Sale!

Blatant self-promotion: It's the "I Got A Job Sale" at my Etsy shop! $5 handprinted shirts, sale on coffee sweaters. http://bit.ly/XKp79

Commuting again

Today's my first day of real, longer-term work in five months. Yay!

Here's the ferry. It's relatively empty; not too many people commute at 12:45 p.m.

We've noticed some birds have been perishing in our yard. This may be why:

And I got a new shelf for my spices to put above the stove, in an awkward cabinet. Courtesy of my dad.

And I will begin work in 45 minutes. Horray.

To Mercer Island (almost)

I'm in a coffee shop on Beacon Hill right now, enjoying a oh-so-healthy treat in the middle of my bike ride. I brought my computer because I'm much more productive when I'm not at home.

It's hard to work, though, since I'm so amped up with adrenaline: I rode across the I-90 floating bridge, and back. You'd think that because it's floating that it's flat, right? Wrong. You've gotta go up a hill to get back to land. Phew.

It's really noisy, since it's right along I-90. It's an interesting trip, though ... you're right by the water AND the traffic. Next time I think I'll ride around Mercer Island instead of turning around before I got to land (I had plans to make it to this coffee shop and going around Mercer Island would mean I would be too tired to make it up the hill to get here).

On the way back to Beacon Hill I came upon this sculpture, this time during an overcast day (last time the sun was blazing). 

It is 30 degrees cooler than it was last Wednesday. A perfect day to ride.

Little Ikea hack

I've had this

not-very-flattering light in my dining room almost since I moved in. I changed it up today. It went from that lamp, with this shade:

I don't use the floor lamp at all (the version I have isn't the cool bendy kind; it's straight up).

So I put the shade on the hanging lamp.

Ride around Seattle

And when I say around Seattle, I really mean around ... didn't go too far into the city core, since that's where all the hills are, after all. A good trip, though, and I got to see things I haven't seen before.

Three duck boats in Lake Union.

The very end of the Burke ... I've been to the other end too, but didn't catch the sign.

The beach and the Olympics at Golden Gardens park.

A long, narrow, rickety bike bridge above some railroad tracks.

Enough said?

I got tired so I didn't ride my bike all the way home (more hills!). Instead I took the light rail. Easy. Except for the getting-the-bike-hung-up part. That'll get better with time, I'm sure.

A map of my route:

Around at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Geotagging Community

Most ambitious ride yet.

switchback, originally uploaded by tonrix.

So I volunteer at the Arboretum, but have always driven there. I decided today that I'd buck up and try to bike there. I did it, and then some -- ended up going about 25 miles, about half of which was on city streets. Phew. Here's a photo of part of a switchback I had to force myself to go up.
Here's a map of my route.


Lake tour at EveryTrail

Opening day of Seattle's first light rail

I got on the light rail, which opened today, at my friendly neighborhood station, rode down to Tukwila (near the airport), then back up to downtown Seattle. And then back to my neighborhood. It was pretty packed and everyone was pretty excited about the goings-on. I was expecting long, long waits (perhaps an hour?) at each station that I had to get out at; the longest wait I had was maybe 15 minutes.

My station.

Inside the car.

This dude's taking a break. The people in front of me got a big laugh out of that.

I-5.

Test mode.

Substantial crowds at the Tukwila station, where we all had to disembark and get back on again.

View of Seattle from far south on the light rail line.

This is the closest grocery store to my house. I don't go there. It's really, really old and has more chips than carrots. Remodel planned for January!

Going under Beacon Hill.

The bus transit tunnel underneath downtown.

One of the many cool sculptures in the Beacon Hill station, which is 180 feet underground.

At the end, I stopped to get a cookie at my favorite bakery.

And I saw this bike, which I like a lot.

And this bumper sticker.

And here's a long video (six minutes!) of a few segments of the ride.