Odd feelings

I feel a bit odd about this sort of thing. I don't know why, it's not the first time.

You see, after something like fifteen years of working for or being a locally-owned business, I have sought and been offered and have taken a job working for a big corporation. A really big corporation. With big buildings.

The handyman service isn't going away, at least not any time soon. I'll still do jobs for folks as time permits.The new gig is part-time, on order of twenty to thirty hours a week. It's an entry position, but the company in question is big on promoting from within, and all of their staff hiring is done via short-term/part-time trial period sort of deals.

Of course, since the company in question sells stuff that I would find useful in my handyman work, I have to be really up front about potential conflicts of interest, so as to avoid such conflicts becoming problematic. I cannot and will not talk to customers or coworkers about my business (although the HR folks know), nor will I place my business cards in the store (I don't think there is a place for that, anyway, but even if there is...).

And I don't get to wear kilts at work, which made me ponder things a bit.

But I get a nifty orange apron to wear. The store is less than five miles from home, and has a number of places where I can lock a bike rather than drive a car. The work involved will have me sweating more than the bike ride to work, in all likelihood. And the pay will be steady, if not a mountain of cash.

The handyman stuff is good, when the work is there. I haven't been good about going after work, though. It was a stop-gap measure, at some levels, so that I could say I was still self-employed rather than unemployed after Bluegrass Bicycle closed almost a year ago. The owner of Nomad Radio once told me that if one is self-employed, either the boss is a slave-driver or everybody goes hungry. Despite Jenn's income, times have been lean enough that we've spent some money we didn't want to spend on daily living.

As I mentioned, though, it's not the first time I've worked for large corporations. When I was in high school, I bagged groceries for Winn-Dixie for a couple of years. I worked for U-Haul as a truck mechanic for a while in the mid-1980s. I worked for UPS for nine years, two months, five days, and a few odd hours (not that anyone kept track). I worked for a national supplier of backyard storage buildings for almost two years, until their CEO ran things into the ground to the point that they couldn't afford to pay their field staff (when I started with them, there were thirty-six or so folks in the corporate office, but sixty when I left, PLUS they had added a couple of regional managers with company cars and not enough to do...).

I would like to work for a locally-owned company, but few small companies are hiring folks with my skill set. Maybe some day, though.

Sidecar this, garden that

Last weekend, Jenn and I decided that it was time to start on the mulch plans for the season. We need a fair bit of mulch, as we have not renewed the mulch in the backyard landscaping since we moved in to the house almost three years ago, plus we made a garden in the front yard. Here's the first load of mulch, with some tomato cages and a roll of landscape fabric:

Eight bags, each three cubic feet, for probably 250 pounds of payload.

The garden is largely planted, albeit a bit early, as there is still some danger of frost over the next couple weeks. We have an assortment of protective coverings ready to deploy, rather than remove the plants from the garden area.

In other cargo-capacity news: For my recent anniversary of appearing in this world, my mother gave me some money earmarked for the purchase of an Xtracycle Sidecar to fit my Big Dummy. The Xtracycle web site indicated that the Sidecar was out of stock, but I noticed a bit over a week ago that there were some available. Mine arrived earlier this week, and I found time to mount it and a deck for it yesterday. Here it is in the "ready to haul stuff" configuration:

 And in the "on the bike, but stowed for now" position (although it's only being kept there by inertia as pictured--I have a cargo net on the deck that can hold it in place):

 When I went to get the plywood for the deck, I had the Sidecar frame on the bike. I found that it interferes with the trailer if I try to turn hard to the right. I expect even worse interference if the Sidecar is in use, so I've decided to consider them not compatible with each other:

The plywood in question is simply cheap Lauan 5mm sheet stock. When I bought it, I had the lumber store rip cut the sheet at the proper width for the Sidecar, and again to fit as a floor for the trailer. I stained the piece I cut for the Sidecar with some stain left over from another project, mostly to reduce water absorption if the thing gets wet.

I discovered that the holes marked on the Xtracycle template were off by about 5mm. It's not a big deal--I have enough material for two more decks, after all--but it meant drilling some holes after partially installing the deck. When I make a replacement for this one, I'll know.

Also: Astute observers may note that I mounted the deck on the underside of the Sidecar frame. I did this thinking about reports from others who have the Sidecar who have found it hard to keep some cargo loads from scooting off the deck. The frame makes for a decent retaining lip in this case, as a load I'm likely to carry with the Sidecar is not likely to break the plywood. If I find myself using it for heavy enough loads that I'm worried about plywood breakage, I can get longer screws and thicker plywood (or make a second layer to add to the existing layer).

