Even in Kyoto

Going in circles again [bicycling]

2026-05-01T16:15:12Z

Saturday's plan: first loop down to Connecticut, then loop back up through Massachusetts to Vermont.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54901197

With so many other things buzzing around in my head lately, I think I'll be glad for a day where I have One Job.

comments

Stuff, things, stuff, things, and snack prices [status, projects, stuff, things]

2026-04-30T15:37:49Z

I've decided that it should be an annual tradition for me to gather up all my research ducklings for an end-of-year lab celebration. Conveniently, we have a day dedicated to research presentations, so we're going to just use one of the hours for our celebration.

In an ideal world I would have the bandwidth to make the festive drinks and snacks myself. Looking at my calendar for this week, I had to unfortunately conclude that I would need to resign myself to going to a conventional grocery store to obtain premade festive drinks and snacks.

Dear reader, the sticker shock. My usual grocery shopping habits involve purchasing ingredients in bulk from the grocery co-op. The co-op actually works really hard to keep prices down, with an awareness that everybody needs to eat and not everybody is rolling in the dough. Also, bulk raw ingredients and locally-sourced produce are inherently going to be less expensive than anything created and marketed by a middleman.

Somehow I was most amazed by the prices for a bag of chips, easily pushing upwards of $5-6/bag now. All told I still went ahead with my purchase of festive snacks and drinks, but, wow. Guess I'd better not develop a chip-eating habit anytime soon. More than anything, the unevenness of the price hikes fascinates me.

-

Right now I'm in the midst of a supply ordering frenzy at work, and a supply ordering frenzy for miscellanea for the rowing club. It's a hectic double-whammy. You might be surprised to learn that rowing our carbon-fiber and fiberglass rowing shells out on a river full of fishing boats and logs results in damage to said vessels. At present it seems the rate of damage is outpacing the rate at which we can carry out repairs, particularly in cases where we have to order specialty replacement parts, sigh.

The ordering frenzy at work is always stressful. I have to sort out which of the various expensive instruments I might possibly be able to afford to replace, then go through whatever rigamarole is involved in getting a quote, sending it to the right person, et cetera et cetera. Right now I'm at the stage of just replacing all the consumables in need of replacement, which I need to do before I will have a sense of what else I can afford.

I'm also going to need to do additional parts management for my Bicycling class fleet, as mentioned previously. For that aspect I don't yet know whether I will be able to pay for things through work, or whether I need to set up a side hustle. The parts aren't going to be insanely expensive, but on the other hand, just on principle I don't really want to join the legion of teachers who pay for supplies out-of-pocket.

Oh, and then there's thinking about what field supplies we might want and need for the summer.

Yeah. Whee.

comments

Who knew? [random]

2026-04-28T20:44:35Z

Most of today has been devoted to proctoring a lab practical exam, which is rather tedious but necessary. So while I sit around, I've been working on tackling a handful of orders for miscellaneous items. For instance, I noticed some of the tape supplies at the boathouse have been running low, so I searched around for some duct tape on McMaster-Carr's website.

And lo, that's how I learned that Nuclear-Grade Duct Tape is a Thing that Exists:

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/duct-tape/nuclear-grade-duct-tape~~/

It makes sense, yes, but STILL. Nuclear-Grade Duct Tape.

I mean, it's almost tempting to buy some just so I can periodically say, "Do I need to pull out the Nuclear-Grade Duct Tape for that??"

comments

Bicycling news [bicycling]

2026-04-27T21:52:22Z

1. The spokes on Frodo's rear wheel almost reached the point of being dangerously loose. I'm going to have to spend some quality time with the truing stand now, sigh. At least I caught it in time? Maybe?

2. I tried riding Princess TinyBike to the Empire State Museum this past Saturday, but the dyno hub is making some really horrible shrieking noises that make me think some saltwater managed to work its way into the exceptionally well-sealed cartridge bearings, sigh. You might be amazed/horrified by how far the saltwater from winter riding can work itself into things. It's really bad, really.

