Apparently rich people have discovered buses, reports the New York Times in their hard hitting look at what happens when rich people stop taking planes and start taking buses. Did you know that sometimes buses don't run on time? But that while you are on them you can do other things? Also, they cost less than airplanes! And you can use your laptop THE WHOLE TIME!!!
Hi rich people, glad you've discovered something normal people have known forever. My name is Heather, and I took the bus before it was cool.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Haircut, and a comment on the lighting in cuban restaurants
The combination of lighting in a restaurant and using your computer's LCD as a flash leads to not a great picture, but here it is nonetheless:
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Abbreviated blogging:
So here's what's going on, in digest format:
- this was a tough week. the newness of grad school gave way to the realization that this crap is hard, and there's a lot of it. my study buddies are a great help.
- i need to focus on sleep. when i get anxious, i sleep less, and when i haven't slept enough, it makes me get more anxious.
- i ran this week! god, it feels so so good while i'm doing it, and so achey afterwards.
- i've committed to working for the obama campaign until election day in any way i can, and am working on a cogent statement of why i want him to be our president.
- more than obama winning, i just want there to be an HONEST political discourse. so keep talking to each other, or start the conversation if you haven't yet.
- tomorrow i have a picnic and econ study group!
- i REALLY need to find the good bike light.
Monday, September 08, 2008
grad school and ical
My first week (really, more like three and a half days) of grad school was crazy amazing and overwhelming at the same time. Today I actually sat down and made a chart of deadlines in iCal. The good news: I know when everything is due. The bad news: I have a TON of work to get done.
Coming back to school was a difficult decision for me. In all honesty, I wasn't the world's best student as an undergrad. I pulled off decent grades, but it always involved a lot of gnashing of teeth, a few all nighters, and occasionally getting trapped in a construction site and wiggling through an 8 inch gap in a fence. This time around, I am a lot more focused, but there's still a certain amount of self-doubt lingering about my ability to really hunker down and get work done. Never mind the self-doubt about my ability to consistently show up for an 8 am class two days a week. (Biostats, no less!)
All that said, I'm pretty excited about my classes. And the most reading intense classes are also the two areas I'm most interested in - policy and program evaluation. My research also looks like it's going to be challenging and fun. I'm still waiting to find out if I get an office or not, but in the meantime, the HMP student lounge appears to be sorely under-utilized, possibly because it doesn't have a coffee maker.
Anyway, I'm headed to bed now, although staying on a reasonable sleep schedule is already a challenging area. *sigh*
Coming back to school was a difficult decision for me. In all honesty, I wasn't the world's best student as an undergrad. I pulled off decent grades, but it always involved a lot of gnashing of teeth, a few all nighters, and occasionally getting trapped in a construction site and wiggling through an 8 inch gap in a fence. This time around, I am a lot more focused, but there's still a certain amount of self-doubt lingering about my ability to really hunker down and get work done. Never mind the self-doubt about my ability to consistently show up for an 8 am class two days a week. (Biostats, no less!)
All that said, I'm pretty excited about my classes. And the most reading intense classes are also the two areas I'm most interested in - policy and program evaluation. My research also looks like it's going to be challenging and fun. I'm still waiting to find out if I get an office or not, but in the meantime, the HMP student lounge appears to be sorely under-utilized, possibly because it doesn't have a coffee maker.
Anyway, I'm headed to bed now, although staying on a reasonable sleep schedule is already a challenging area. *sigh*
Thursday, September 04, 2008
bicyclist = whore
So today I was riding my bike from the School of Public Health to downtown Ann Arbor. Stupidly, I used Google Maps to plot out my route, without consulting the Ann Arbor bicycle map. I chose to ride on Huron St., which as it turns out is the only east/west street that is NOT a recommended bike route, and is also under construction.
I am riding in the traffic lane, which I am very much allowed to do as a cyclist. I am following the "as close as is practicable" to the curb standard, and as far as I can tell, there is enough room for a car to safely pass me. In fact, at least two cars passed me in the construction zone. Then a car pulls up behind me, and I hear yelling. They repeatedly curse at me and call me a whore, yell at me that there is no bike lane and scream that I should be riding on the sidewalk. I figure there's no way someone is intimidating me off the road, but they keep at it for six or seven blocks. Finally, when I see a safe curb cut at an intersection, I ride up onto the sidewalk. They call me a whore again and speed past.
It bears noting that I am a VERY experienced bicyclist, and not easily intimidated. I have ridden thousands of miles, been cat called, been buzzed by trucks and SUVs at high speed, ridden on the FREEWAY, and had things thrown at me. None of them have ever left me as rattled as this encounter did. I was honestly afraid they might try to harm me if I didn't get off the road.
As it turns out, Michigan doesn't actually have a safe passing law for a car overtaking a bicyclist. Arizona's three foot law and the high visibility of cycling seems to have created an atmosphere where everyone implicitly knows that bicycles belong on the road. Here in Ann Arbor, the city actually occasionally reroutes bicycle traffic onto sidewalks. I think sidewalk riding is SO dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists, that I have entirely ignored those signs. The sidewalks they are routed onto are cracked, have dangerous grades, and apparently are not maintained in winter. This is what passes for a bike path here?
