerned that they might be offended, not to mention the inappropriateness of such behavior at a kids party), she did.  So, all in all, I pretty much hated the party.  Next party opportunity, I'm not lifting a finger.

There was some redemption in having one of the kids stay for trick or treating and then spending the night.  She's a third grader and goes to the same after school program.  Her parents are very cool and it is nice to see LO bond quickly with another kid.  They had fun trick or treating and the following day.  Hopefully, we'll be doing more with them in the future.

We like this -- a folding bike and a cargo bike in one. Very ingenious.

Tomorrow Better Half and Little One return.  It's been a strange two weeks here without them.  While I was able to get some things done, I certainly didn't get as much done as hoped and I missed them.  It wasn't like a painful, emotional missing, but their absence created a palpable void.  In any case, I'm very happy they are coming back. I look forward to hearing more from LO of her experiences and perceptions of the trip.

On the house buying front, termite work was supposed to begin today.  As far as I know, it did.  I'm just praying they don't find additional stuff that needs to be repaired as they go along.  Meanwhile, the lender finally got around to determining how they want the arrangement regarding the repair hold officially worded in escrow docs.  So, hopefully I'll learn tomorrow just what we need to deposit into the escrow account. 

The seller, in the meantime, is only now getting around to applying for a 9a report from the county.  We've been bugging them about this since the second week of June.  Not sure if it'll actually arrive before closing.  I ended up having to FedEx them a signature today b/c the county won't accept faxed/emailed signatures and nobody from the seller's office bothered to notice that in the application instructions, so we lost another day as a result.  Boneheads--every single one of them.

Gave two demos of the Brompton today to folks at work.  I tend to stow it on the back side of my desk, which is facing the entrance to our office, so if there's no book truck in front of it, people definitely notice it.  They are invariably incredulous.  I'm more than happy to show them how it works.  If I ever end up unemployed as a librarian, I'd probably be a pretty effective salesperson for Brommies.

On the subject of riding, what I don't get is why my ride never feels like it's getting any easier.  I mean, it's obvious when you first start out after a long hiatus that the ride is going to be a bitch.  But, you'd think that after a few weeks, your body would be in shape and, if not sailing up the hill, you'd at least not find it really tough each time.  And, yet, such is the case.  Each time I head up the hill, I'm giving it all I've got and the exertion level is pretty maxed out.  The lack of a truly low granny gear is no doubt part of it.  Be that as it may, the payoff is fantastic.  After I've cooled down, showered and gotten behind my desk, I've got an incredible rush of endorphins that generally lasts well into the afternoon.  You can't beat that.

So things took a turn for the better regarding the messy escrow situation this week.  The day after they said we would have to get all termite work done before the close of escrow, the boss of our mortgage broker (who conveniently went on a 2 day vacation he neglected to mention to me) emails me and says the credit union has "graciously" agreed to do a repair hold, giving us 30 days to complete the work after close of escrow.  Their conditions:  it has to be all section 1 work (I had only planned to do portions, leaving in particular the cracked shower pan to do at a later date since it's expensive and not something we are likely to use often), we need to hold 1.5x the cost of the estimated repair work (raises what we need to bring it at escrow significantly, but we'll manage), and I have to write them a letter reaffirming that it is a priority for us to get this done within 30 days (fine, whatever).

Meanwhile, I had already rescheduled with the termite folks to begin work next week.  So, then the dilemma was do I keep that slot or put it off until after COE?  On the advice of the Dynamic Duo, we're sticking with the plan to go ahead next week.  Got them to also schedule the additional work (shower pan and other dry rot stuff) and as it turns out, if all goes as planned, they'll be done two days after COE.  Last Friday we also got the signature from the seller's agent to authorize the work, since they still own the property.

Today I traveled out there by bus and bike again.  Needed to get a signature from the neighbor to allow access to her property for the fumigation and I also wanted to get the bathroom tile from the shed and put it in the bathroom where they are going to replace the shower pan.  Met Middle Sis for brunch at Auntie Em's and then we headed over to the house.  Unfortunately, after we moved the tiles, the neighbor was gone, so I couldn't get her sig.

So then I went to the local public library branch to do some homework.  The PL is about the same size as the branch here, but seems a little nicer.  Definitely dug the a/c, and while I was worried about being able to get a PC terminal, it turned out to be no prob.  Found and printed an article and read it and I was good to go.

Went back to the neighbor's, but once again she was out.  Should be back w/in 40 mins the kids tell me.  So, I hang out and read my book

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah

Anyway, she finally shows up and signs off no prob.  So, it looks like all the ducks are lined up, although I still haven't heard if they've succeeded in getting an escrow amendment for this new situation.