3. Today during Bicycling class (~10 students total):
-Bent gear in the middle of a cassette (??!!)
-Pedal fell off - no idea how that worked loose, it re-threaded back on just fine, at least (whew, not stripped).
-A second bike whereupon the rear wheel ate the derailleur, like it does.

...I definitely need to come up with a fundraising/funding scheme for general management of the Bicycling fleet. Also, the helmet-wearing resistance of this cohort is obnoxiously bad.
Was sunny and warm better than last Monday's snow flurries? Or just different?

4. Planning for a Bike Valet at Albany's annual Tulip Fest is well underway. I hope some other people sign up to help run the valet with me? I need to ply people with food and drinks, but not alcohol, at least not directly at the event itself.

comments

Well THAT hasn't happened in a while... [status, work]

2026-04-27T16:10:26Z

I opened up my lunchbox to eat my lunch, and discovered that I'd forgotten to eat my breakfast.

That DOES help to explain why I felt a bit off-kilter during lecture this morning.

Right now it seems like there are a lot of people trying to invent extra problems that definitely do not need to be solved by me in the next 10 minutes, but nonetheless sharing them with me anyway. Unless it's the birth of a baby or a heart attack, I'm telling people that the thing would be totally great to bring up at one of the multiple preordained times for discussing such things.

I am not sure that my delivery of this message includes the appropriate bedside manner, perhaps due to the lack of sufficient calories arriving to my prefrontal cortex.

comments

Addendum: The violets are blooming [food, gardening]

2026-04-26T23:37:52Z

The old couple who owned this house for decades planted flowers everywhere. Those are their snowdrops that come up first thing in spring. (pictured earlier this year)

They also planted grape hyacinths through the lawn:

The hyacinths last up until the guy hired by the landlord comes by and starts the annual lawnmowing.

Useless Rhubarb update:

I have two varieties of tulips:

Some are Teeny Tiny Tulips, you can see a teeny tiny white flower from one of them in the above photo.

I don't think I'm going to get many flowers from the larger tulips this year. Plus, the bunny rabbits do love to snip off the flowers. If I had bunny rabbit teeth, I'd probably enjoy snipping off the tulip flowers, too. I don't know what kind of soil amendments the tulips like.

Next to the Teeny Tiny Tulips are some blooming violets. The side yard lawn has a number of violets embedded in it, too.

The violets all made me think about the Creme de Violette liqueur I obtained several years ago, so I also mixed up an Aviation cocktail for myself this afternoon.

Gin is strong, and I think that's why I wound up spilling chopped garlic all over the kitchen floor while cooking today's soup. On the other hand, cooking while tipsy is pleasant.

comments

Sunday Sunday Sunday [status, projects, food]

2026-04-26T23:17:47Z

This morning I was disappointed to learn that the word SHART is not in the Scrabble Dictionary. In case you wondered.

I still managed to win the weekly Scrabble game, so I wasn't that disappointed.

-

When I was cleaning out the freezer the other day, I noticed that there was a bag of frozen strawberries in there, dating back to 2022. Also a bag of frozen rhubarb.

So there is now some strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.

I also made a batch of tomato-lentil soup, and more cherry-almond scones, to serve as breakfasts for the week.

-

The middle of the day got allocated to a trip to the hardware store in Troy, followed by more boat work. Because I am substitute coaching tomorrow morning, I tried to keep a brisk pace for the ride.

I need to figure out where I can buy some peel ply, that stuff looks super useful for my life. Just saying.

Most of my spray paint work was fine, except for one section where I applied too much at once, and caused drips. But I have time, because we haven't yet ordered the replacement skeg for the boat. It's going to be one of those projects that gets worked on for 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there. Lots and lots of sanding. Good thing I'm good at sanding by now!

