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Archive for August, 2006

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EUREKA, I HAVE FOUND IT!

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006

I must have some good Karma left, since the elusive Box “X” was right in front of the storage unit!  Of course, there are other things already in storage that we “might have liked to have access to” in the next year, but that’s that.  We’ll live with what we’ve got outside the steel box.  My advice to others trying to do this is to:

  1. Label everything in your boxes (we did this)
  2. Use tags to prioritize access to things (we did NOT do this)
  3. Take photos of each archeological layer of your storage unit as you fill it up (Nope)

If you do tasks 2 and 3, then you can tag boxes and containers to stay near the front of your unit.  We just relied on the fact that the last bit of stuff we still have to pack is most of the stuff we may want shorter term access to.  The photos would really help if you absolutely need to get something out.  -R

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CRITICAL FASCISM NYC

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006

IMG_0093

Originally uploaded by Cheryl & Rich.


On Friday Night, July 28th, we visited the gathering and departure of the NYC Critical Mass ride. The police have been cracking down on the monthly peaceful bike rides of coincidence since the Republican National Convention in 2004. They have decided that these bikes a are a threat to the peaceful gridlock, noise, pollution, and aggression that occurs on nearly every block of Manhattan 24 hours a day. No congestion charge and no tolls from the East into the City. So please bring your hummer into the City; we will protect you and keep a clear path so your rims can spin and dazzle or you can valet park on Madison Ave to shop, adjacent to 50 forms of transit.

The riders are now only being arrested if they break laws, but they do, as does nearly EVERY pedestrian in the city on a routine basis.  Why?  Because ALL of the streets are still designed for vehicles first, pedestrians second, and bikes are an afterthought.  The bike lanes in Manhattan are 4-foot “door” zones.  We joke that they should really be called “no bike lanes” Might I note that lower Manhattan is fairly mellow by 8 p.m. on a summer Friday evening, so the cyclists are truly inconveniencing very few of the free loader drivers.

The remaining riders are brave as they are almost all guaranteed to get an expensive ticket this month or the next and most have already had a bike confiscated by the fascist police in the past two years.  The city is also in the process of approving a law that would make any two bikes or pedestrians that break a law together to be in violation of a new “parade” permit law; hence the photo at the top of this entry. 

New York City has a long way to go to provide any equality for bikes and pedestrians ,including the many people who bike despite all the threats against them; including thousands of bike messengers and delivery people who are a vital part of the city’s transportation need.  The crazy thing is that there is no place in the U.S. that could improve and increase bike usage faster than Manhattan (and the boroughs, too) with just a little political will.  Someday it WILL be different, and you can quote me on that. -R

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PACKING IT IN!

Tuesday, August 15th, 2006

All right, yesterday was the big day where we moved 95% of our stuff into a 10 x 15 foot storage unit with the help of “Starving Students”.  Well, I’m not sure that Miguel and Juan were students, but they were two extremely nice, hardworking Hispanic men and had a big truck.   It was hell, and way more work than you ever expect (as any move generally is, unless you get the professional complete move)  Over the past 4 days we have diligently sorted our stuff into 50 boxes that were going to storage and had both created separate containers for our “A” clothes that we might want in the near future, on our trip, or soon after we get back.  We also have a box for stuff definitely going RTW. 

We have kept our computer out, a mattress, some basic kitchen essentials, two lawn chairs, a folding camp table, and still have a smattering of  art on the walls and other odds and ends that will probably add up to two trips in a City CarShare Honda Element (which are amazingly good moving vehicles with the seats removed).

Our glamorous life for 5 days.

 The first issue was trying to park a 30-foot moving truck on a street that has 10-feet between 2 rows of parked cars, one of the narrowest in the city.  This was my first clue that Miguel was a bit of a drama queen, as he made thee situation seem somewhat unworkable.   But after some discussion with our neighbors with 3 cars and a bit of tree trimming (accidental), Miguel made it work.  So we started loading up and Cheryl headed off to work (she is doing a bit of short-term contract work at McKesson), as it seemed things were under control.  We had put stuff not to move in the closest, bathroom or labeled it “NO” if it was not to go.  Or so we thought.    After filling the truck and hearing Miguel state over and over, “Man, you got a lotta stuff”  and me responding “Yeah, but we used to have  a lot more”  I think he was amazed how much stuff came out of our little cottage.   After joining them in the truck (always fun being one of the crew) This of course was after Miguel portended more doom and gloom due to painting awnings blocking the entrance to the storage unit.  We got that resolved in about 15 minutes.  The squatters    OUR SQUATTERS QUARTERS!

