Hi,
So my car gave me a wake up call.  Had issues with the front wheel.  This is actually nice though because I’m able to look to the future and force the $1800 that I could put into the car in the next year… So I’m going to sell it.  *tear* 

That’s not the point.

The point is, I have  been more active, joggin around with the soccer ball, biking to and from close places.  And I endevored to bike again to work today!  It took me only 30 minutes this time to bike over.  I have more of a handle on down shifting etc. and my legs are more in shape.  It was pretty neat!   Being the summer and all though, it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like biking home at say… 2pm.  Not looking forward to it. 

So, because my car has issues and has the doughnut on the road, I’m hesitant to drive a lot on it.  Thursday and Friday… it’s supposed to be say, 90 degrees.  And like around 2pm is the hottest part of the day.  Yipee??   So that will be interesting.  But I’m armed with sunscreen and I probably will Not be wearing my sunshall.  Domas. 

So.  That is it.  I’ve noticed this summer that my apartment is way far away from my parents (who I do spend and would like to spend time with) and other things on the west side are not near me.  Like 12 miles expressway driving not near me.  So in an endevor to leave less of a carbon footprint, I’m looking for a place that will bring me closer to the little trips (the stores, the friends, the parents, etc) and sadly it’s at the expense of being close to work.  1.2 mile difference up to 7.9 miles total to work.  But it makes sense.

seriously it does.  I have makes and radial circles from the spheres that I enjoy being in in this city and greater metropolitan area and where all my circles meet is in this place that puts me a little further from work and closer to people.  I did my internal homework of why I would be moving, what’s wrong with this apartment (it’s a great 1 bedroom seriously, month to month, I like it a lot - space, storage and distance are the issues) and did my external homework of what I want to move to, where would be ideal and I scored the area looking for possible apartment complexes.  My sister has chuckled at my geekyness because of this.  It’s great.  So there.

I will write again about a really amazing building.  I like the concept and the execution of it.   but I’m out.

Just like I said it would be.  Life goes easy on me, most of the time.

Ooooo, if you can get that quote, you’ll be in great standing.  But!  What is happening like I said it would is this!!  I just biked 6.7 miles (yes, I google mapped it) to work this morning.  I left super early to make sure I had enough time to cool down and prep and be all set up for work etc.  But I did it!!  I got on my bike at 5:38am this morning and got off it and locked it up and took the front wheel off by 6:14am.  Wow!!  

Its surprising the hills you Don’t notice when driving.  And I definitely felt the weight of my backpack about halfway through.  The real kicker is going to be biking home today when everyone is awake and out of school.  yippee?  Hopefully my legs won’t die and fall off of me.  We’ll also see how I do on wednesday biking to work.  Tomorrow i’ll have a much needed break and have appointments to go to so I’ll need to drive.  But!  my quest has begun.  I didn’t die.

Also, because it has been almost a year’s hiatus from this blog thingy…
read :Animal Vegetable Miracle by Kingsolver and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen.  Two really well done books.  Makes you think twice on what you’re eating, where it’s coming from and what changes you can make.

My CSA share that I’m splitting should be starting soon.  With the increase in gas prices, I think this will help me out a bunch. 

I’m exhausted, must go on working.  Enjoy!

It’s called slow down my schedule and plan for some exercise

Hi, it’s now spring 2008.  I fell off the planet for a long time.  I don’t work in the city anymore, I’m up in a northern suburb.  But I live in the city now!  which is cool.  it’s a nice house, nice apartment.

And gas prices are rising.  Rising like crazy.  I “overheard” someone on facebook last month writing on their brother’s wall about wanting an SUV and everything but sadly reconsidering due to gas prices.  I wanted to yell.  I think SUV’s are dumb for about 90% of the owners.  You live in suburbia, you go to blan job about 10 miles away… seriously, you don’t need an SUV.  I have a friend that yells at people in their SUVs when he’s driving.  I agree!!!!

So now that I have seen my first gas price sign that says 4.099 for super duper gas, and because my boyfriend has braved the biking to and from our apartments (probably 7ish miles) and figured out it takes about 40-50 minutes, I’m making this statement (and hope that I have the spine to stick to it)

$4.00 a gallon for unleaded and I swear on my life (and death because I’m really out of shape and anything I do is like 5-7 miles away from me) that I will bike to most places: i.e. work and church and stuff.  because I don’t want to “afford” $4 for 87 gas.  and I don’t want to budget for it because it’s out of control and I’m going to stop supporting Gasoline.