-

I let the cats have some supervised catio time this afternoon, because the weather was so nice. George, of course, LOVED it, and now that the cats are back inside they've been crying and crying to go out again.

-

Time to go eat some of that cobbler, then maybe have a quiet evening. Ha.

comments

Stuff and Things and Projects and Projects [rowing, projects]

2026-04-26T00:25:56Z

I thought I had signed up to go rowing this morning, but then I had one of those mornings where I had insomnia through the night up until the hour before the alarm went off. When I went to check what the consequences would be of dropping out, I discovered I hadn't signed up after all! Whew, off the hook!

But was I able to fall asleep again after that? No, of course not.

So I got up to start working on the hundred things that were on my mind waking me up all night. Namely, dealing with all sorts of Stuff and Things and Projects.

In that regard, I did a bunch of work rearranging various bits of rowing stuff. Well, to begin with, I finally ordered and received another batch of rare earth magnets, so I could finish the project of gluing magnets onto rowing trophy plaques, as seen here, with George for scale (and for aesthetic reasons, naturally):

The plaques got loaded into the pictured yellow-lidded storage bin, carted over to the boathouse, and installed. I'm so DONE with the plaques that I didn't even take an updated photo of the trophy wall.

( more on the boathouse adventures... )

comments

In lieu of words, how about just pictures? [status, cats, work, rowing, projects]

2026-04-23T20:38:30Z

1. Tuesday lab crayfish! So fun.

( clicky for that, and more... )

comments

pauses to inhale [status, work]

2026-04-22T20:47:48Z

Last lab of the semester yesterday. The students enjoyed the crayfish tremendously, a reminder of why I go to such great lengths.

I tend to experience insomnia in the spring, which I suspect is mostly due to allergies. When it struck this morning, I went ahead and got up to go to the optional Wednesday strength training practice with rowing teammates. After all, exercise can really help with anxiety.

There are just a lot of loose ends to tie up: Getting us in lecture to where we'll actually finish out our course topics for the semester; ordering supplies needed; fixing a bike from the Bicycling class so a student can get back out on it; watering the ants and checking the crickets; meeting with research students; setting up the lab for the lab practical next Tuesday; et cetera.

High-octane life can't go on indefinitely.

comments

When Sundays go slightly sideways [status, housekeepery, projects]

2026-04-20T17:34:30Z

Well, first off, the cats woke me up super early. Thanks, cats. But on the other hand, I DID want extra time in the morning so I could zip over to the grocery co-op, so I managed as much.

The bonus vacuuming activity of the week involved vacuuming out our tatami mat futon bedframe. I'll spare you the details, but will say the end result was highly satisfactory. Along with that I changed out the flannel sheets for regular cotton bedsheets, just in time for another little cool spell.

I also managed to get the second coat of paint onto the current batch of oars on the front porch. That went very well, reinforcing my sense that I'm finally getting the hang of this whole oar painting business.

But then I ran out of time and energy to work on the sanding prep for the next two sets of oars in the basement.

Instead, I did some dishwashing and prepped a big batch of a pumpkin-cauliflower-coconut curry, and I ordered a couple of the items on the "to order" list for the rowing club.

These are all things that seemed to take far longer than they should have.

Oh, and graded some quizzes. I still have slightly more of a grading backlog than I'd like, but I'm whittling the pile down bit by bit.

I don't feel like I should feel this tired on a Monday, but on the other hand I could point to a half-dozen reasons why I AM this tired on a Monday (*glances at cats*).

But it would take time to dwell on that, and there's grading to finish.

Even though I won't let him go outside, George has been super snuggly. Martha has her moments, too.

comments

Cat news [cats]

2026-04-19T10:19:13Z

Because Cat News is the Best News.

Here's a carpenter bee that got stuck on the front porch on Thursday:

The cats were quite interested in it.

I released the bee back outside shortly after this video, and it flew off.

