Wishlisting

I mentioned to Kyria the other day that I want a hybrid bike and she asked me about it, so I thought I'd post here about what's currently on my wishlist.

1. A hybrid bike. M. and I are trying to make it for at least another year or two of sharing a car. One of the reasons that we looked specifically at homes in our neighborhood is because here we are close to a bus route that takes me to campus. However, I'm just about as close to a bike path that also would take me to campus. Moving has been expensive and I can ride the bus for free, so I'm holding out on buying a bike (I sold my old one on craigslist before we left the Midwest) until the spring. But I'm already thinking about models that I'm interested in and the Novara Fiona is one of them. It's a hybrid bike that blends elements of road bikes (lighter frames) and of mountain bikes (a more upright frame, wider tires). The Fiona is just over 30 pounds and has 24 gears. I'm hoping that my local REI gets her back in stock before long so that I can handle the bike in person before I make a several-hundred-dollar decision.

2. Furniture and art for my campus office. Unfortunately, this one won't be happening for a few months. My office was vacated by its former occupant over the summer, the old furniture was removed, and it was painted. I, along with my colleagues, was supposed to get new furniture that was supposed to arrive sometime during the first couple of weeks of the semester. Due to what I can only describe as a giant inconvenience, we found out yesterday that none of us will be getting our new furniture until January. I don't want to go into too many more details here, but the situation is extremely frustrating. (For me it's compounded by the fact that my desk at home needs repair in order to be usable and we jettisoned some bookcases because I had planned to take most of my books to campus.) It looks like I will probably temporarily have to move into a different office for the rest of the semester and move back into mine at the start of the spring semester. In my dreamworld, though, my furniture is being installed tomorrow and some awesome person gifts me a high quality, framed reproduction of Titian's portrait of Philip II Wearing Armor.

3. Le Creuset cookware. Right now I especially have my eye on the Moroccan Tagine in cherry and the Round French Oven in a serene shade called caribbean.

A new pair of rainboots would be on this list, too, but I just I ordered a pair online....  What's currently on your wishlist?

Other Loves

Since there's not a whole lot of running going on over here right now, I decided to keep myself in good spirits by biking to campus and participating in colored pants day over at Everybody, Everywear.  The temperature dropped by about 30 degrees overnight last night, which made for deliciously cool and crisp air and the perfect opportunity to wear cords for the first time in months.

These are my first ever attempts at panda shots, and I have to admit that I felt a certain amount of glee (or maybe it was just a rush of adrenaline as I've never had great balance) taking them as I biked through my 'hood.

Do you get joy out of biking to work? Have you tried taking panda shots?

Coveted: Schwinn Hybrid

Although I've only been able to bike to campus once this week due to the holiday and crazy wind gusting weather and although I have a perfectly serviceable bike (it's a 21 speed mountain bike), I have been seriously coveting a Schwinn Hybrid or a Schwinn Urban Bike, like this one:

 
I definitely can't afford a new bike right now, and I can't really justify a second one.  In my fantasy world, though, I have a cruiser and a bike like this one.  Wouldn't one of these commuter bikes be fabulous to own for cycling about campus and to happy hours and the farmers' market?

Cycling Misadventures

On Wednesday, I was thrilled to finally be able to ride my bike into campus!  I love riding my bike, and I hadn't had a chance to ride since before the move.  While I was on campus I had some errands to run, including getting an ID made, getting keys to my department and departmental office, gaining library access, checking out some library books, and figuring out how to print and get copies made at my institution.  It was hot and humid, but the air flow created by moving quickly on my bike made it bearable.  It was far less enjoyable by foot, as I quickly found out. 

When I went to leave campus and bike home, I realized that the key to my bike lock was missing from my key ring.  I searched through my bag; I went back to my office and searched my desk, shelves, and floor; I retraced my steps;  I visited several lost and founds on campus.  My key wasn't anywhere.  Finally, I called my husband to see if he could bring me my spare bike lock key.  Since we had just moved, he had no idea where it was and I didn't either. 

He came to campus and picked me up.  Did I mention that I left my cell phone at home that day?  So finding each other was a bit of an adventure, as well, and I spent some more time broiling in the heat.  We went home and began looking for my spare key.   While we were searching, I was envisioning never getting my bike unlocked or worse that I would get back to campus with the key the next day and it would have been stolen.  I eventually found it in a small box of flash drives and memory cards and miscellanea on my writing desk.

We returned to campus and retrieved my bike.  This misadventure ended well, and I figure that it did because of good bike kharma.  You see, when I was in Florence, I really wanted to steal this bike:

But I resisted the urge.  My own bike might not be as cute as a purple cruiser, but I love her.

She has been my companion for several years.  Do you ever commute by bike?  What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages to cycling to work?  Have you ever lost the key to your lock?