I won’t necessarily agree that the prices are out of control and need to be lowered. there could be a strong argument for that because its the fuel we use for everything in our Global market.  But I say it’s out of control because it’s a substance, a fuel that we’re dependent on.  and in this global supply and demand chain that’s what we get when things go crazy, higher prices.  So in leu of the commanlity of alternative energies (yes plural on purpose) I’m going to make my own alternative energy when my spending on gas is toooo much.

So, $4 for the low grade stuff and I’m off to saddle sore land!!!

i was hanging out in Boulder Coffee on Alexander St in Rochester NY before a meeting, and some guy did the intrusive-i-want-to-talk-to-strangers thing they do. I remember doing this in college, or the first few soccer practices. You find something small you can make a comment on to get their attention and then you’re in. He did that about computers (i’m on my mac) but I didn’t mind. We started chatting and this man, Neal, has a lot of ideas about how to change Rochester. To work with what it has and focus it so we can inspire ourselves. He wasn’t too crazy and not one of those people that will bulldoze you over to keep talking to someone, anyone.

It was actually pretty cool, and obviously interesting, I love hearing about Rochester and we were on the same side of the fence. He was talking about stuff, that i want to make an analogy for. You know when you see a person, and they’re obviously oblivious to a lot stuff that’s amazing about them, and they’re all down and trying as best they can with their oblivion to fix themselves. They’re brushing their hair, and washing their face and stuff. But you look at them and you see that they were the foundation for so many things outside of themselves, this would give them a confidence, a better posture and a self inspiration to put the sparkle in their eye. and this would help them to brush their hair, AND get a flattering hair cut, and would have them wash their face, and make sure they comfortable with their internal which makes their external shine…. I hope that makes sense.

Rochester NY, we’ve got Kodak (the sadly shrinking yellow box) but it’s still alive! And they fueled the personal camera phenomena that we don’t even blink at anymore. They helped fuel Hollywood (with film) and they helped make Rochester HUGE!! I recently read an article about how there are lots of businesses around Kodak Park, and i can just see it when i drive by Kodak Office downtown, these businesses are suffering. When Kodak was thriving, these businesses thrived because employees had money and hope and would go out and spend the money. one car dealership would sell cars to these employees. and these employees would buy new cars just because they could. (that in itself is pretty messy, but we won’t get into that)

Rochester, NY has Susan B. Anthony. sadly in one of the shady neighborhoods of Rochester now, that neighborhood and larger area used to thrive. **disclaimer** this is nostalgia path. i know that neighborhoods fluctuate and they get better and they get worse, but we also have a certain amount of influence on that… it’s called preservation**** Susan B. Anthony was a major major influence.

Rochester, NY has Xerox. hello?? another major competitor and great influence currently and past on technology. Let’s tap into this. with Kodak shrinking, Xerox is a major employer of Rochester.

Rochester, NY has Fredrick Douglas. another major player in history. We’ve got many famous historical people. I think this could inspire a lot. it could also be really hokey and just a name if used incorrectly.

Rochester NY has amazing progressive institutions. RIT, UofR… and a handful of other colleges.  U of R is always getting lots and lots of press, and they’re doing some really amazing stuff…. or so i’m told :-D  tee hee.

But there’s a lot of history and culture in this town that we need to tap into.  There used to be a subway.  It’s the coolest “black market” place to visit.  and by black market i mean underground.  i take this term and it’s definition from the way we use it in my church.  There are sanctioned small groups, and then there are the organic, outside of the organized structure.  The latter is the “black market” groups.

We’ve got subways, we’ve got a river going through the center of our city, and we’ve got a canal running along the lower portion of the city.

Let’s start using what we have and thinking outside the box.  forget looking into the box and seeing if we can get anything new that is outside of Rochester to inspire us.

I have touched on some of this stuff before, and even brushed up against it previous when i had 4 things i just touched upon.