Part of the reason George is keen for Catio time is that he loves hunting and chasing things out there. Here he is with his favorite stick:

This video can give you a sense about how much he LOVES to chase this stick, except imagine this video is about 10 times as long and the chasing and pouncing are even more ferociously cute:

In fact, he loves his stick so much that when I tossed it into the basement to try and get him to go back indoors, he jumped back through the catio door into the basement, and, well, see for yourself:

Hilariously, if I keep George out of the catio and just let Martha out, she loves the exact same stick game. I think they like being able to chase and pounce on the grass since it's softer than many of our indoor surfaces.

Meanwhile, here's the part of the catio where George has been making his more recent escapes:

I tried wedging those pieces of wood between the pole and the side of the house, but (a) they're going to fall out, and (b) George just climbed up onto that window ledge on the side of the porch and then climbed over all my handiwork.

So that whole corner is just going to need to get redone, but that isn't something I'm going to manage to get to right now. But clearly it's something that needs to get done, based on how much the cats appreciate their outdoors time.

comments

Cats: 8; Rebeccmeister: 0 [cats, status]

2026-04-18T21:30:31Z

George very helpfully showed me twice where some fresh fortifications would not be sufficient to keep him contained in the catio.

The spot requiring the fresh fortifications is going to take some work, so I'm not sure I'll get that done soon (much to George's dismay, whether he knows it or not!). I wound up giving Martha a good bit of her own catio time, since she was content to hunt insects instead of puzzling over her own new ways to escape.

Today was eventful, so maybe I should summarize, with the hopes of more bandwidth to blog more later:

-Coached rowing practice; towards the beginning of practice, a rower fell in the water while helping carry a quad onto the docks. She's mostly okay, but that was not a fun way to start practice.

-Got a card and a poster sent over to our coach who is recovering from a rear-end crash. Whiplash is no joke, folks.

-Hosted a backyard Bike Valet sign-painting party. For a little while it seemed like it might be a Party of One, but that's okay if it at least means I get the task done. But then other bike folks made their way over and we had fun and were able to talk about some good and important things. I will have more to say about the bike valet plans soon, I'm sure.

But for now, I should cook up some dinner.

comments

Indisputable [status, work]

2026-04-16T21:40:06Z

My sister has the best t-shirts. This week I keep thinking about the one she has that says, "Every Day I'm Brusselin' " with an illustration of brussels sprouts. There are a lot of copycat images on the internet that do not do justice to the design and artistry on that shirt.

Anyway, that's the sentiment of the now. Today looked like:

-Emergency pinch-hit rowing coaching because one of our coaches was just in a terrible car crash where someone rear-ended them (don't yet know how serious the injuries are, that takes time).

-Dentist appointment - minimal gum bleeding and no major actions required, WHEW.

-Receive shipment of 24 large gray crayfish*, spend a good 90 minutes preparing the tanks to house them, house them.

-Act as a facilitator for an institutional strategic planning listening session.

-Write a quiz for tomorrow.

-Meet with manuscript coauthor and apologize for being slow to make progress.

-Review/prep to teach (mammalian, basic, introductory) kidney function.

Part of me wants to go on the weekly social bike ride tonight, but the prudent part of me suggests I should just go home and collapse in a heap.

At least next Tuesday is the last Lab of the semester.

*I think I put in the order for these about 5 weeks ago? They were backordered and I was about to completely pull the plug and do something different to replace the lab, except when I requested to cancel the order I learned they'd shipped, sigh.

comments

FINALLY [status]

2026-04-15T20:29:48Z

You might recall (probably not!) that I got my federal and state tax forms mailed in relatively early this year, back in mid-February, in part because I wanted to paper file instead of giving my personal information to one of the corporations that would let me e-file for "free."

In any case, my calculations indicated that I should get a refund for both federal and state taxes. About 2-3 weeks after I mailed things off, my state return funds were direct deposited into my bank account, which told me that the US Postal Service can still at least manage delivery, and that the hardworking people in the State of New York are opening the mail. Thanks, Postal Service and New York State!

