Big, heavy errands [projects, rowing]
Mar. 3rd, 2026 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterNot too long ago, I read something by a designer about changes a Scandinavian town made to its snow plowing strategy after people realized that they could cut way down on emergency hospital visits if they focused on plowing side streets first, then plowed the main roads. Apparently the reason why this works is because of gender differences in travel: most men make fairly straightforward trips, e.g. to and from work, whereas most women trip-chain and wind up needing to use many more of the side streets (think: groceries, picking up and dropping off kids, visiting elderly relatives, etc). When the side streets aren't plowed promptly, more accidents happen there.
Anyway, because I usually bike everywhere, I also do as much trip chaining as I can, and that's particularly true if I'm going to do driving errands. Today's driving errands:
1. Drop off finished oars and plaques at the boathouse, pick up more oars to fix and paint:
Do you see the plaques, all lined up out of the way now?
Can you tell which oars were freshly repainted?
As a hint, it's the shiny orange pair in front towards the left, heh.
Thankfully, it doesn't look like there are too many more oars that are so seriously beat up that they'll require major surgery. Just these two sets:
These two sets seem to have the same sort of damage as I repaired on another recent set, on the inner surface of the blade, but it's somewhat odd damage that I'll probably show you later on.
2. Pick up some cinderblocks. This turned out to be as cool as I'd hoped it would be. I went over to visit a place called Grimm Building Materials, near Troy, that has apparently been in existence since 1879, because I really don't want to patronize big-box hardware stores if I can help it anymore. A challenge with patronizing Grimm is they're only open weekdays from 7 am - 3 pm, and I generally don't travel towards Troy on weekday mornings. So, car trip. To my relief, they did indeed carry regular old cinderblocks (8x8x16"), and the price was right ($2/ea). I can't even describe how much better it is to buy something like cinderblocks from a shop like this as compared to those big-box hardware stores. I'll definitely patronize them in the future, if/when I need this sort of material.
Whenever I think about cinderblocks, I think about The Impoverished Student's Book of Cookery, Drinkery, and Housekeepery, which is essentially an old-school Zine on those three subjects, written by a Reed College student. Ages agoannikusrex and I encountered a copy of Rosenberg's book while reorganizing her parents' books, and I was sufficiently enchanted by it that I bought my own copy. One of its tips for impoverished students is to use boards and cinderblocks to build inexpensive bookcases.
My plan for my cinderblocks isn't all that different, really - I want to use them to elevate a wire shelf for germinating and growing plants out on the front porch.
3. Drop off some freeweights at work. I have students who want to carry out some exercise physiology experiments next Tuesday where they want to carry or lift weights. I could certainly have hauled the 40 pounds of freeweights by bicycle, but if I'm going to be out and about with the car, I might as well add that to the errands list.
And now it really is time to work on grading, really.
Anyway, because I usually bike everywhere, I also do as much trip chaining as I can, and that's particularly true if I'm going to do driving errands. Today's driving errands:
1. Drop off finished oars and plaques at the boathouse, pick up more oars to fix and paint:
Do you see the plaques, all lined up out of the way now?
Can you tell which oars were freshly repainted?
As a hint, it's the shiny orange pair in front towards the left, heh.
Thankfully, it doesn't look like there are too many more oars that are so seriously beat up that they'll require major surgery. Just these two sets:
These two sets seem to have the same sort of damage as I repaired on another recent set, on the inner surface of the blade, but it's somewhat odd damage that I'll probably show you later on.
2. Pick up some cinderblocks. This turned out to be as cool as I'd hoped it would be. I went over to visit a place called Grimm Building Materials, near Troy, that has apparently been in existence since 1879, because I really don't want to patronize big-box hardware stores if I can help it anymore. A challenge with patronizing Grimm is they're only open weekdays from 7 am - 3 pm, and I generally don't travel towards Troy on weekday mornings. So, car trip. To my relief, they did indeed carry regular old cinderblocks (8x8x16"), and the price was right ($2/ea). I can't even describe how much better it is to buy something like cinderblocks from a shop like this as compared to those big-box hardware stores. I'll definitely patronize them in the future, if/when I need this sort of material.
Whenever I think about cinderblocks, I think about The Impoverished Student's Book of Cookery, Drinkery, and Housekeepery, which is essentially an old-school Zine on those three subjects, written by a Reed College student. Ages ago
annikusrex and I encountered a copy of Rosenberg's book while reorganizing her parents' books, and I was sufficiently enchanted by it that I bought my own copy. One of its tips for impoverished students is to use boards and cinderblocks to build inexpensive bookcases.My plan for my cinderblocks isn't all that different, really - I want to use them to elevate a wire shelf for germinating and growing plants out on the front porch.
3. Drop off some freeweights at work. I have students who want to carry out some exercise physiology experiments next Tuesday where they want to carry or lift weights. I could certainly have hauled the 40 pounds of freeweights by bicycle, but if I'm going to be out and about with the car, I might as well add that to the errands list.
And now it really is time to work on grading, really.
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Date: 2026-03-03 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-04 12:53 am (UTC)