So here we go, I’m writing from notes i took on a paper plate.  I almost prefer writing on unconventional things than on a legal pad of paper with a pen.  well, I generally always write with a pen.

I know when i initially came home from college and started looking to create my own community and find friends and people with common interest, it was difficult.  I was baffled at, when  i sat down and fully thought about it, where in the hell i was supposed to meet these "like minded people".  I thought about the old days of a small town and how you could run into people at the grocery store, and see them on the street later, and run into them at the bank or post office, and then see them again on sunday at church or at a friend’s party.  Now granted… this is a small western town idea that i have seen in TV shows and movies.  Lord only knows if it really existed, but i like to think it did.  And I like to believe that this sort of community also existed in cities.  People didn’t have the ability to cover as much geographical distance and so would stay within a certain radii as they went about their business.  *side note*  there are always pluses and minuses when it comes to innovation and new technology, the car/train/airplanes are great, but they separate us.  computers and cellphones are fabulous, but they isolate us.  But these are highly innovative and great advances… it’s the nature of the beast**  So to continue… I entered my suburban lifestyle living with my parents almost a year ago and struggled with the concept of where i was supposed to come up with people to have relationship and community with because as a human, that’s what i crave.  (which ties into a lot of what i’m learning and reading in Searching for God Knows What by donald Miller)  So i thought, well there’s bars and coffee shops, and church and my job… and my family.  But realistically, my job was very isolated, i don’t like the bar scene, I have no intention of approaching people at a coffee shop, and my family had limited connections, it was their friends from their interests…  so there really was no place to meet people except at church.  So that’s where i started.  But i think that is a sad sad state of affairs.  the ability to find community is slim and hard.  and making friends is a difficult task to begin with, and now we have gotten to a point where it is even harder.  Do you know your neighbors?

So that was one point.   another one is something i may have forgotten what i meant.  *looks at plate*  all i have written down is "the city community".  I’ll go with this one where i’m at right now.  I think there is a lot of potential for the city community.  I think there is so much benefit in investing in the area where you live, in getting to know your neighbors, being involved in your area.  It gives back to the city, it keeps areas in better repair, and it shows people that we care about the area around us, the public space and that it deserves respect.  I know it’s like throwing a stone in an ocean in hopes of creating a dam.  but i think it’s possible.  There’s something about seeing people on their porches, walking the streets, and hanging around outside that us suburban folk have forgotten.  These actions mean that the neighborhood is safe, it’s taken care of in whatever capacity the residents can.  When people are out and about thei’re looking after each other, they’re aware of the changes and happenings of their neighborhood and their outside of their own head.  Now granted this is very idealistic and not true for probably 25% of the people out.  and there’s the issue of loitering and "idle hands becoming devil’s tools" but there’s always a cost/benefit ratio that is present.  In the suburbs, people have enough yard space and that they’re more isolated and introverted.  they don’t have ot interact with people around them.  this affords some sense of security but it also isolates people.   so choose what’s more important to you and do it.    Yay for hitting two points in one.  my third point was the “porch monkey/ saftey” issue.  When i get my house, i’d love to hang out on the porch and watch my neighbors go by.  Because if they see you around and become accostom to you then they can watch your back persay.  When i go and visit the co-op, it makes me laugh and feel almost more comfortable, one of the neighbors knows me because my car is beat up like hell, and they’ve watched it get all beat up.  So they recognize me… i feel accepted almost.

My fourth point in this crisis was just an introspective look at how i would train myself to become an urbanite and become comfortable doing community and being around and involved in the neighborhood as a suburbanite.  How does this transition occur, is it easy?  I know initially i was apprehensive to tool around the area, but my friend, who introduced me to the co-op and got me comfortable in the area, doesn’t really have a cautious sense of feeling unsafe or truely worrying about it, so i was a little more willing to just move around and tool around with him, and then i grew comfortable in the neighborhood.  it’s curious watching boys’ security and comfort in an area vs. female security, caution and comfort in an area.

I also somewhat hit on the point of how technology is aiding in the creation and destruction of community.  I know a number of people that would have never found the co-op that i hang out at, without the internet and everything, and many people passing through using the co-op as a hostile would have never been introduced, met or helped out without technology.  But it also serves as a tool to isolate us and seperate us.