Load-testing of the new toy will happen over the next several days. I have no shortage of semi-heavy stuff to use for mock payloads.

It's live!

It remains a work in progress, and will require some level of effort to maintain, but Commute Louisville is now live!

By design, it is closely related to the suite of sites built by Keri Caffery for Commute Orlando, Cycling Savvy, I am Traffic, and related sites focused on St. Louis, Dallas, and elsewhere. This to the point that it was designed by Keri. All mistakes you find in the site are my own. Dropping me an email message pointing out a needed correction is encouraged.

There will be another companion site up later this summer, as Cycling Savvy Louisville becomes a reality. I also hope to eventually have shirts with this logo on the front, and the MUTCD R4-11 sign on the back. Note: For a production shirt, I would either omit the lower panel with its snarky "get over it" message or replace it with "Change Lanes to Pass."

In other news, I had mentioned that I was having trouble with my GoPro camera a couple weeks ago. The problems eventually led to me sending the camera to GoPro for warranty examination and replacement. I hadn't heard from GoPro for several days, and sent an email wondering what they had found or when I would hear from them.

As I was unloading my bike after a trip to a customer's house, a FedEx Ground vehicle came down my street. The driver came to me with a small box that came from GoPro. A few minutes later, I opened my email to find a message from GoPro with a tracking number assigned to the package that was on my desk. Great timing, folks!

Summit-reaching

So, against some of my better judgement, and in the hopes of learning something worth the time and energy, I attended this summit thing in Frankfort KY over the last couple of days.

Among the highlights (without specifying positive or negative): There were two "breakout sessions" by John LaPonte, who was at one time the chief transportation engineer for the City of Chicago (actually three, but I attended two); one on pedestrian issues and another regarding on-road bicycling facilities (in which he showed himself a proponent of majik paint, albeit in somewhat less frothing at the mouth degree than, say, Anne Lusk).

There was a presentation by Andy Clarke, of the LAB, during the plenary portion of the proceedings (I managed to not throw any rotted fruit). There was also a breakout session by him on sustaining and advocacy organization (his apparent strong suit, although advocacy for what remains a point for another discussion).

Among several semi-related factoids brought to my attention: There is an LCI Seminar in Lexington, KY next weekend, the Coach for which is the same guy who was the Coach for the LCI seminar in Lexington two years ago when my wife got her "ticket." His pre-class managements skills have not, apparently, improved. Similarly, the pre-test from the League remains poorly-constructed at best (as if I would be surprised at this). Bill, who was my source for much of the low-down on the LCI seminar, introduced himself to me with the comment that he had been warned about me as an LCI. It was of no surprise to me that some of the folks who were in Jenn's LCI seminar were in attendance, and one of them had been in the small group I had managed as an assistant coach. She appreciated that I held her to task over stuff that matters to me as an LCI, using the expression "tough but fair."

As is common for me, I also encountered a few folks I've known casually over the years but had little or no expectation of seeing there. On this list, I include Chris, who writes From the Pavement's Edge, a blog I've been reading for a while.

I met a few folks new to me, of course, including a couple of members of the Kentucky Bike and Bikeways Committee, a couple folks involved in community bike shops, and a few educator-types (including the folks who reported the LCI Seminar snafus). I expect I'll develop some new friendships and working relationships as a result.

Another result was that I had little time to get on a bike yesterday, and don't expect to go out on it today. I did get some walking in yesterday, getting to and from the dinner site, having left the car at the hotel where the rest of the summit was being held.

Cycling Savvy

I mentioned several weeks ago that Jenn and I attended the I am Traffic Colloquium. The event was organized to explore creating a national organization based in education about cycling, including not just educating cyclists (via the Cycling Savvy program), but also children (Journeys from Home), law enforcement officials (IMPBA), engineers, and policy makers.

I've been talking for more than a year about my interest in bringing Cycling Savvy to Louisville. To this end, Jenn and I have pursued becoming Cycling Savvy Instructors. We just got word yesterday that we have been accepted into the next training class, happening in the next two months. Our travel plans have been begun, meaning the airline tickets have been purchased.

The class is in Orlando, which is roughly nine hundred miles away from Louisville. Figuring twenty miles per gallon on a rental vehicle large enough to haul our bikes, it would cost us a bit less than four hundred dollars to buy gas for the trip, not counting rental costs (not sure I want to take the Volvo that far, although I feel it would make the trip). One of Jenn's perks with her work is that we can get standby tickets on one of the passenger airlines for about $150 round trip. We can rent bikes in Orlando (we did this when we were there in February) for a small enough amount of money that it's cheaper to do that than drive taking our bikes.