Then the major panic set in as we got to up to the storage unit. I forgot to tell him that we already had 20 boxes in there and that there is a big column in the middle!  We opened it and he immediately shook his head and said he didn’t think it would all fit!  Moments of panic, as we had already paid for the unit for a year, and we had no way to get some excess somewhere else.  Luckily, we scratched our heads and started to plot out how we could make this work.  This is where the bonding occurred as we both agreed that we could make it work with some careful planning.   It turns out, Miguel and I shared a gene for special arrangement and it turned into a 2-hour 3D tetris game.  By the way, the best way is to mix boxes and furniture as you go with boxes filling in above the strong furniture and vice-versa for the “light” furniture.  Then jam odds and ends (art work, skis, backpacks, lamps, etc) into the little gaps and high spaces on top, right up to the 8-foot chain mesh roof.   After 2 sweaty hours, things started to come together, and we had managed to fit almost everything into only 75% of the unit, leaving just enough room for the rest of our stuff later (incl. bikes).  No problem, and we both congratulated each other and I paid them (with a nice cash tip) and headed out onto the street with a great feeling of accomplishment (and a vow not to move again in at least 5 years, right!) So I got home, relaxed in our spartan cottage and was looking forward to a much needed shower and change of clothes…..but wait, where is the tall blue plastic storage container containing my “A” clothes?  Not in the bathroom, not in the closets, not downstairs in the basement?  Oh no…no frigin’ way…..yup….it went into storage…..I took photos of most of our rooms as we were prepping for the move (as a digital inventory) and I just looked now and there it is (see below on top of boxes).  I guess it didn’t get into the bathroom or closets prior to Juan starting to move things, as we were negotiating with neighbor to move their cars.   Bugger.Container

                                      CONTAINER “X” ABOVE!

So, it really may be impossible to get this out of unit if it was packed in the back.  I really don’t remember as we had numerous similar plastic containers (this is why I didn’t notice it going into the storage unit) It’s mostly socks and underwear that I need, although there were a few pieces of clothing in there on my RTW packing list.  So I’m heading down to the unit on my bike in about an hour….wish me luck…and pass the ibuprofen.

As for the next trip, we also kept our two touring bikes which we are riding to the Ferry Building on Thursday morning to take the Amtrak California Zephyr to Grand Junction, Colorado.  http://www.trainweb.com/routes/route_05/rg_5old.htm  We plan on visiting Cheryl’s sister and family who live on a very remote ranch up a arid desert canyon north on Debeque.  I am looking forward to seeing them and visiting with our nieces for two days.  They are then going to drop us Sunday morning at the head of Glenwood Canyon, and we are going to ride East over the Rockies for 3 to 4 days to Boulder, CO; where we will stay with Cheryl’s brother, Steve, and his talented wife Claire, who is a professional sculptress (her link).    The whole Brinkman clan will also be arriving and we are all going to celebrate Cheryl’s parents 50th Wedding anniversary.  It’s going to be really nice, as Chas and Helen are a great set of role models on how to be happy for 50 years and beyond together.  As for the bike touring, we are not in prime shape after a hectic time leaving our jobs and 3 weeks of hot travel back East, but we’re determined to give it a go and try to ride up over Vail Pass (10,600 feet) and Loveland Pass (11,900 feet- YIKES).   

 

 

 

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THE LEAST COAST?

Saturday, August 12th, 2006

The transition has begun away from the cubicle (o.k. an office in my case, but cube sounds more like corporate enslavement).  Things look different and my interactions with people feel different.  I think I am becoming more patient.  I hope so.  One year off is a long time and I’m determined to make the most of it.

The past three weeks on the east coast were great.  As we flew in and out of Washington DC on free tickets, we had a bit of a drive up to New England, but no worries, we had the opportunity to stop at Gettysburg, which was interesting, but not a recommended destination on its own unless you REALLY like Civil War History. 

(Read: like to dress up in funny hats, brandish muskets, and reenact the battle monthly)  It was educational and thought provoking in that so many soldiers (57,000 in three days) died IN America; something that has not happened in any of the subsequent wars.    

We then headed up to my old alma mater, Lehigh University, which looked sharp and pristine, even more beautiful than I remembered; with a new fitness center, dining hall, and performing arts center, just to name a few improvements.  Wow, the kids have it good today; ‘cause back in my day we just lugged engineering textbooks up the steep hills of campus for a workout and ate in the plain old cafeteria.  (with no celebrity chef sponsorship)……it was rough I’m telling you..  One thing that that was very disappointing was the fact that they built a 4-story parking garage right behind the beautiful Alumni memorial building and right next to my old fraternity house (We were a mellow bunch of lads, so forget some of the stereotypes about frats, but not all…) The garage ruins the view from the building and forced the removal of some beautiful old trees. 

Enrolment is about the same as when I went in the 80’s, so why the sudden need for parking.  I think people are just getting lazier and more car dependent by the year,….but don’t get me started; you’ll hear enough about cars ruining the world in the next year of our travels, so no worries now.  I bet most kids still walk to classes and such, but I bet car ownership is still way up; people have so much freakin’ money, especially when considering the $40k/year tuition.

[read on]

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