This point i’m stealing more from my friend who feels passionate about the crisis of community .  The rate of change in our socitey is soo fast and frequent that at this point, i don’t think we have time to process them or react to them with enough time and thought to process what the consequences might be and how this will affect the future of our lives etc.  I mean how is the construction of new office space in the city and outside of the city affecting our neighborhoods?  how is the continual vacant office and store fronts in our city coupled with the new construction affecting us.  and How is the destruction of vacant property affecting both pro/con the neighborhoods?  we need to stop and dialogue, assess some of the actions we’re taking.  even when there’s good consequences and when it’s the best route to take at a sepcific time, we need to conintually be coming back and check-pointing and seeing if we should change our courses of action…

there.  that’s what i have to say for now.

So okay.  I’m a dreamer.  I won’t argue that by any stretch.  I get cool ideas in my head and really think that I could do it.  reality comes by and either nods or throws me to the curb.  So i dream lots of crazy dreams, little dreams, good dreams and shitty dreams.  It’s my cycle, it’s what i do.

And i would also like to say that I grew up in middle class, two car, private school, dance and music lessons life style.  I grew up in suburbia where we drove all over the place.  most of my childhood was spent in a car.  It’s ingrained in me.  And as a dreamer, i’m not going to be crazy enough to think i can choose to completely leave everything i’ve grown up knowing and embracing a completely new lifestyle.  I know that somethings will stay with me and i know that i can change a lot more than i think.  balance you know?  it’s a good thing.

But i have dreams of lifestyle changes i would loooooooooooooove to implament 6 months ago.  I want to use my car less.  Very less.  like a weekend car.   Now, realistically i live in Rochester, NY and we get biking weather about 3-6 months out of the year (being optimistic of course)       granted, i currently live still in suburbia with my parents.  and the job i hold (for the next week-ish) requires the ability to drive more than just work and back.  So realistically it wasn’t very realistic to cancel out the use of the auto at that moment.  obviously-ish.   but a job change is happening.  I’m looking for a job in the city.  and hopefully one day in the far off unrealistic future i’ll own a home in the city.  once these two paths cross, the world will explode and i will venture out biking to work.

in an ideal world, as i said, i would live in the city, work in the city, and use my car to venture out shopping, or to my parents in suburbia.  the area i’m looking to live would actually allow me to bike to church too.  *awesome!!!*  And i fully understand biking to work (a professional job with a dress code) could be tricky, but it’s called plastic bags, and a change of clothing.  and sweat, who cares about sweat ;)  but there are many people who bike to work and deal with that.  another thing is weather.  weather is an issue.  Jimmy said that as long as you don’t stop, biking in the winter is fine.  HA!  but that’s what public transportation is for.  lowering the use of a vehicle, partaking in what is provided, and being conscious.   My mother said something about how there’s a cyclist she sees on her way to work when she drives and she feels that it’s severely unsafe and annoying… i don’t know how she worded it, it just made it seem like it was inconvenient for her and made her feel nervous driving.    obviously, if i were to bike at night i would purchase proper equipment to light myself up so i am visible.

I dunno, i feel discouraged..  just because i feel that they think i’m crazy, i’m still striving for this dream though.  kiss my tushy.

Hello world.  Apparently, the last friday of every month rochester ‘celebrates’ this thing called Critical mass.  Some of you may be familiar.  I was not.  It’s basically a thing that celebrates cycling and asserts cyclists’ rights to the road.  (http://www.rocwiki.org/Critical_Mass)  I went last friday for the first time.  It was really neat seeing our city through the petals of my bike.  Well that sounds wrong.  But it was great.

my little adventure started down in the PLEX neighborhood area and then we(the ant hill crew) went up to meet up with the bunch at the liberty pole (6pm)  And then it was cool, we took east out to alexander, went down to monroe, which we took back into the city, crossed a bridge… i think near blue cross, headed north to high falls, crossed that pedestrian bridge, came east on st. paul to some north south street which we then took back to the east side intersection of the bridge that is near the blue cross.  From there i seperated and went back to the Plex.  This all took maybe an hour, i think.  yea.  Less than that.