I decided to try a different way home.  I left the house in ER at about 5:30 and cut through the hills and down into Highland Park to catch the Gold Line train to Union Station.  This is a short ride (less than 3 miles), but the hill rivals the climb on my current commute.  Here's the route in Bikely:

Train ride was fine-- it takes 13 mins.  At Union Station, I head up to catch the bus.  I think it was around 6:20 or so.  I didn't have a schedule with me and for some absurd reason the timetables are not posted at bus stops in LA, but I knew that the bus I wanted came once an hour and I had written down from the week before that there was a 5:37 bus.  So, I figured there must be a 6:37.  Well, the time came and went and no bus showed.  Ended up waiting until 7:40 before a bus arrived and got to SP an hour later.  Ugh.  Checked the timetable online, and there damn well should have been a bus at 6:40.  Certainly not a good sign if I'm hoping to use this for my regular commute.

Little One called me Friday morning.  And when I say morning, I mean early morning.  4:45 am, to be precise.  But I was just psyched to talk to her.  The times I've called in the past, she hadn't been in the mood to talk with me.  This time she was in the mood.  Chatted about her experience sleeping over at her old babysitter's place.  Actually, said a lot of other stuff, but I don't remember the half of it b/c I was so tired.  It just felt nice.

Dropped Little One off today at day camp using the bike.  Has to be the most climbing I've done to date with her on the back -- the camp is at Friendship park, which according to Gmaps is at 600 ft elevation.  Our house is basically sea level.  I've been digging a post-ride serotonin glow every since.

LO is off to a Dodger game today with the day camp.  I'm curious what she'll think of it.  When I was a kid, I loved baseball and enjoyed going to games with Grandpa.  But, I lost interest at some point.  I think around the time that girls became more interesting to me :).  Anyway, she's been to other pro sporting events (soccer and women's basketball), neither of which really seemed to grab her interest.

Looking forward to visits from Big Sis and Little Sis this weekend!

I know I'm well overdue for updates, but, as y'all know, we've been pretty busy with the house-buying process.  Meanwhile, I've been able to ride more consistently lately, and yesterday did my first "recreational" ride in a very long time.  Finally did the Tour de Palos Verdes.  Well, not strictly, b/c I skipped PV East (admittedly the most difficulty part of the route) and took Western instead.  But, still it was a good 38 km and felt great.  Here's the route:

Just as we were about to reach the top of the steepest part of the ride this morning, my cellphone starts to ring.  It was Better Half calling to say she thinks she had left a hair-straightening device on in the bathroom.  So, I took Little One the rest of the way up (we made it 23 mins, so given the stop for the phone call, about 2 mins. faster than yesterday), and then had to head back home.  As it happens, the machine was plugged in, but it has an automatic off, so it was cold.  Better safe than sorry, but by then I had to drive to work.

Met up with the Carpenter yesterday after work.  He had already done a cardboard mock up.  Looked good.  We continued to discuss some design options and he's gonna do another mock up and I'll check in with him again next week.  The guy knows a buttload about bikes.

Read a chapter last night in a book on buying your first home on figuring out the finances of it all (the one from Nolo Press).  Some of it I already knew about (e.g. the 28/36 rule on debt-to-income ratios).  Two bits of info that were of particular note, however, was that the credit scores of all parties count with regard to the terms of a mortgage you might get.  I recently got my score from one of the big three and it's excellent, but I've no idea what BH's is.  We'll have to check.  I'm a little concerned, since she hasn't been here long, and she's had a few problems with the few CCs she signed up for (things work a little differently here than in Germany).  The other issue was that to get preapproved for a loan you need to show 2 years worth of tax returns.  We have 2007, but no 2006 (didn't file yet, and I don't think it would be to our advantage since we had very minimal income that year anyway).  So, I think the best strategy will be to get a preapproval after filing our 2008 return.  For that, we need to wait until the W-2 come through.

This morning Little One and I did our first morning commute by bike.  It was awesome.  Here's the route as mapped by Bikely.

I'm wondering right now what posessed me to believe that this late in my life I could learn how to program.  I mean seriously, I wrote some BASIC programs back in, I don't know, 6th grade or something.  Granted, things in my HTML/CSS class during the summer went reasonably well.  I more or less got it.

But now we're hitting the hard stuff (at least for me) with PHP and MySQL.  And try as a I might, I just can't get my head around it.  Virtually every exercise I try to complete does not work.  It does not help, of course, that I really can't devote a lot of time to the subject.  I tend to do it in big blocks at a time with way too much time in between.  It also doesn't help, however, that the instructor is basically AWOL on my requests for help.  Thanks, bud, I'll remember that when it comes time to submit evaluations of the instructors.