But I've been waiting for my federal return to get processed ever since then. The IRS's webpage says they're currently somewhere around mid-March with regards to processing paper forms, except processing may take longer for submitted forms with identified issues. That made me wonder, did they even get my return?? Was there some issue with it? Ugh. So earlier this week I started looking into methods to set up an online account with the IRS in the hopes that an online account would help me figure out whether my paper forms were even received (note, this is different from all of the tax filing stuff, but it's still sharing a lot of info directly with the IRS). I don't particularly WANT to set up an online account, mind you. But it seems like a bad idea to linger on this item.

Anyway, they FINALLY deposited my refund, TODAY. I'm definitely ready to move on now. I miss the Free File Fillable Forms, but really, this country needs a major overhaul of its taxation system, starting with actually taxing the filthy rich.

See, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/15/tax-day-united-states-unequal-taxation

comments

Cats: 6, Rebeccmeister: 0 [cats, status]

2026-04-15T11:40:11Z

I think we're up to 6? I could have miscounted in there somewhere.

Yesterday's labs ran long, but the lab is an engaging one and students got a lot out of it, so I can't begrudge them for needing the time. When I finally went to check the weather for the bike ride home, the radar looked quite colorful in a way that posed two options: wait an hour or so, and get home for a late supper; or, set forth but be ready to get very wet. So I suited up in all my rain gear and set out, and the apocalypse struck when I was about a half mile in. It wasn't particularly cold but I was glad for the rain gear more for keeping the grime off than anything else. By the time I got back into town someone was exclaiming about the rainbow visible in the sky behind me.

The recent catio fortifications had been working well, so I've been generally coming home after work and letting the cats out for a while, which they love, of course. It helps that it's now warmer and lighter later into the evening. With the rain subsiding, I let the cats out.

Sometimes they'll go out for a while, then come back in to say hello again, then go back out, and it can be tricky to call them back in for the night, often requiring cat treat bribes. But there's another behavior pattern, where if George escapes, Martha comes and finds me and acts super affectionate. Who knows what's happening in her catty brain, but it seems like some version of, "Finally, that pesky kitten is GONE!"

So, that happened later in the evening, as I was ready to head for bed. I tried shaking the freeze-dried salmon cat treat bag to summon George, to no avail. Eventually I just went out on the back porch to groggily sit in a chair for a while, because there was no way I would actually be able to sleep well if George was stuck outside all night.

...and eventually he came trotting up the back porch steps, and flopped down at my feet, like he does.

They're going to be mad when I won't let them out on the catio this evening.

comments

Gonna be a long week... [status]

2026-04-13T13:11:05Z

Yesterday while grocery shopping I forgot to buy a loaf of bread, even though it was on the shopping list and I checked the list right before heading to checkout (helped me remember cupcake liners, but not the bread, heh).

I also ran myself out of time yesterday for doing make-ahead breakfasts for the week, so it's going to be a week of oatmeal for breakfast.

And the grading still hasn't done itself.

comments

Successfully went around in circles! [bicycling]

2026-04-12T01:09:43Z

The shop that hosted this 200k brevet is awesome, New Horizons Bikes in Westfield, MA. I was able to talk with the shop owner for a few minutes after the ride wrapped up, and was also able to buy most of the things on my current bike parts shopping list. It's a well-stocked shop.

I did not have any profound thoughts while riding this 200k.

I had lots of non-profound thoughts, about things like what I was looking forward to eating at the next control, and about the state of my legs, hands, feet, and butt. As one does, on brevets.

I'll post photos and maybe even the gpx track soon. The northern loop went from Westfield, MA up to a town at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain, so now I know where that is. We also biked past Mt. Tom, an area that looked pretty cool. An advantage of riding in the early spring is you can see more when the trees don't have leaves on them yet.

I was amused by biking through Southampton, then Easthampton, then Northampton. What's a "hampton," anyway??

