So far the snow has mostly held off, but we're getting a fairly ferocious winter storm today/tomorrow. It's mostly been my least favorite New England weather- 33 F and raining- blech!
I was all ready to give myself an out. I was either going to walk to the T, or ride to the T and take my bike on the T home. But once I got out, it didn't seem so bad after all- just spitting, not really raining hard.
So next thing I knew I was halfway home.
I just wanted to report that this weather is where my new trench coat excels. It was the perfect warmth, was absolutely waterproof, and covered me to the tops of my kneecaps. The bottom 1/2" of my skirt got damp (although not soaked), and my tights were wet on the tops of my knees, but the rest of me was just fine.
The brim of the Yakkay worked well to keep stuff out of my face as well.
We need a local distributor of Yakkay, because I've had tons of interest in them from people I've met, not just at bike events, but randomly on the street.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Boston Bikes 2011 Update
I arrived a tiny bit late for the Boston Bikes 2011 Update, given by Nicole Freeman, the Boston Bike Czar, and sponsored by Livable Streets. To get to the BPL from the financial district, you either have to go through chinatown on some gnarly streets, or have to deal with the Boston Common/ Public Gardens which are ringed by 3 and 4 lane roads which are under capacity, and thus fast moving. They also have funky one-way issues. I normally avoid Beacon Hill (because of the hill- I dislike climbing with traffic behind me which can't pass safely) and do a reverse S, following Tremont to Boyleston, then turning right on Charles, then left on Beacon, then left again at Arlington, thence to Comm ave and the bike lane. This is pretty icky in a couple of spots, merging with fast moving traffic. Charles st between the park and the common is just begging for a parking protected two way bike lane, and seems to have lots of space for it.
I hear rumors of it continuing down Charles to MGH, which would be awesome.
Today though I took the "easy" way, by getting off my bike in order to make a "left" turn" at Charles, cutting across this plaza to Park Plaza St. I saw 2 other bikers doing the same thing (they just rode on the sidewalk) so it seems to be a fairly well known cut-through, and one that I think the city should consider formalizing. I was kind of counting on Mass Bike providing a bike valet, so I was in trouble when I realized that they weren't this year, and that every available post in a 2 block area was taken. I followed the lead of some other guys and pushed some planters away from a post to get within locking distance
Turns out I hadn't really missed anything, because the Mayor couldn't make it, and his deputy spoke instead. I won't recap the whole thing, except to note a couple of points.
1) The place was packed-probably 500 people? Standing room only at the back and nary an empty seat. People were jazzed,with standing ovations for a couple of things (Mass Ave bike lanes and the Lifetime achievement award for Jessica (formerly Doug) Mink.) Jessica made a nice speech about how every 5 years she goes on a bike ride that's her age in miles, and that the difference has been dramatic lately.)
2) I found it awesome that if you looked at the crowd sitting in the auditorium you would not have known it was a "bike" crowd. It could have been an author reading or a history lecture. People were there in normal clothes, and it was a pretty diverse group in terms of age and gender. It changed a bit when people left and donned helmets and yellow jackets, but still.
3) I think that Boston Bikes has done an amazing job of outreach to inner city communities in building bike ridership. Dramatically subsidized Hubway memberships, hands-on programs in schools, the "roll it forward" program to fix and donate bikes, and the farmer's market clinics developed with Boston Cyclist's Union. I know that DC and Portland have had issues with bicycle infrastructure being equated with gentrification, but it makes a lot of sense for dense, low income and transit underserved neighborhoods to have lively bike cultures, and I think that these projects, combined with improvements in infrastructure could help make that happen.
4) Steve Miller of LSA made a great point, that to be a truly great bike city, the city will need not just to accommodate bikes, but to prioritize them.
A couple of suggestions I would (and did) make.
The city is moving towards centralized pay station parking, which I think is great as it allows them to adjust rates to suit demand. However the bike parking problem at the library is partly because all the meters were removed. I hope that the city will put in a standing program to convert a certain number of meter posts per block to bike parking, either by adding rings, or removing the cores and leaving the heads. We've been lucky with snow this year (might change tonight) but I wish the city would develop a list of "priority" bike lanes in parallel with the "snow emergency" routes. This metric would be useful to organize maintenance, snow clearing, enforcement of parking violations etc, and I think would be helpful in making the DPW think of bikes as transportation, not just recreation.
