Nobody Knows Anything

Welcome to Diane Patterson's eclectic blog about what strikes her fancy

Fun Sites For You To Check Out

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In case you’re looking for interesting things around the Web this New Year’s (and who, of course, is not?).

  • The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, who also has a new book by that name (which I haven’t read but sounds very interesting and very much the sort of thing I’ve started doing on my own anyhow right now). A regular gal—albeit one who clerked for a Supreme Court justice—decides to investigate the various bits of advice she’s found hither and yon on what makes for happiness and actually does them to see how well they work. Happiness Project book
  • Tiny Buddha by assorted authors. Yes, we’re back onto the happiness/zen/meditation track here, but hey: that’s what I’m interested in these days! Nice articles about the little things you can do in your every day life to improve your experience and the experiences of those around you.
  • The Great Fitness Experiment by Charlotte Hilton Andersen. Ever read some fitness magazine’s recommended workout and thought, I wonder if that really works? Well, Charlotte doesn’t just wonder; she goes ahead and does it. One experiment per month, undertaken with hilarious and awe-inspiring intensity. She’s a witty, fun writer whose explorations into all things health and fitness will knock you upside the head. Also: she just had a baby. Ever wonder how to get your groove back after having a baby? Imagine you’re on the newest of four young tots. Yeah. It’s good stuff.
  • Cookie Madness by Anna. Seriously, do I need to explain this one? Pictures + recipes + descriptions of COOKIES (and other tasty baked treats) = love. It’s Cookies. It’s Madness. Go. Chocolate chip cookies
  • Bakerella by Bakerella (who’s probably a baker named Ella, natch). Usually when I think “crafty,” I think “manipulative and evil, and can you teach me how to do that?” When Bakerella does crafty, I think “gorgeous, amazing, and tasty, and can you teach me how to do that?” Oh, I want to be able to create the sorts of treasures you find here. Bakerella cake pop
  • Copenhagenize by Mikael. Mikael would like us to Copenhagenize the planet—that is, put everyone on a bicycle and get us out of our cars. They did it in Copenhagen (a city once devoted to its cars), so let’s get out there, folks! Since I feel this is an admirable goal (even as I still drive around in my 8 year old, 100k mile Honda Odyssey), I think everyone should read the inspiring tales of moving to better transportation.
  • The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs by Fake Steve (or Real Dan Lyons). I know, Fake Steve’s been around for years, with a prolonged hiatus during Real Steve’s medical issues. Now he’s back and when Fake Steve is on, he’s on. The whole crusade against AT&T’s annoyingly sucky service? Excellent, Smithers. His series of slams on Tiger Woods? Evil but hilarious. Whenever I see terrible retail layout (I’m looking at you, Borders) or seriously tacky bling (that would be you, teenagers), I hear Fake Steve’s snarky voice in my head. Fake Steve

    Darin, surprisingly, does not find Fake Steve as hilarious I do. I can’t imagine why.

To school by bike

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Simon’s preschool is 4 miles away. I usually take the freeway there, surface streets back, and it’s 4 miles either way. And it takes 15 minutes, door to door.

Today, Sophia was off school and we biked to the market and back. When we returned home, she said, “Let’s bike to Simon’s school!”

What an excellent idea, I thought. I’ve been wanting to do exactly that, and I wanted to know how long it took to ride there. So after we put the food away, we got back on my trusty Xtracycle and headed to Simon’s school.

It takes 19 minutes to bicycle there.

And that was with Sophia on the back. She weighs slightly more than Simon, so it would probably be faster with Simon.

It took longer to get home — about 26 minutes — probably because from school to home involves what amounts to a giant left-hand turn, which slows you down quite a bit on a bike. And, of course, I had two kids on the back.

And when I got home I was a little more tired and sweaty than perhaps most people might like to be for their day, but I was completely exhilarated — it’s mostly a car-free ride to the school, except for a stretch along Los Gatos-Almaden, which is newly paved and has a pretty good bike lane for most of it. (I’m actually not a big fan of bike lanes, because I think they encourage cars to regard bikes as a nuisance that can be kept over to the side of the road and not treat them as separate vehicles on the road, which, you know, they are. But the new paving was definitely nice.)

A mom at the school said, “Oh yes, I’d love to bike to school, but I have three kids.” I don’t know what the solution is for her, but there has to be one, doesn’t there?

My new wheels

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I got rolling on my new Xtracycle last week.

xtracycle.jpg

I love my new bike.

It really is an SUB — it’s held everything that I’ve needed to load on it so far (a purse-backpack, a briefcase with my computer in it, four bags of groceries, and/or two kids), it handles just as well as the bike did beforehand, and it looks snazzy.

Today Sophia and I had a plan to bike to Stacks, a breakfast place in Campbell six miles away. She made it the first two miles, but then after a not-terrible spill wanted Darin to pick her up. I met up with Darin and the kids at the Campbell Farmers Market and then we had breakfast. After breakfast Simon wanted to go to the park near our house, so I said, “Okay, I’ll meet you there.” Sophia asked if she could come with me instead of in the car with Daddy.

Sure. Hop on. Put on your helmet. Hold on.

And off we went.

Despite the 90 degree heat, the sailing was fine down the Creek Trail to the park. I would say, “One, two, three,” and Sophia would sing out, “On your left!” to warn the unwary of our approach. Sophia says she much prefers riding on the bike to riding in the car. “You get fresh air, you can see people, you get wind in your face…”

A man who had his dog riding in a box strapped on the back of his bike stopped to ask me what kind of bike it was I had. “Oh, a Trek,” he said. “A Trek connected to an Xtracycle!” I told him, and then I gave him the song-and-dance about what it can carry (200 pounds) and how easy it is to get stuff (like a dog in a box) onto the rack.

I have taken the bike for food shopping a couple of times, always with Sophia, who now always wants to go along if a bike is involved. Strapping canvas bags into the Xtracycle’s Freeloader pockets is easy and fast, and the bike handles just fine with a full load.

As I get stronger with bike riding, I can see that I’m going to need my car less and less. I gotta remember the sunscreen next time though: I got baked today, and not in the fun “Oh, let’s drink some more tequila” type of way.

I bought a Peapod seat for Simon, but that hasn’t worked out so well — when he was in the seat, the bike’s handling got very difficult. He’s not thrilled with riding on the back without something to hang on to (other than the back of Mommy), so I’m installing a stoker stem and handlebars next week. Once those are on, I can see Simon happily sitting on back on the way to preschool.