On the southern loop we rode past the Dewey-Granby Oak, and I have to concur, it is one of the most amazing trees I've ever seen.

Also, somewhere in there, the New Old Copper Mine Prison, I think it was? Plus the Old Copper Mine. I'll have to look up more info on what that was all about.

There were sections with headwinds, and some gusting winds at points, but all told it took me 10 hours 31 minutes to complete this one. That makes it one of the fastest 200ks I've completed.

The shower beer after the ride tasted fantastic. The cats were sad that I got home so late.

comments

The plan is to go in circles [bicycling]

2026-04-11T00:05:05Z

First brevet of 2026 for me tomorrow, stationed out of Westfield, MA. We shall see how this goes...

comments

Harvesting Worm Dirt: A Photoessay [gardening]

2026-04-08T12:00:26Z

I think I'm reaching the stage where there's something of a steady-state for managing the new worm bin bench. It might go out the window once scrottie returns, but for now I'm pretty pleased with things.

To begin with, by myself I generate around 1 batch of kitchen scraps a week that can go into the bin. My kitchen scraps mostly include spent coffee grounds, banana peels, apple cores, and vegetable trimmings from whatever I happen to be cooking that week. Eggshells now get handled separately, and citrus goes into the yard compost outside because citrus is toxic to worms.

Here's what the worm bin bench looks like, in situ, in our basement cluttered with other things and projects:

( more photos and description below the cut... )

comments

Spring in the Garden; Cats [gardening, cats]

2026-04-06T20:38:04Z

At long last, there are legitimate signs of life in the garden. Here's the mini-daffodil and tulip bed:

Always cute.

( lots more photos behind the cut... )

comments

Happy International Googly Eye Day [status]

2026-04-06T18:19:32Z

Which is, after all, way more fun to celebrate than grading papers.

I celebrated by decorating my helmet, and by handing out googly eyes to my rowing teammates.

Apparently the day is now Intergalactic.

comments

High-speed, low-budget [status]

2026-04-06T00:39:49Z

Saturday morning, we put our main docks in. There were many uncertainties, but everything worked out really smoothly!

After that all wrapped up, I spent some additional time at the boathouse tidying a few things up and repositioning Petrichor where she lived last year. The spot where she lived for the winter was NOT ideal, it was slightly too exposed to the rain and snow and she filled with water.

In the afternoon I managed grocery shopping and then made a big batch of cheesy polenta to go with black beans and other things. It will never not be funny to cook polenta for humans to eat, after that year where I spent months cooking polenta for ants to eat.

Sunday was a Day of Many Small Chores. I fixed my safety donut so it can go back on my bike. I whipped the ends of two pieces of rope so they can go be Petrichor's ropes. I harvested worm dirt out of the worm bin. I FINALLY finished sanding the next set of oars and put primer on them. I put buttons back on a shirt. Then I cooked English Pea Pancakes with Colorful Vegetable Saute.

The cats enjoyed lots of catio time after I finally figured out where George had been squeezing out. Shortly before I had to bring them in for the day today, I went out and observed George up on the wood ledge above the catio door. He is clearly looking for other devious ways to get out. Thankfully when he gets out he never goes far, and he often flops over and shows me his belly.

I'm leading a safety briefing at rowing practice tomorrow, so I'd better get up and make it happen. After that it will be a Day of More Grading.

comments

Bicycle Ponderings [bicycling, work]

2026-04-03T17:03:05Z

1. This past Monday I got a request from a colleague from our School of Business to serve as a third reviewer for MBA pitches from student groups for her class, because the pitches would all be related to bicycling. Since the request was made on Monday and the class was scheduled for that Wednesday evening, I had to figure it might be a somewhat desperate request, so I said Okay.

