Procrastination
As I stay up late, because my sleeping pattern is so messed up I found this site which is pretty interesting. I like it because it combines both aspects of things I'm interested in, science and creativity. Let me know what you think.
Global Consciousness Project And for those of you who have the new OS X from Apple here is a cool widget that relates to that site.
Cool Widget
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Deos Selplnig Ralely Mtetar?
Here is a link for those of you who have noticed (DeCotis the writing major) that I may not be the best speller in the world:
Deos Selplnig Ralely Mtetar?Please read it when you have time.
Thanks
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Cape Cod
We drove to the Cape late Friday in the pouring rain. Since then, there have been two amazing days and two amazing bike rides. Saturday we awoke to a sunny warm day. Sara and I decided to go on a ride. We didn't have a map so we just went where ever. We made our way to a bike shop and had Sara's bike looked at, quickly and for free, before heading to a book store. I bought bike map of the area and we headed out. We went about 15 miles, not too bad. As soon as we got back I really wanted to take the sail boat out so we did. Chan, Derrick, and I decided to go out to some booie. You couldn't see it from shore but we eventually got to it. It was one of those huge, 15 feet high, red buoys that have bells. Anyway, it was a long, cold ride home. Good times.
Today, Sara and I set out fairly early, around 1 :-) We had a plan mapped out and everything. We were going to go down to Woods Hole where the fairy for the Vineyard is. There is a 3.2 mile bike trail right along the shore. Setting out we got to the main rode but took the wrong direction which was okay cause it added about 4 or 5 miles to our trip. Sara is getting really good at ridding we were a pretty sick team! Anyway we finally got there and decided to have lunch next to the ferry. Then the clouds moved in and we headed back, beating the rain. All together the ride ended up being about 34 miles which is pretty decent. It took us exactly 4 hours including lunch.
I have a lot to do before I leave and not much time to do it. I'll write again soon, at least before we leave.
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SUN!
After that little El Niño spell we had the sun has finally come out!! Sara's at my house and we went on a 20 mile ride today around the country side. We stopped by a few friends an family's houses but no one was home. Sara is having bike trouble so I think on the Cape we will ride to a bike place and have them look at it. When in the middle gear in the front it just randomly shifts down. I don't know enough about it yet to figure out what's wrong, but hopefully by August I'll know a lot!
We are leaving to the Cape tonight around 8 and will be there until Monday afternoon or evening. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good rides in, Cape Cod has some really nice bike trails. Not hugely challenging, but beautiful none the less. I will try to post on the cape by using my cell phone as a modem, it has worked before so it will be good to test out before the trip.
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Sara's Blog
Last night I drove to Sara's to surprise her and pick her up to bring her back to my house. We will be spending the weekend at the Cape. My friend Derrick has a house on Cape Cod and it will be one last time for all my friends to get together and relax, party, and hang out before we all go different ways in life. I'm looking forward to it and even getting in some riding on the Cape which is beautiful.
UPDATE: Sara set up a blog for herself and the link is on the right in my link section, so feel free to check it and keep in eye on it this summer. I'm predicting my blog will be more technical sided and hers will be emotional. Yet there will be some of both on each.
Here is Sara's Blog.
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Homework
Well, I received my first assignment today. I'm in charge of finding out about affordable housing issues in the eastern part of Iowa. I'm in charge of Clinton, IA, Cedar Rapids, IA, and Marshalltown, IA. I pretty much need to look up what the demographics are of the area and some affordable housing statistics. Once it's done I'll post it on here in PDF for people to look at if they’re interested.
It's nice to have to learn about another area of the US, I've been with Habitat in upstate NY for 4 years so I know that area pretty well. But already in my research I can tell there are huge differences across the country.
Affordable housing is something that I feel strongly about because I think the home is one of the most important things for a person and family. I think that by working on affordable and decent housing it will be easier to deal with many of the other issues that plague the U.S. and world. A person’s home is there base, where they should be grounded. Many problems can in some way be affected by they type of housing a person lives in. Living in decent housing, in turn creates hope, happiness, and family. Not just family in the literal term family as in the emotional and spiritual term. Family is the support network closest to you.