I am riding in the traffic lane, which I am very much allowed to do as a cyclist. I am following the "as close as is practicable" to the curb standard, and as far as I can tell, there is enough room for a car to safely pass me. In fact, at least two cars passed me in the construction zone. Then a car pulls up behind me, and I hear yelling. They repeatedly curse at me and call me a whore, yell at me that there is no bike lane and scream that I should be riding on the sidewalk. I figure there's no way someone is intimidating me off the road, but they keep at it for six or seven blocks. Finally, when I see a safe curb cut at an intersection, I ride up onto the sidewalk. They call me a whore again and speed past.
It bears noting that I am a VERY experienced bicyclist, and not easily intimidated. I have ridden thousands of miles, been cat called, been buzzed by trucks and SUVs at high speed, ridden on the FREEWAY, and had things thrown at me. None of them have ever left me as rattled as this encounter did. I was honestly afraid they might try to harm me if I didn't get off the road.
As it turns out, Michigan doesn't actually have a safe passing law for a car overtaking a bicyclist. Arizona's three foot law and the high visibility of cycling seems to have created an atmosphere where everyone implicitly knows that bicycles belong on the road. Here in Ann Arbor, the city actually occasionally reroutes bicycle traffic onto sidewalks. I think sidewalk riding is SO dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists, that I have entirely ignored those signs. The sidewalks they are routed onto are cracked, have dangerous grades, and apparently are not maintained in winter. This is what passes for a bike path here?
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
First Day of School!
Today was my official first day of school. It began with me waking up at 6:20 am when it was still dark out. Apparently it gets light late when you live on the western edge of your time zone. I had, I kid you not, programmed my coffeemaker the night before and laid out my clothes before bed. So I woke up this morning, put on my clothes, drank some coffee while I threw breakfast together, and put some coffee in my thermos for later. At this point, I am running about a minute late. It's 7:11. My bus comes at 7:14 and is about two blocks away. So I grab my bike and hop on, ride to the bus, and make it with time to spare.
I load my bike up on to the front rack, get on the bus, and happily settle into listening to NPR. I get off the bus and go into class, only to discover that apparently in Michigan, classes start 10 minutes after the actual starting time to allow people time to get to class. It is at this point I open my bag and notice there is a bike lock in there. "Hmmm...that's curious...OH CRAP!"
Yes, I left my bike on the front rack on the bus. Luckily I have AATA's phone number programmed into my phone. I give them a call, describe the bike and the bus I was on, and they confirm it's at the Blake Transit Center. I tell them I can come by later in the day to pick it up.
I dash back into Biostats before anything has really happened. Biostats is uneventful. I'm taking the slightly more advanced class, which hopefully will keep me interested in the material. It looks like the first third or so will be review, which I need badly. SPSS is the statistical software package. Not my favorite, but probably won't kill me.
Next I go fill out my employment paperwork and find out where exactly my financial aid money is (answer: no one knows). I grab another coffee and head back into class.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have the unfortunate schedule of 11:30 to 2:30 straight. First Econ, which terrifies me. We talk about indifference curves. I felt pretty indifferent. Then my Health Services System class. It's the class that collects tiny details about health services! I'm SO excited.
Once that was over, I went and picked up my bike. I got thai at "No Thai", whose incomprehensible naming story can be found here, and did some shopping at the food co-op in Kerrytown. Headed home on the bus, watching my new secret shame, "The Hills".
Overall, a good first day. I am still totally wiped out every day by 3:30 or so, but I think it will get better. I'm just trying to balance getting stuff done with getting enough rest to stay calm and relaxed. Time will tell how well I'm doing.
I load my bike up on to the front rack, get on the bus, and happily settle into listening to NPR. I get off the bus and go into class, only to discover that apparently in Michigan, classes start 10 minutes after the actual starting time to allow people time to get to class. It is at this point I open my bag and notice there is a bike lock in there. "Hmmm...that's curious...OH CRAP!"
Yes, I left my bike on the front rack on the bus. Luckily I have AATA's phone number programmed into my phone. I give them a call, describe the bike and the bus I was on, and they confirm it's at the Blake Transit Center. I tell them I can come by later in the day to pick it up.
I dash back into Biostats before anything has really happened. Biostats is uneventful. I'm taking the slightly more advanced class, which hopefully will keep me interested in the material. It looks like the first third or so will be review, which I need badly. SPSS is the statistical software package. Not my favorite, but probably won't kill me.
Next I go fill out my employment paperwork and find out where exactly my financial aid money is (answer: no one knows). I grab another coffee and head back into class.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have the unfortunate schedule of 11:30 to 2:30 straight. First Econ, which terrifies me. We talk about indifference curves. I felt pretty indifferent. Then my Health Services System class. It's the class that collects tiny details about health services! I'm SO excited.
Once that was over, I went and picked up my bike. I got thai at "No Thai", whose incomprehensible naming story can be found here, and did some shopping at the food co-op in Kerrytown. Headed home on the bus, watching my new secret shame, "The Hills".
Overall, a good first day. I am still totally wiped out every day by 3:30 or so, but I think it will get better. I'm just trying to balance getting stuff done with getting enough rest to stay calm and relaxed. Time will tell how well I'm doing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)