In general, listening to the pitches was interesting from the standpoint of trying to understand what each team had accomplished up to that point in terms of setting up a (fictitious) bicycle manufacturing business, and what the next aims would be (e.g. scale up production, expand to new markets, improve product quality, improve working conditions). As a mostly science-focused audience member, I was definitely the odd person out; I don't spend much time thinking about quarterly performance indices, market shares, etc. And I'm generally skeptical that the world needs more bicycle manufacturing companies; I think we actually need better repair systems. Still, it's good to foster connections with colleagues in other disciplines.

2. I will bring up this second item on multiple occasions over the upcoming months: this past week I also got asked if I'd be willing to be a speaker for campus Climate Series talks, once again largely because of being the token campus bicyclist.

I've been a bit bummed this spring, because the first 2 of 3 talks in this series happened on evenings when I had scheduling conflicts, and I really wanted to attend them; one talk was about sustainable fashion/textiles, and the other was by a colleague on identifying where and how to put one's energies to work towards climate change mitigation. I'm going to track down the colleague who gave the second talk because I want whatever I talk about to build off of her presentation.

So in the fall, I'll give a talk on climate change and transportation. This is a huge topic, eh eh? And that's why it will probably come up here on multiple occasions between now and when I give the talk. The thing is that I don't want the talk to just be about riding bikes, because of everything we know about the need for systemic changes rather than just individual actions.

But the problem is that a talk about systemic change is going to be a tough sell for a collegiate audience, so I still need to work in the personal narrative, too.

Along with that, I want it to be a well-informed talk. So I have some learning to do (e.g. what do current carbon emissions look like across different transportation sectors? Which sectors will be easier to address? What are the big problems within those sectors? Where are the barriers? And what can/should student-age people do to tackle the changes that are needed? They have the energy and the motivation, and they want guidance!!). If you happen to know of specific resources on the topic, please share.

3. This is kind of related to item #2. Someone was asking me this morning if I plan to go and ride in the Paris-Brest-Paris again. I'm still not sure. However, I do at least feel as though I'm in a different place now compared to where I was in 2022, the last time I started to gear up to go. (the prep needs to start at least a year and a half ahead of the ride) This is literally from a "gear" standpoint: for 2023, I needed to rebuild Froinlavin's wheelset, and I also wasn't confident about things like my choice of shoes and clothing. The preparations for 2023 were such that I finished stitching together certain aspects of my gear the day before the ride began. I *do* know this time that the bicycling and rowing training are adequately compatible with each other, at least.

Right now, while I have some of the major items sorted (new wheels still going strong, *some* clothing matters better sorted out), I do also still have some lingering questions and gear elements to work out: will my newest cycling jacket (MEC one) fare better than the previous one (Showers Pass Elite 2.1, purchased in 2020)? Will I like the newer trunk bag I recently acquired (roomier than the old one)? Should I continue with my platform pedal strategy? (that was the weirdest fatigue element last time around). At least I'll have a chance to test out all three quite soon; I've signed up for a 200k next Saturday.

But is it worth it to jet-set back to Europe again? Should I get more serious about carbon offsets for flying? Do I need to have all the answers? (I mean, I *know* I'll love many aspects of the trip, but I could be doing many other things instead!).

comments

Grading step 1: Clean off my desk [status, work]

2026-04-02T17:32:21Z

It's the much-anticipated first day of a merciful 5-day weekend! I have celebrated by tackling a handful of small projects at the boathouse, and by cleaning off and organizing my desk at work.

I want to be having more coherent and deeper thoughts, but most likely that will have to wait until I'm further into the ~~procrastination~~ grading.

Also, when I woke up this morning, my hip was feeling better, finally. Every year at around this time it seems like I have weird muscular things happen. I should probably start to anticipate the pattern, and try to figure out more preventative stress-management strategies so I can avoid or reduce these crises.

At least my stress isn't as terrible as the stress levels of that one federal official in charge of the contemporary Gestapo of the US of A, who has been hospitalized twice because that stress of that horrible job at that horrible, horrible organization is so bad. Let's just not even go there.

comments