After the talk, livable streets invited people to gather at a bar across the way. This was a lot of fun, because I got to hang out with Bikeyface, Megan (from Boston 3 speed club/ Boston Retro Wheelemen) and Josh from Boston Bikesafe. We did some planning and scheming, and I'm hoping we'll have some progress to report soon on a new bike social event...
And although it seems mundane in a week where I'm going to two of them, I guess I'll call this Utilitaire 12.8 (community meeting) and yet another of the ones completed after dark. Riding after dark being a fact of life this time of year.
I hear rumors of it continuing down Charles to MGH, which would be awesome.
Today though I took the "easy" way, by getting off my bike in order to make a "left" turn" at Charles, cutting across this plaza to Park Plaza St. I saw 2 other bikers doing the same thing (they just rode on the sidewalk) so it seems to be a fairly well known cut-through, and one that I think the city should consider formalizing. I was kind of counting on Mass Bike providing a bike valet, so I was in trouble when I realized that they weren't this year, and that every available post in a 2 block area was taken. I followed the lead of some other guys and pushed some planters away from a post to get within locking distance
 |
| I put them back when I left :) |
I also "had" to double back to check out a nice looking vintage DL1 parked in the packed bike rack.
I've only seen one other ladies' one (Velouria's) out and about. This one looks like it's in really great shape.
 |
| Typography makes it look like a contemporary of Minerva (early 70's) |
 |
| This is how Gilbert's vintage Steco rack was supposed to attach- to the seat stays. Note rear mounted generator, which I suspect is non-functional because of the battery lights front and back |
 |
| They need Koolstop pads! And I wonder how the hung basket works with the rods |
1) The place was packed-probably 500 people? Standing room only at the back and nary an empty seat. People were jazzed,with standing ovations for a couple of things (Mass Ave bike lanes and the Lifetime achievement award for Jessica (formerly Doug) Mink.) Jessica made a nice speech about how every 5 years she goes on a bike ride that's her age in miles, and that the difference has been dramatic lately.)
2) I found it awesome that if you looked at the crowd sitting in the auditorium you would not have known it was a "bike" crowd. It could have been an author reading or a history lecture. People were there in normal clothes, and it was a pretty diverse group in terms of age and gender. It changed a bit when people left and donned helmets and yellow jackets, but still.
3) I think that Boston Bikes has done an amazing job of outreach to inner city communities in building bike ridership. Dramatically subsidized Hubway memberships, hands-on programs in schools, the "roll it forward" program to fix and donate bikes, and the farmer's market clinics developed with Boston Cyclist's Union. I know that DC and Portland have had issues with bicycle infrastructure being equated with gentrification, but it makes a lot of sense for dense, low income and transit underserved neighborhoods to have lively bike cultures, and I think that these projects, combined with improvements in infrastructure could help make that happen.
4) Steve Miller of LSA made a great point, that to be a truly great bike city, the city will need not just to accommodate bikes, but to prioritize them.
A couple of suggestions I would (and did) make.
The city is moving towards centralized pay station parking, which I think is great as it allows them to adjust rates to suit demand. However the bike parking problem at the library is partly because all the meters were removed. I hope that the city will put in a standing program to convert a certain number of meter posts per block to bike parking, either by adding rings, or removing the cores and leaving the heads. We've been lucky with snow this year (might change tonight) but I wish the city would develop a list of "priority" bike lanes in parallel with the "snow emergency" routes. This metric would be useful to organize maintenance, snow clearing, enforcement of parking violations etc, and I think would be helpful in making the DPW think of bikes as transportation, not just recreation.
After the talk, livable streets invited people to gather at a bar across the way. This was a lot of fun, because I got to hang out with Bikeyface, Megan (from Boston 3 speed club/ Boston Retro Wheelemen) and Josh from Boston Bikesafe. We did some planning and scheming, and I'm hoping we'll have some progress to report soon on a new bike social event...
And although it seems mundane in a week where I'm going to two of them, I guess I'll call this Utilitaire 12.8 (community meeting) and yet another of the ones completed after dark. Riding after dark being a fact of life this time of year.
 |
| I love the rainbow basket under the light wrapped tree- every stationary object in the area had a bike locked to it. |
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wardrobe Malfunction
I wore a new dress to work the other day, and as I was rushing out the door, I realized that there was a lot of open space below the last button on a not terribly long skirt. I looked in vain for a safety pin, and then headed out the door. It's a good thing that the zipper on my Nau trench goes all the way to the bottom of the coat, because when I unzipped when I was almost at work, I realized that the skirt had ridden so high that I could see the nose of the saddle. Not a good look, even with opaque tights.