It was amazing to me how small our city felt on a bicycle.  But small in an accessible way.  I  felt like i was able to get to places easily.  I mean it’s an easy enough city to navigate, and i know it well from tooling around it all the way back to when i sat behind the bus driver for years.  But there’s places to bike to.  Yay for critical mass.  it actually was a small triumph for me.  It was my first experience as a motorist-acting-cyclist on the road, with a helmet, in the lane, at stop lights.  *sigh*  how cool is that.  My dream is to live in the city, and bike to work.

There’s a lot of things to talk about backlogging in my mind. it’s a maze up there.

but one thing i must say… two weekends ago i was in Lansing MI for a beautiful wedding of two friends of mine. while there, someone cool showed me around downtown lansing/east lansing / MSU. it was fun. What was particularly interesting on this saturday night was how cool Lansing looked. great architecture, where we were, not too much gross institutional looking buildings etc. And there was even a real cool “main street” feel with restaurants and such, real cute and welcoming. But the surprising thing was… It was EMPTY. like tumble weeds blowing down the sidewalks. crazy! down by MSU mind you, they have like 20 restaurants all right next to each other, and it was busy. (obviously… it’s a HUGE campus) But it all seemed fairly quaint. and then i saw the GM plant that is closed and that GM is tearing down. Part of me wanted to run through it all and separate it all into recycleable piles… but i didn’t. (obviously) and another part of me wanted to gather alll the artists around and make a HUGE art project before they kept tearing it down, and then let them tear it down. My sculpture prof had the opportunity to do that once in a house they were tearing down. He let his students loose on the rooms to do what they will (cut holes in the floor etc.) because it was going to be torn down anyways.

what was the most interesting contrast to me, was this past saturday i was driving through the city of Rochester… main st. to be exact, and our buildings suck. there’s no public space on the first floor of these buildings. part of that is due to the damn sky ways, walk way, covered things we’ve got cause it’s cold here. but we don’t have the “main street” that Lansing, or holland for that matter, have. it was weird. I’ve walked all over the city from the Eastman theater (generally my starting point) and the only place that’s anything near a “main st” is down by east and alexander. and it’s fully of bars. So it doesn’t get any action until like 10pm anyways. I mean you’ve got Park and Monroe, but they’re spread out, and not main street like. it surprised me. But i think more people were out in the city of Rochester than they were in the city of Lansing.

odd.

Hello one and all.
I took the initiative to fashion a compost bin for my parent’s home. I looked on the ‘net (google searching works well for “how to build a compost pile” and other variations… one site gave good information on what to put in a compost pile http://www.compostguide.com/)

but yes.. i basically scavaged scrap wood from the flipper house i’ve been working on. (one of the basement walls had a drainage problem due to the gutters not being cleaned out and the knotty pine panneling (old school style) got all rotted on the bottom) we were tossing some of the really bad stuff out, and i tossed it into my trunk instead and dumped the pile on the patio for a week.

but today i constructed our compost bin. It’s 30″x30″ around… don’t know how high, but i just used the scavaged wood, and drywall screws to make a square, and left like open spaces, and a little bit from the bottom… basically bs-ed my way through making it. and then i was considering a top for it. after i live in Rochester NY, and we like our lake effect snow. in another project i’ve got lots of windows that were where my parents wanted the compost… so as i was moving them, one of the windows fit perfectly as a lid. Tada!! it made me really really happy. and then i went about the task of finding a bucket for the kitchen… my dad just tarred his driveway and so i took to rinsing one of those out (probably about a 3 gallon bucket) and such so we can use it. I officially put the first organic thing in the actual pile (A pear that one of the clients gave me and the guy i work with from her pear tree (she also gave us some tomatoe plants back at the beginning of the season)) and i put in some tomatoe goop in our new compost bucket. Just gotta figure out where to put the bucket.

but i’m super excited about it!! we can finally start composting, reducing our waste, and helping the environment out. I always figured why the heck i was throwing biodegradable waste in with all the plastic we throw out. cause it’ll never decompose. And the new trash dumps are all like lined with plastic or something else, so nothing really leaches into the ground (until mother nature takes over)… So it’s a good feeling to have a compost bin now. Although, one of the articles i looked at talked about the top layer of the pile drying out, and keeping it moist, but without washing all the nitrogen out of the bottom of the pile. so i’m not sure how productive this window will be. once the pile gets big enough it will generate it’s own heat, so it won’t need the magnification.. i may paint over the pane, or find something else as a lid by then. the author of the article uses a tarp. (http://www.rivenrock.com/compostpile.htm) *shrugs* it all works out.