I've experienced first hand how strongly a new decent house can affect someone. It's a new start on life, a new beginning. Unfortunately, there are even problems with Habitat’s system. Recently, taxes because of increasing property values in some areas are so high that habitat homeowners have to move, because their taxes end up costing more then their 0% interest mortgage payments. It's a new hurdle that many habitat affiliates are dealing with.
I look forward to being able to help with this cause at the same time learning more about it. Not just in my home area but across the entire country.
Feel free to leave comments with your ideas and opinions in the comment section, on this entry or any of my entries.
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Cold Day
It was cold out today but I rode anyway. I decided to go from my house to my friends Josh and Betsy Woodward. They live about 10 miles away. I went a back way to get there which was fairly nice and not too cold. The hills helped keep me warm. I got there and had some lunch then convinced them to meet me at We-lik-it Ice cream! So I rode and they drove. Despite leaving earlier then them they still beat me there. We had some amazing ice cream and off I went, it was getting too cold. It was a pretty good ride, not super hard and I got about 22 miles in I'd say.
Here is an article in a local paper about another girl from CT that I'll be ridding with this summer:
Norwich Bulletin Article.
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48.2 Miles
6:00 am - Wake up and drive my father to the airport.
8:00 am - Get back in the area where my ride starts
9:30 am- Ride leaves...
I decided to go on a ride today with the Willimantic Cycle group. They left from Eastford, CT which is about 25 min from my house. There were two groups, the A group which was going about 50 miles, and the C group which was going about 23 miles. On a whim, and knowing I needed to be push my self went with the A group, 9 lean/mean looking guys. About 2 miles into it we lost one guy who turned around cause we were going to fast. We were left with 8. I prayed I wouldn't be next to drop off. At the start I was more then a little nervous, they were flying and I was falling a little behind.
There was this one awesome guy named Bob who was riding a Mt. Bike if you believe it and he somehow kept up with us. Not with the pack but he was never far behind, just amazing. Mad props to Bob. I eventually got into the rhythm of things and could keep up fairly well. We went on a beautiful ride around Northeastern CT. The only time I had a little trouble was with hills but I would always push my self and catch up with the group.
Group riding is an amazing experience. I learned an enormous amount, and I want to thank Glen for giving me a heads up with a lot of the jargon and riding techniques. We even did a pace line on a back road where there were no cars. A pace line is when everyone follows in a line really close to each other then the first guy moves to the left and the next guy takes over keeping the same pace. The original guy slowly makes his way to the back of the line. It's a great way to keep everyone rested. It was nice to experience and learn firsthand. Here is a link on how to ride in a
pace line.To try to keep this short here's what else happened, I inhaled a huge bug, a dragon fly landed on my leg and amazingly stayed there for about 3 miles, and we finished by going on a little detour past
Renée Zellweger's house. She recently bought a old farm house in the area. It was a beautiful house, but didn't see her.
To sum up we kept about an average 16 mph pace and the whole 48.2 miles took us about 3 hours to ride. Not bad, and I'm glad I not only survived but held my own in the A group. What an amazing experience, I think I'm falling in love with road riding.
PS- I'm more in love with drafting!
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Wow!
Just went on a 30 mile ride with an old friend, Glen Newcombe, from Hampton. He used to be my scout master and is fathers of one of my friends. He is an avid and well seasoned Mt. biker and Rd. biker. All I have to say is boy can that guy ride!
We went out to Woodstock then made our way back through Chaplin and back to Hampton again. I learned a ton about drafting, pedal techniques and hand signals. Drafting can help you 1% per mile per hour. Going 20 mph down a hill the person drafting has a 20% easier time then the first person. So on any flat or down-hills it's very advantageous to draft. Keeping about 6 inches from the person in front of you is best. As the lead gets tired they move to the side and the next person moves up to take point. Very efficient system where everyone wins.