So I pulled over and zipped back up enough for my coat to cover my legs. Better to be warm than a flasher!
I felt a bit like Angelina Jolie, showing too much leg- my leg being a bit less shapely than hers :) And black tights being more modest! Speaking of which, the funniest of the "Angie's right leg" meme's I've seen:
Think I'm going to sew a couple of quick stitches at the bottom of the hem and make it a more closed hem before I ride the bike in it :)
So I pulled over and zipped back up enough for my coat to cover my legs. Better to be warm than a flasher!
I felt a bit like Angelina Jolie, showing too much leg- my leg being a bit less shapely than hers :) And black tights being more modest! Speaking of which, the funniest of the "Angie's right leg" meme's I've seen:
Think I'm going to sew a couple of quick stitches at the bottom of the hem and make it a more closed hem before I ride the bike in it :)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Getting Back into the Groove
After coming back from a week away, I was greeted with an empty fridge and a smelly compost bin (yuck). And being away from the bike for a week meant I was getting behind on my Utilitaires. Fortunately for purposes of the game, Sunday is part of the week before, so I still had a chance to pull a double and get both 12.6 and 12.7 as I ran my normal errands, even if they weren't terribly exciting categories.
First I went to the grocery store(s). I take my compost to Whole Foods since they make their bins available to the public.
I try not to do it on the weekends, because they get packed and sometimes really grody, but I didn't want to wait any longer than necessary, and fortunately they weren't overflowing.
One cool Whole Foods thing that I keep meaning to blog about is that they have dedicated employee bike parking (visible in the background). I guess anyone could use it, but I suspect that because it's behind the dumpsters, most customers don't seek it out. While I was there, I stopped in and bought ground beef for a giant pot of spaghetti, and a batch of enchiladas.
Next I went to the "regular" grocery store, for sodas and less "whole" foods. I ended up with just a bit more than would fit in my panniers, so I did the same trick I did two weeks ago with "outriggers" to my panniers.
It was fairly windy, and there's one stretch of Green Street (right outside the Green street Grille) which is this crazy wind tunnel- I notice it often, and this day, it was so bad I had to stand up and pedal to keep moving forward in my lowest gear!
When I got home, I turned some of those groceries into pannini sandwiches for the Scientist who was working on a grant. I also started a huge batch of spaghetti sauce with home canned tomatoes. One of the advantages of canning my own tomatoes, dried beans and chicken broth is avoiding BPA can linings. Unfortunately the inner surface of metal canning lids is lined with BPA. Since the food is only in contact with the lids when it's boiling during canning, I think it's probably safer than regular cans, but I'm doing some research on reusable BPA free canning lids, and think I'll probably order a bunch of them for use on pantry staples.
Once the spaghetti was simmering away, I headed out into that wicked headwind to Target, (a store that is not a grocery store) to return a bunch of Jason Wu stuff that I had ordered online and then was too large to fit :( I was riding on autopilot a bit, and ended up on the Home Depot side of the road without thinking about it. Since I was there, I stopped in briefly to get some clips for wiremold. Because you never know when you'll need them right? I couldn't resist browsing the garden center, but honestly it's not THAT warm yet. Last frost here is supposedly 5/3, and we're supposed to get snow later this week.
When I was coming into the parking lot, I passed a guy biking out with a trailer full of building supplies! And here I thought I was (almost) the only one! I rang my bell and waved, but couldn't get the phone out fast enough to get a picture.
At Target I returned stuff, and bought tax software and lip balm. Somehow a bag of Easter candy managed to find its way into my bag too :) and some long lasting lip color, which I'm surprisingly excited about- it's hard to find colors in target-style cosmetics, and I lucked out with this one.
I headed back "inland" through my old stomping grounds in east Watertown, and stopped again at the Star on the Cambridge line to grab a couple more red peppers for snacks at work this week. I neglected to get any pictures, but unlike a month ago, it wasn't totally dark at 5pm! Then home to make enchiladas, and stay up way too late watching the Oscars! I'm going to see if there's anywhere that's still playing Hugo, since the only way to see the 3D is in a movie theater.