and my mom just joined a farm co-op thingy… porter farms. it’s actually a CSA .. community supported agriculture project.. she picked up her first bag of produce. I got really excited inside. (don’t know if she actually picked up on it) but it seems really cool. I’m gonna check out the website sometime soon (www.porterfarms.org) and see what’s up. seems real cool, the newsletter thing speaks about how they are a supplier for Aubundance co-op, lori’s natural foods, whole foods, feel rite and lexington co-op. (the last two are based in buffalo NY) I only know of 2 of those… so i’m going to be investigating shortly.

I’m also on the hunt for a cooler job. My job kicks ass, super kicking of fun-ness. but i wanna get more in the “saving the world” so i’m slowly gearing up for that. there’s not much of a scene for it here in Rochester. I haven’t resigned myself yet to leaving though. we’ll see what the man upstairs says about it. he’s the one that knows and wil provide. thankfully.

So… I’ve been hanging out, listening, engaging, watching, remembering, thinking and intaking. you bet i’m pretty busy and attentive… well no. It’s all been by accident and on the sly.

Actually, so i’ve met some really cool people. And they’re connected to really cool people, and things, and knowledge. I won’t bore you with the details, it’s an interesting chain of connections but, they are all real neat, environmental etc. people.
Through them, I’ve found out that Rochester actually has a housing co-op. Ant-hill co-op. It’s real new and young, but really cool that we have one in Rochester. Apparently Madison, Wisconson has a ton of co-ops. One of the people I met is from Wisconson and is connected with Ant Hill.. that’s how i know.
*now personally, co-op -the word- reminds me of RIT’s version of internships, or my mom told me of how some neighborhoods or groups of people would grocery shop all together and then split it up….*
My first naive connection, in my brain, when i heard of this co-op was to think/associate it with the idea of a commune, also another really old word. But it’s all the same general idea… a bunch of people living in community with eachother, sharing groceries, taking care of a garden and other various “quasi-public” events. Which is really cool.
This is really chopy. Anyways, it’s really interesting to me, the whole concept of simple living. This, I believe, comes largely from the environmental side and sustainable living stuff. It’s very cool. It actually connects with the New Urbanism indirectly but it makes sense in my head. But it’s interesting and cool that a bunch of people will get together and choose to share food, shop somewhat organically, live simply, share in the chores of a house, take care of a garden try to do a lot of stuff with the garden, bike places instead of drive and create this community/culture by living together. Soo cool, really neat. I hope it works and lasts.

But another thing that happened was, while hanging out with these really cool, inspiring people, that we were hanging out in the South Wegde in Rochester NY. What’s really really cool is that in the south wedge, they’ve been working for a long time to get an organic, whole foods market in that area. Like a locally owned grocery store. Because when you think about it, the closest grocery stores to the south wedge is either in henrietta, Gates, way east on East ave or Abundance up on Monroe Ave.

I mentioned the grocery store that’s happening over in Syracuse, in the city proper… I almost peed my pants with joy when i found out about this new one in Rochester… I think the sign said it was South Wedge Grocery… maybe. and I never knew about Abundance, so that makes it really neat that there are 2 cool grocery stores in the city of Rochester. They may not meet the needs of all diet types, but it’s really cool.

I don’t know how long any of this is going to last. Who will survive the torment of the ciy, wegmans sure pulled out of Rochester, excpet their East Ave store right on the east edge of the ciy. (dont’ get me wrong, i worshipped wegmans while apart from the northeast at college) We just need to have more faith in the city. Another thing, there’s another coffee shop (yay, whoopy) but that means that it’s better than some lower end fashion shop, bad bars (i’ve not been, can’t really pass judgement) and low end convinent stores. it’s a coffee shop!! a place for the neighborhood, for the community to hang out, a place to go. a destination. A destination. a destination for community. that’s all we ever want.

*bows* thanks for enduring this rambling, disjointed, hopeful joy.