I realized that I should keep a higher cadence (pretty much rpm's for your feet) because it keeps your muscles ready for longer distances and you don't tire out as quickly. I was doing the opposite and making my muscles do a ton of work.
I also learned to stand up and pedal going up short hills rather then downshifting. It uses a whole different set of muscles and helps your attack those short steep hills. After a few times I realized those different muscles still need some work!
Glens getting me in touch with a cycle group in Willimantic and I might do a group ride with them this weekend to learn more and get used to ridding in groups and working together. Hopefully I can go.
Lastly here is a picture of me and my bike after the ride:
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Hampton, CT
Went on a ride around Hampton, not sure how many miles but probably not many. Stopped by and said hi to some old friends which was nice.
It's good to be home. I love the roads around here and the huge beautiful trees I used to take for granted. I miss the comfortable safe feeling of Hampton and the familiar faces. It's good to be back even if it's only for a week. I'll hopefully be stopping by and seeing everyone in the area before I leave.
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Stuff!
Americans have too much stuff! Trying to donate, throw away, and pack all mine! I'll be in CT later this week.
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Graduation
Well I'm done. I have successfully graduated with a degree in Cinema and Photography. I have pictures but I've decided to post them on another site rather then directly here because of space. So here are my
graduation pictures. It went by so fast. I had a wonderful weekend with my family, the DeCotis family, and friends. Everything went wonderfully. It meant a lot for them all to be here and we had some crazy times, as always.
I look back on the 4 years here with gratitude for everything I have gained, I'm not entirely sad I'm leaving. I feel excited about this summer and even more excited about my next step in life and what comes with that. I will truly be on my own and I think I'm ready. This last week was a blur. I now need to focus on packing and training for the bike trip which is in only 16 days, crazy.
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Mail
The weather has been amazing. I went two 10 mile trips in the last two days. I've been doing a lot of Senior week stuff and now my friends are up so I'll probably just be hanging out with them until I graduate. Should be an interesting couple days. Family is coming tomorrow can't wait!
Just thought everyone might want this info. It's information on how to mail letters and packages to me while I'm on my ride. Feel free to send or not to send stuff. I'll also put this post in a link on the right so you can access it later on.
Send mail to:
Bike & Build
Attn: CYCLIST NAME
General Delivery
CITY, ST ZIP
Please mark the envelope or package with "Please hold for pick-up on DATE."
Late mail will be forwarded to the mail drop two weeks ahead. Late mail from the last two mail drops will be returned to sender.
Th - June 9 Scranton, PA 18503-9998
Th - June 16 Youngstown, OH 44501
Th - June 23 Lafayette, IN 47901
Th - June 30 Marshalltown, IA 50158
Th - July 7 Valentine, NE 69201
Th - July 14 Powder River, WY 82648
W--jul.20 Ashton, ID. 83422
W - July 27 Superior, MT 59872
Th - Aug 4 Rockport, WA 98283
Thanks! 3 days until I graduate!
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Fountain!
Happy Mothers Day and Happy Birthday Lin!
I jumped in the fountain yesterday and it was awesome! It was cold but a lot of people were there and it was cool to hug and high five people in celebration of four years here. After that cold and wet, I drove with Decotis to Penn Yan, NY where my friend Chris lives and we partied there as a kind of graduation celebration with his friends from home and Ithaca. It was awesome, we even stayed in a little cabin he has on some land and had a bon fire.
Today Bill Kern and I went on a bike ride to water falls near here, it's 215 feet and is the highest in the northeast. Pretty amazing, I'll post the picture but my camera battery died. It was about 23 miles and it took us about 1:30 hr to ride it. The only problem on this beautiful day was the 20 mile an hour head winds. Insane, some points it's like we were not even moving. My first and best experience drafting was today. It was amazing the difference it makes. Into the winds I would have to pedal like crazy and Bill would be behind me just gently pedaling. Luckily we would switch off. But I'll keep drafting in mind this summer when I need a break. Hope everyone had a good weekend.