12.6 Trip to the grocery store approx 2.3 miles
12.7 Trip to store other than grocery store approx 6.2 miles. Wasn't really dark, but my dynamo lights are always on for extra visibility.
 |
| two bags of bags (stretch plastic that can't go in the blue bins) and one of stinky compost |
First I went to the grocery store(s). I take my compost to Whole Foods since they make their bins available to the public.
 |
| Pretty full, but I've seen worse |
 |
| Bumper sticker in the WF parking lot |
It was fairly windy, and there's one stretch of Green Street (right outside the Green street Grille) which is this crazy wind tunnel- I notice it often, and this day, it was so bad I had to stand up and pedal to keep moving forward in my lowest gear!
 |
| Despite the wind, it's getting warmer, and there are signs of spring in the yard! |
 |
| The Haul |
Once the spaghetti was simmering away, I headed out into that wicked headwind to Target, (a store that is not a grocery store) to return a bunch of Jason Wu stuff that I had ordered online and then was too large to fit :( I was riding on autopilot a bit, and ended up on the Home Depot side of the road without thinking about it. Since I was there, I stopped in briefly to get some clips for wiremold. Because you never know when you'll need them right? I couldn't resist browsing the garden center, but honestly it's not THAT warm yet. Last frost here is supposedly 5/3, and we're supposed to get snow later this week.
When I was coming into the parking lot, I passed a guy biking out with a trailer full of building supplies! And here I thought I was (almost) the only one! I rang my bell and waved, but couldn't get the phone out fast enough to get a picture.
At Target I returned stuff, and bought tax software and lip balm. Somehow a bag of Easter candy managed to find its way into my bag too :) and some long lasting lip color, which I'm surprisingly excited about- it's hard to find colors in target-style cosmetics, and I lucked out with this one.
I headed back "inland" through my old stomping grounds in east Watertown, and stopped again at the Star on the Cambridge line to grab a couple more red peppers for snacks at work this week. I neglected to get any pictures, but unlike a month ago, it wasn't totally dark at 5pm! Then home to make enchiladas, and stay up way too late watching the Oscars! I'm going to see if there's anywhere that's still playing Hugo, since the only way to see the 3D is in a movie theater.
12.6 Trip to the grocery store approx 2.3 miles
12.7 Trip to store other than grocery store approx 6.2 miles. Wasn't really dark, but my dynamo lights are always on for extra visibility.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Mark your Calendars
There are some important public meetings coming up this week for people interested in bicycle infrastructure in the Boston area.
Firstly on the 28th at the Boston Public Library, Livable streets alliance will be hosting the fourth annual "State of the city" bike report by Nicole Freedman, Boston's "Bike Czar". Everyone who bikes in Boston has observed the huge uptick in new bike infrastructure. Show up early at 5:45 for a "transportation community showcase" or just be there by 6:15 for the opening remarks from Mayor Menino. I find it significant that the mayor is showing up to this-he's really put a lot of emphasis on this in the last couple of years. It will be interesting to hear what's planned for the next year/ years.
Secondly, Mass DOT is having a meeting to review the "selected" design that they've submitted to the Feds as part of the Environmental Assessment package. The meeting will be at 7PM March 1st at the Transportation building, 10 Park Plaza There was a committee of stakeholders who came up with a set of preferred alternatives, which were commented on by the public a year ago. Then the State was fairly secretive and very slow in selecting one of those for submittal to the federal government for review. It was just released to the public two weeks ago, and, well, it has its ups and downs.
Some history here, and here
The great news is that Mass Dot's original plan was just to rebuild it exactly as it was, with no improvements for either bicyclists or pedestrians. The current proposal makes significant improvements to the Cambridge bound side, with one car lane, a wide and buffered bike lane, and a 13' sidewalk. There are improvements on the much more used Boston bound side, with a 2' wider sidewalk, and a 6" wider bike lane, but it's not everything that we hoped it would be. There is also a commitment to provide a better pedestrian bridge over Storrow, which will connect to the bridge in a more logical way, and a commitment to widen the bridge once it passes the historic part of the structure (the last 50' which is just a standard highway crash barrier. There will definitely be some pushback on the part of advocates to try to get a wider sidewalk and a narrower roadway. At the moment, Mass DOT seems to be rejecting a single car lane option, and wanting to keep a wider overall pavement surface.
The idea that I support, is to set the sidewalk as wide as possible, since the crash barrier is not moveable until the next time they rebuild the bridge in 75 years. If 2 lanes for cars are currently necessary, then it would be possible to put cyclists on a cycletrack on the sidewalk, and then someday (after peak oil?) convert one lane of car traffic to bike traffic. Currently the idea is to separate the cycletrack with flexible bollards every 20' or so from the pedestrian side. The trick is at the pinch point at the last granite tower, where the shared space would be about 10'8" That's wider than a lot of the Charles River paths, so I don't think it's an untenable proposition, but it will require bikes and peds to courteously share the space, which makes a lot of pedestrians and cyclists nervous.