Meanwhile, I've now gotten excited about the idea of a "utility bicycle".  Basically, these are bikes specifically designed to serve your main transportation needs, including carrying other people and stuff.  In other words, a replacement for your car.  There seem to be two biggies on the market right now:  xtracycle and mundo.  Check these puppies out.  I have visions in my head of taking Little One on the back to school and then riding the rest of the way to work.  Great for grocery shopping too. Finding a safe place to keep it would be an issue.  And I need to find someone who has one so I can try before I buy.

In all honesty, I should be asleep right now.  Or at least doing something productive.  But, noooo, I've just spent the last, oh, 2.5 hrs. digesting the "debate" and the blog/msm analysis.  I still haven't even seen the whole thing since I couldn't catch the live webcast and the clips so far are incomplete (esp. the last bit on foreign policy).  But, it seems it mostly went ok for Obama, so I'm pleased.  For me, the highlight was when he answered healthcare is a right, whereas McCain said it is a responsibility.  I think he nailed that one.  Interesting to read the National Review blog -- they were all beating up on McCain!  Complete resignation.  Good riddance, I say.

Other stuff:  well, we had an enjoyable trip to Legoland this weekend.  Little One has been pining to go for months now, and we had a good opportunity given that we were taking care of one of her friends for the weekend.  Cuz two adults and one kid at Legoland is not the right balance -- 2/2 works much better.  And it was good.  Much more mellow than DLand, and the kids really dig it b/c they can actually do everything they want to do.  She didn't even try (much) to get us to buy a bunch of junk.

Little One's bike riding has been improving, though we had some regression about a week ago.  Prior to that, she has begun to start pedaling on her own without support.  Doesn't get it every time, but we're getting there.  Which means, since she can already brake and steer, we're pretty much good to go.  Next thing is to try out on some bike paths that have a little more traffic, but are still wide and easy.  That way she can get comfortable with oncoming bikers and people passing her.  And then i figure we're ready to do that bike tour of Africa I've always dreamed about :)

In case you forgot, I am a bonafide Gourdhead.  The lads were in town last week for a show at Safari Sam's.  'Twas a school night, but I still could not resist going.  I guess after being six years in the desert (i.e. no shows between 2002-2008), a man works up a thirst, you know?  So, yeah, a second show in 2008 after the great one in SF in February was definitely called for.  The show opened with Kevin Russell playing solo under the moniker of Shinyribs, as he had in February.  Probably no more than 20 people in the crowd at that point, but he still put his all into it.  The setlist (no doubt, with errors since there were many tunes I didn't not know):

1. Sweet Potato
2. Me & Jesus (Tom T. Hall) -- serious white boy gospel.  hard to tell if he was earnest or ironic
3. The Devil's Song (?)
4. Image of Me -- "one fo the best country songs ever written" by Harlan Howard (who??)
5. Fisherman's Friend (?) -- a song for travelers
6. Dang Me --  Roger Miller tune
7. Who built the moon?  -- pretty silly ditty
8. Highway 61 Revisited -- "Bobby" Dylan countrified.  Changed all the verses 'cept the first.
9. For the turnstiles -- excellent cover of Neil
10. Waterfalls -- apparently a cover of some R&B group called TLC

Shinyribs was followed by a gawd awful local troupe called Stampead.  The less said the better.

By the time The Gourds came on, the crowd had built up some.  Not packed, by any means, but at least not embarrasing (if you forget the fact that some 15 mil. people live in metro LA).The set was spirited, though not quite the knockout that Slim's was.  They played:

1. My Name is Jorge
2. Arapahoe
3. Old Man from the Mountain
4. Jesues Christ with Signs Following
5. Gyroscopic
6. Maria -- Jimmy at his maniacal best
7. Yoli Find a Possum -- not sure where this one comes from
8. LGO
9.O Rings
10. Roll & Tumble
11.Take Me Back to Tulsa
12. All the Labour -- one of my favs!
13. I'm a Man -- very impromptu Muddy Waters with different lyrics.  Actually, Jimmy just sang about one verse.
14. Flavor on Your Tongue -- ending with the "do do do doo doos" from the Stones' "Hangfire" and followed by a few bars of Chariots of Fire((!!)
15. Promenade -- nice ballad, but the line about Southern Democrats is really weak
16. Red Letter Day -- Max on vox
17. Dr. Spivey -- Jimmy at his maniacal worst. Too bloody loud. (tho' I liked how he snuck in a bass line from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)
18. Mr. Betty
19. Gin and Juice -- snippets of The Hungry Wolf (X), Surrender (Cheap Trick), and The End (The Doors)

Frankly, I could of done w/out G&J.  It's just getting too cliche for them to play and they looked bored playing it.  They do a great version and it's a lot of fun, but it just doesn't make sense to make a cover your signature tune and play it at every gig.  I liked it back in, oh, 1998 when they stopped playing it at every show for a while.

And with that, I really will go to bed now.