I'm figuring that lodging and food would be roughly the same either mode. We will eat a meal or three a day any way we go, after all. I found a hostel in Orlando that charges roughly $50/ night, and it's not far from where we'll be taking our class. There are a couple of details to work out (one night's homework assignment requires internet access, transit to and from the airport, and the like), but the outline is workable.

Another part of the plan is to launch Commute Louisville as a companion blog to Cycling Savvy Louisville (and the other Cycling Savvy sites already up). I have the Commute Louisville site in place, but am waiting on some formatting information to keep it consistent with the existing network of sites (which will in all likelihood become part of whatever organization comes out of the I am Traffic colloquium). With a bit of luck, Commute Louisville will be ready to take visitors in the next couple of weeks, in time for May (Bike Month) and Bike to Work Week/Day celebrations.

And, just because I haven't been doing much with numbers on this blog of late, this is the 555th post. 

Car-free? Not yet, but...

Jenn has made some ironic comments over the last couple of years regarding my admiration of the car-free choice compared to the number of cars in the family that are registered in my name.

Since last summer, when I bought a Volvo wagon from my mother, I have had three motor vehicles titled to me.

At the end of February or early in March, I found that my 1994 Ford Ranger had developed a new water leak. This may be related to the head gasket leak of which I was already aware, or it may be a new leak point. In either case, it is cost-prohibitive to repair this engine--the truck has over 230,000 miles on it, and has some other wear issues making it worth somewhat less than an ideal asking price. I removed its license plate and cancelled the registration a bit over a week ago, so as not to pay penalties on doing so in April (March being my birth month, all motor vehicle registrations are renewed in March).

Also some time in March, my younger stepdaughter came home reporting that the Toyota Corolla she has been driving since we got the Volvo was either smoking or steaming. On inspection, I found oil in the radiator--never a good sign. As the purchase price on this car was pretty low, and as it has over 250,000 miles on it, it doesn't seem cost-effective to replace the head gasket (one likely reason for oil in the water jacket and high pressure in the cooling system blowing the water out of the system), let alone replacing major engine components (the less likely reason). So, it, too has had its license plate removed and surrendered, with an eye toward salvaging the car rather than repairing it.

Both titles are still clear, meaning I could perhaps repair the cars and return them to service. Or I can go the route of "junking" the titles as I sell the cars to companies that sell parts off them. I'll be making some decisions this week on whether to sell them outright to salvage yards or donate them to one or another of the charities we favor. It would be nice to have the cash, but the tax credit for donation can help also.

Whatever I decide to do with the pickup and the little white car, we are now down to one gas-powered vehicle in the driveway. My stepdaughter usually walks to work, since it's a bit less than a mile for her. If I'm going to need gas power to get somewhere, I can coordinate with Jenn.

Or, as happened a couple weeks ago, if I need to haul bicycles to an out of town function of some sort, I might be able to borrow my stepfather's truck. Or rent something.

Big Four crowd

About the first of the year, I got a GoPro camera. I had played with the el-cheapo Vivitar one for a bit, and decided that better image definition was worth having. I also like the ruggedness of the GoPro hardware, especially compared to the crappy stuff that came with the Vivitar camera (I found myself using an old camera tripod strapped to the handlebar for the Vivitar, as the original handlebar mount failed miserably as I went over a rail crossing one afternoon. Vivitar wanted me to return the entire unit to get a replacement doo-dad!!).

As I expected, the vast majority of my captured video is pretty boring. Cars go by. Motorists change lanes. Road miles get eaten up by the wheels of my bikes. This is good, in that I can use this pile of boring video to show that it's quite safe to ride a bike if one does it right.

And, that it was on the handlebar and running served me well on my last bicycle excursion into Oldham County. Yes, I have video of Officer Krupke as he gave me misinformation regarding bicycle application of traffic law.

Still, I am toying with the camera. In strict accordance with Murphy's Law, I also have a warranty issue with the camera, which is in process.

Sometimes, though, the camera works as it should. I had it on the bike when I went to get pictures of the approach to the Big Four Bridge the other day, and can use part of what I captured to show just how well the bridge works as a skinny park (tm). The wide-angle lens gives the thing a sense of fairly fast motion, but if you compare what you see me doing to the actions of walkers around me, I'm often moving at barely above walking speed.