P.S.- I received a B in 20th Century European Art, Few!
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Large Bass
So today's our fountain day, in which all the seniors jump in our school fountain to celebrate the fact that we are done. Anyway I was trying to be a bunch of large fish to put in the water to freak everyone out. I called two fish hatcheries yesterday and one said I could buy 9-11 trout for $2.50 each, an amazing deal, but he wasn't open today. That would have been perfect, I would have gotten about 20 of them! The second place I called said I would have to get a min. of 25 pounds of fish at $1.99 a pound, do that was out. Should have planned earlier.
The reason why I couldn't pick up the fish yesterday when I called was because I went on a ride. In two hours I rode 26.5 miles. It was an amazing ride. The weather was perfect, sun shinning, not to hot, no rain. I went with my friend Dave who's a fellow photo student. It was a pretty great ride that ended with a 4 mile down hill where I reached an amazing 40 miles per hour. During the trip I found out where the golf course is my friends want to go to, the place where my parents are staying for graduation, and a new state park with an amazing waterfall. As amazing as the ride was I'm honestly a little sore today, but it was all worth it.
P.S.- I got an A- in my Physics of sound class! Hope the Art history courses end in a similar fashion.
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Done!!!
So yesterday at exactly 5:20 pm I was officially done with College. I also think I did really well on all my finals, here's hoping. I have nothing left to do. I'm done! I want to first start by thanking my family for giving me such an amazing and beneficial experience. I know that I have grown immensely and learned a tremendous amount in my four years and for that I am thankful. Love you guys! Grad school is probably in my future but for right now I'm just going to enjoy the fact that I'm done. I also want to thank all my friends that have been with me during my time here and from home. It's amazing to keep friendships going and there are so many benefits from knowing so many wonderful people, thanks guys. I mostly want to thank DeCotis because she has been and still is one of the most important people in my life. I look forward to taking on the trip across the country with her.
A funny thing happened yesterday before my last exam. I was waiting in line to get a bagel at our school pub and the President of our school cut in line to buy something. It was just a funny way to end four years here. I just laughed to myself.
Hopefully I'll be going on a bike ride today it looks wonderful out and I look forward to taking a long relaxing ride. I'll let you know how it goes.
Now I have to go return 14 library books so they give me my actual diploma.
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Weather
The weather hasn't been the most cooperative recently for riding. I know I'll be riding in the rain over the summer but I'll wait until then to experience that.
It was semi nice yesterday so Sara DeCotis, who I refer to as Decotis for all of you that don't know, went for a short ride. She hasn't had much time recently so we just wanted to get back into the flow of things. We decided to do a small loop and then hit this really steep but relatively short hill. We make it to the top and decide to head down. I lead. I fly down it and get to the bottom where I catch my breath and look back. Decotis is no where to be seen! I start freaking out and begin to ride back up the hill, I'm in the hardest gear so it takes me awhile to get there. I see her emerge from what looks like the woods. She seems okay.
What happened was she has really small hands so when we started flying down the hill she wasn't comfortable enough because she felt like she couldn't brake hard enough to stop or slow down so she headed up a side road to slow to a stop. We figured out if she holds the lower part of her handle bars it's very helpful and we continue on our way.
Okay blog updates. I set it up so I can call a number and leave a voicemail which gets posted to my blog, so if I'm feeling it and I'm at the top of the rockies I can call and share that experience with everyone so keep an eye out. You just have to click it and it opens as an MP3, if you have trouble try downloading Quicktime from http://www.apple.com/quicktime
I also set it up so I can just send an E-mail to an address and it will post it, like from my phone as a text message. So if it's a short message that's why. I also added an RSS feed if you know what that is you can use it. For everyone getting Tiger Apples new OS Safari will have built in RSS support! Let me know if my blogs are too long.
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