Faster cyclists than me, would be welcome to take the lane (possibly with sharrows painted in it) if they want to go faster than conditions permit on the cycletrack. At least in the mornings when I'm crossing that way, there is rarely more than 1 lane's worth of cars headed to Boston, so I don't think that taking the lane would be a ridiculous proposition, although I'm not personally comfortable doing it. The problem is that at night there is often backup on the bridge going towards Boston. There's a possibility that this might be improved by a better traffic flow at Charles Circle, but there may only be so much that can be done. I think a more logical way to solve that problem is to create better ways for people to get onto Memorial drive and hence to 93, avoiding the Longfellow and Charles Circle altogether, but that's not really in the scope of this project :)
What do you think of the options? Would you be willing to share a 14' sidewalk/ cycletrack, or would you be more comfortable sharing the road with cars in a 5'6" unbuffered bike lane?
Firstly on the 28th at the Boston Public Library, Livable streets alliance will be hosting the fourth annual "State of the city" bike report by Nicole Freedman, Boston's "Bike Czar". Everyone who bikes in Boston has observed the huge uptick in new bike infrastructure. Show up early at 5:45 for a "transportation community showcase" or just be there by 6:15 for the opening remarks from Mayor Menino. I find it significant that the mayor is showing up to this-he's really put a lot of emphasis on this in the last couple of years. It will be interesting to hear what's planned for the next year/ years.
Secondly, Mass DOT is having a meeting to review the "selected" design that they've submitted to the Feds as part of the Environmental Assessment package. The meeting will be at 7PM March 1st at the Transportation building, 10 Park Plaza There was a committee of stakeholders who came up with a set of preferred alternatives, which were commented on by the public a year ago. Then the State was fairly secretive and very slow in selecting one of those for submittal to the federal government for review. It was just released to the public two weeks ago, and, well, it has its ups and downs.
Some history here, and here
The great news is that Mass Dot's original plan was just to rebuild it exactly as it was, with no improvements for either bicyclists or pedestrians. The current proposal makes significant improvements to the Cambridge bound side, with one car lane, a wide and buffered bike lane, and a 13' sidewalk. There are improvements on the much more used Boston bound side, with a 2' wider sidewalk, and a 6" wider bike lane, but it's not everything that we hoped it would be. There is also a commitment to provide a better pedestrian bridge over Storrow, which will connect to the bridge in a more logical way, and a commitment to widen the bridge once it passes the historic part of the structure (the last 50' which is just a standard highway crash barrier. There will definitely be some pushback on the part of advocates to try to get a wider sidewalk and a narrower roadway. At the moment, Mass DOT seems to be rejecting a single car lane option, and wanting to keep a wider overall pavement surface.
The idea that I support, is to set the sidewalk as wide as possible, since the crash barrier is not moveable until the next time they rebuild the bridge in 75 years. If 2 lanes for cars are currently necessary, then it would be possible to put cyclists on a cycletrack on the sidewalk, and then someday (after peak oil?) convert one lane of car traffic to bike traffic. Currently the idea is to separate the cycletrack with flexible bollards every 20' or so from the pedestrian side. The trick is at the pinch point at the last granite tower, where the shared space would be about 10'8" That's wider than a lot of the Charles River paths, so I don't think it's an untenable proposition, but it will require bikes and peds to courteously share the space, which makes a lot of pedestrians and cyclists nervous.
Faster cyclists than me, would be welcome to take the lane (possibly with sharrows painted in it) if they want to go faster than conditions permit on the cycletrack. At least in the mornings when I'm crossing that way, there is rarely more than 1 lane's worth of cars headed to Boston, so I don't think that taking the lane would be a ridiculous proposition, although I'm not personally comfortable doing it. The problem is that at night there is often backup on the bridge going towards Boston. There's a possibility that this might be improved by a better traffic flow at Charles Circle, but there may only be so much that can be done. I think a more logical way to solve that problem is to create better ways for people to get onto Memorial drive and hence to 93, avoiding the Longfellow and Charles Circle altogether, but that's not really in the scope of this project :)
What do you think of the options? Would you be willing to share a 14' sidewalk/ cycletrack, or would you be more comfortable sharing the road with cars in a 5'6" unbuffered bike lane?
Saturday, February 25, 2012
In his work clothes
Regular readers will know that I'm all about riding to work in your work clothes, and having a bike that allows you to do that. For me, that means that I rely on lots of bright lights and the occasional reflective accessory instead of head to toe fluorescent/reflective stuff.
