Roadkill I am not! (at least for now...)

So as I said last time, I decided to try this Bike to Work Day thing, although I didn't officially register because there were no "Pit Stops" on my way to work at all & I don't want the cheesey T-shirt & I was going to do it or not based ont he weather forecast. So for the past two days I cleaned my bike, oiled my bike, inflated the tires & attempted to attach the headlamp & tail light. I still need to replace my front tire & probably my back brakes, but it was ready to go. The weather cleared, at least for this morning... if it's too miserable come time to go home, I'll probably just take Metro & bus and come back for my bike later.

Riding to work was a relative success... I got out the door & discovered that my shifter wouldn't work, so I oiled it and fiddled with it and then I only had one of the three gears, so I fiddled with it some more... got it to the point where I had all 3 gears, most of the time, and got going. The headlamp and taillight were useless - the taillight because I dropped it and then it refused to light, and the headlamp because I had to McGuyver it to my bike basket and it kept sliding so that it pointed straight down or straight up. Will figure out a more permanent solution someday. It was a nice ride, pretty relaxing until I got into the parts of G--D--- Alexandria, where they don't allow you to ride on sidewalks & don't provide any bike lanes. Fortunately, that was only a small part of the trip & most of it was spent in neighborhoods and riding with a good view of Cameron Run (a stream). I think it seemed like a good way to start my day, except I'm already getting hungry. DOH! Maybe I'll try to do this more often on nice days. I have to admit, though, that I am a wuss and would not choose to bike commute on cold days, snowy days, humid days, rainy days, etc.... so I think it'll only be an occasional thing unless it ever becomes a necessity. It'll be interesting to see how much my bottom hurts later.... I have a cushy old-school cruising saddle seat with the springs at the back and then have put a gel padded seat cover on top of that, but I still remember hurting after the last time I rode it for any distance. We shall see.

Sailing update: We did get to go out for class last night, and my lessons are now done with... I didn't get failed, I feel pretty comfortable with the boat now, so Yay! I get one free week of sailing to practice with and then I'm going to have to start paying (boo!) Maybe I should just get a boat.... ; )

Step 1 in Quest to Become a Real Pirate

Last year, Jonah & I discovered a number of sailing clubs and marinas that rent sail boats in our area. This is great! We love sailing (he loves sailing, I loved clinging to the side of the boat in fear - going from 125 ft of solid wood around me with high gunwales, i.e the Niagara, to an 11 ft. fiberglass boat is a bit of a change). So with all of this excitement about our new-found resources, we promptly didn't go sailing at all last year.



This year, I decided that I should learn to sail. There was at one point a possibility that we might get a boat, but I think that's on hold. Also, I'll feel more comfortable going out with J for an afternoon if I a) get comfortable and realize that a small boat is NOT out to get me, and b) know what to do in case, heaven forbid, anything were to happen to Jonah while we were out & I'd have to get us back safely.

So here I go, I've signed up for a 10 hour sailing class at the Belle Haven Sailing Marina and it's 4 nights after work of 2.5 hours of instruction per night. It's cheaper to take a weeknight class, and, upon taking it, I think it's better since it *feels* like I get to go out more since I go out four nights instead of two days.

Anyway, so here's how it's been:

• Day 1: Not so sure I like the instructor, though I like everyone else at the Marina. My fellow student & I can hold all of about 2 words worth of a conversation and then end up staring at each other. The 19 ft. Flying Scot feels a heck of a lot more stable than I expected. This is a good thing. We learn rigging and where the sandbar is, and that the Orange Buoy is named "Bob." We switch turns controlling the tiller and the jib sheets while Bill, the instructor, controls the main sheet. Eventually the one on the tiller is put in control of the main sheet two and I quickly discover that my gut instinct, when the boat starts to heel, or lean too far, is to do exactly the right thing to make it capsize. This does not bode well. Lastly, we're called in early because there are large ominous black clouds moving in quickly & I have a minor internal freak out since I don't trust the boat or myself or anyone else in a storm.
• Day 2: I start filled with great trepidation, but I am entertained by the resident dock dog, Hunter. He's a Chow or part Chow and OWNS the dock. He supervises the comings and goings. We get out to the moored boat & rig it & get ready to sail. I don't take out the boom crutch in time, the tiller gets stuck (because the crutch is in the way) and the boat spins around, promptly getting the mooring line tangled around the centerboard. eek. Laura strikes again. We can't raise the centerboard, the rope is stuck on it, we can't push the rope off since it's wrapped too tightly. Eventually dear fellow student determines which in which direction the line is anchored & I figure that if we rotate the boat ( using it like a canoe), we can unwind it. Goodie! It worked. Off we go. I get more comfortable, I'm not trying to capsize us anymore. We get lots of good quality time in, we make it out onto the river channel, learn right of way rules, & channel markers and have a generally successful day.
• Day 3: Beautiful, sunny day. I find myself wishing that my office window did NOT overlook the waters that I sail on. I want to play hookie. We have a new guy on our boat who is joining us since his class before had to be rescheduled due to weather. we practice tacking & jibing and man overboard drills. Bill goes to throw a life vest in the water as man overboard, but knocks his hat in as well. We practice 4 or 5 man overboards until we can successfully retrieve his hat, which seems to be camouflaged with the water (sentimental value?). It goes well enough, I'm feeling pretty darn comfortable, but I'm irritated by the new guy who'd rather talk than pay attention to the sail trim... he's letting the main sail, the one that provides the power, luff, i.e. not hold wind. It's not like you can't tell. The sail makes noise when it luffs. You hear that noise, you look, you take in the sail. It's easy. I got to see an Osprey fly off with a fish too. Yay!
• Day 4: sitting at my computer desk feeling like I'm rolling with a boat. I think it's lack of sleep. Most likely class will have to be rescheduled because of forecasted scattered thunderstorms. Wish the darn thing wasn't so weather-dependent. Will keep you all updated.
  

Maybe if I pass the class I'll get myself a pirate hat & become the fearful "Bloody Binkle of the Potomac"!

Speaking of weather, I am working frantically on getting my bike (I think mine is a 1971 model, same shape & colors though... different seat) in shape for summer with the hope of participating in Bike to Work day on Friday, just to see how that is. However, I don't think I'll do it if it's too miserable. Boo!

I don't think it's enough

$3825.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

So I totally don't think it'd be worth that to sell my dead body to science.... I mean, it wouldn't even cover funeral costs, I bet, and well I guess you'd save money on burial... but daggnabbit, I want to be buried in a grave easily forgotten so I can potentially be rediscovered by archaeologists in a couple of thousand years. So please don't sell me.

Forming a new religion around the internet...

Why would I do this? Because the internet is my SAVIOR!!! I've had rusty looking gunge leaking out of my fridge periodically for close to2 months. I figured it was the drip pan overflowing or something? This morning I found 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the fridge under the veggie drawer.... Issues! So I googled "water leaking into bottom of refridgerator" and foudn a lot of answers to that question stating that there's a drain from the freezer to the drip pan & that it gets clogged & probably needs to be cleaned out. YAY! I disconnected a bunch of sh!# and lo-and-behold, after getting brown/greyfridge splooge all over my arm, I found that my drain part was clogged. I've since openned it up, cleaned it out & confrimed that water is now flowing just fine through the drain. let's hope that does it. : ) I'm also builing a religion around headlamps because I cannot think of a more useful device invented by man.

Unfortunately, I started fixing my fridge be taking apart the freezer compartment (which turned out to be completely unnecessary). On the upside, I got to see what the cooling mechanism of a freezer looks like & it's pretty darn cool...

So that happened.

Well, on to more happy things... Last night was the Glen Echo Evening with Strauss (Viennese Ball). As always, it was fabulous! We got dressed to the nines & had a nice evening, though we were constantly mistaken for Prom-goers over dinner.

I had so much fun & even got to get someone on my dance card for the Polka!!! Even better, he bore a striking resemblance to Steve Martin. Too bad I didn't get a picture... The best pic of the night though, was one I got of J on the carousel...

I don't know about anyone else, but with that profile and the tux and the hair the way it is, he totally looks like a romantic lead from a Jane Austin movie, don't you think??? : ) Maybe it's the side-burns...