I've been away all week, testing to see how well my bike-conditioned legs deal with downhill skiing (the answer is quite well). Driving down from the mountain into Denver yesterday, I spied this guy who was riding in HIS work clothes:
I've been away all week, testing to see how well my bike-conditioned legs deal with downhill skiing (the answer is quite well). Driving down from the mountain into Denver yesterday, I spied this guy who was riding in HIS work clothes:
 |
| I'm pretty sure he's a construction flagger |
What I couldn't get a picture of was that he had a bright orange "Stop" sign, with a 3' handle lashed to his top tube, parallel to the rear wheel. He was riding home in his day-glo suit, still wearing his construction hard hat, cigarette in one hand.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Slightly Simulated-(Utilitaire 12.3)
Last week, like most weeks I went to the library. Normally I go on the weekends, but last week I went on Wednesday night because a book that the Scientist had requested had come in.
I'm a library user from the cradle. I swear that I had read every book in the Children's section that had a dog or a horse in it (helpfully noted at our library with a sticker of said animal on the spine) before I graduated to "grown up" books. There wasn't as much of what we call YA then. Watership Down, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, A Swiftly Turning Planet, The Dark is Rising series, The Hero and the Crown. No Harry Potter. No Hunger Games.
The Scientist is more of a book buyer (which isn't bad either, especially for special Science books) but I'm trying to introduce him to the joys of library patronage. He was a little amazed that you could request a book owned by another town 20 miles away on Sunday, and by Wednesday, they send you an email and it's waiting at your home library.
I biked home, and took a detour on the way to the library to pick up his request. While I was there, I hit the "speed read" section which is a great thing that more and more libraries are doing. It's a couple of stacks of high demand books- books that either just came out, or are being featured on all the NPR programs, or are NY Times bestsellers. You can't reserve those copies, you can only keep them for a week, and you can't renew them so that someone else can have a chance to read the latest and greatest next week. I grabbed the latest John le Carre' novel "Our Kind of Traitor." I was on a big le Carre' kick around the time that the movie of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy came out, but a combination of a busy week and a slow start meant I didn't finish it by the deadline, so it was time to take it back. Coincidentally a book I had requested a while ago (REAMDE by Neal Stephenson) had just come in, so I had an extra reason to go in. I'm a big Stephenson fan, the Baroque trilogy are among my very favorite books, and although I heard so- so reviews, I'm sure it will be entertaining at the worst, and thought provoking at the best.
This is where the simulated part of the Utilitaire comes in- Because of the way the controls work, I need an event from last week, but since I can't go back in my time machine to take pictures of last week's trim, I'm photographing the book I brought home THIS week- , you'll just have to trust me that I went by bike last week too!
I'm a library user from the cradle. I swear that I had read every book in the Children's section that had a dog or a horse in it (helpfully noted at our library with a sticker of said animal on the spine) before I graduated to "grown up" books. There wasn't as much of what we call YA then. Watership Down, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, A Swiftly Turning Planet, The Dark is Rising series, The Hero and the Crown. No Harry Potter. No Hunger Games.
The Scientist is more of a book buyer (which isn't bad either, especially for special Science books) but I'm trying to introduce him to the joys of library patronage. He was a little amazed that you could request a book owned by another town 20 miles away on Sunday, and by Wednesday, they send you an email and it's waiting at your home library.
I biked home, and took a detour on the way to the library to pick up his request. While I was there, I hit the "speed read" section which is a great thing that more and more libraries are doing. It's a couple of stacks of high demand books- books that either just came out, or are being featured on all the NPR programs, or are NY Times bestsellers. You can't reserve those copies, you can only keep them for a week, and you can't renew them so that someone else can have a chance to read the latest and greatest next week. I grabbed the latest John le Carre' novel "Our Kind of Traitor." I was on a big le Carre' kick around the time that the movie of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy came out, but a combination of a busy week and a slow start meant I didn't finish it by the deadline, so it was time to take it back. Coincidentally a book I had requested a while ago (REAMDE by Neal Stephenson) had just come in, so I had an extra reason to go in. I'm a big Stephenson fan, the Baroque trilogy are among my very favorite books, and although I heard so- so reviews, I'm sure it will be entertaining at the worst, and thought provoking at the best.
This is where the simulated part of the Utilitaire comes in- Because of the way the controls work, I need an event from last week, but since I can't go back in my time machine to take pictures of last week's trim, I'm photographing the book I brought home THIS week- , you'll just have to trust me that I went by bike last week too!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)