For those non runners in my life a little post about another aspect of my life I have been working on. We have been trying to keep life as green as possible in the E-Speed household and so far so good!
It has been just over a year since I started taking the bus to work. I cannot tell you how nice it has been. I have been reading a ton and saving myself a ton of driving related stress. I am not sure if I am saving much money. The commute is $2 each way. Since I have to drive once a week to get to the track and I get a ride home on Thursdays from Jen it doesn't make sense to buy the monthly pass. But I am saving a ton in piece of mind and I hardly ever have to get gas. I have become a bit of a hound for singles though since the grocery store seems to run out of 5 ride passes often. Other than a couple of strange incidences and frequently having to race to get to the stop on time (speed training!) riding the bus has been pretty painless and I am so glad I made the switch!
Last year I kept bugging the hubby to let me buy a push reel mower (aka manual, no motor!) but he didn't seem too keen on the idea. Well the last mow of the season last year I broke the cord on the lawn mower and after a frustrating evening spent trying to fix it the hubby let me buy our push reel mower. With our mower broken and the timing of our vacations and storms etc we actually ended up getting a notice from the city the day I purchased the push reel mower (a little peeved about the notice because we got it the night before a predicted three days of rain and the notice stated we had to 'abate the nuisance' within 48 hours or suffer the city doing it for us and putting a lien on our property). We had actually tried to purchase a push reel mower a few days before but the stores did not have any in stock except for the floor models so I had to do some online research to locate one in our area. Well we got it and I mowed the lawn that night after putting it together.
After the third mowing the yard looks great and added bonus I can mow any time because the mower is pretty quiet! The first two mows admittedly looked a little ragged, but I did mow the first time at night in the rain because of the notice and it took a second mow before everything evened out. I haven't timed it but I am pretty sure it doesn't take any more time than it did with the regular lawn mower. And added bonus you get a bit of an upper body workout pushing the thing around.
Last year I built a rain barrel and because of our busy lives and our lack of handy man skills it took me until now to finally get the thing attached to the gutter coming off of our garage. Well I am happy to report that after just one storm the thing is already full. It is crazy the amount of runoff that comes off of your houses and goes straight into the storm system. If you haven't built a rain barrel yet this is a super easy way to take a green step, lower your water bill, and give your plants water they will benefit from. If you are local check out the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District Website, they are offering some rain barrel workshops in June and July! I'm debating making a second one since I am sure once summer comes we will go through that water quickly.
On a sad note Euclid stopped picking up recyclables. This is disappointing because most people just won't recycle if it involves any additional effort. I just checked the Euclid website and they finally have offered a reasonable alternative, so for those Euclidians like me trying to find a place to put those recyclables head on over to Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School, 18491 Lakeshore Boulevard. The collection bins are in the parking lot. Their previous solutions involved about 6 different drop off sites all for only one type of recycled product and none for plastic. Not convenient at all.
So in a nutshell that's what I have been up to in an effort to decrease my impact on the planet. It isn't much but it is a start!
Showing posts with label Riding the Bus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Riding the Bus. Show all posts
Something Weighing you Down?
Anything been weighing on your mind lately?
Amenti feels your pain! I decided to work from home today and at some point got up for a drink and found Paivi sitting atop a mound of blankets and upon closer inspection I found Amenti tucked neatly into those blankets being smothered by Paivi. Some sister!
Keeping with the random... (hey sue me a random post is better than no post right?)
Life has been a bit crazy this week. Trying to get ready for vacation and crazy cold weather has not been good for my running. Only 13 weeks to Boston so I need to get to it. Hopefully I will get in some decent mileage in Cancun without the excuse of single digit temps and a messy house getting in the way.
Crazy story for the week was last night's bus ride home. Downtown was an absolute gridlock last night with the cold and the snowy roads and we had company coming over at 7:30 so I decided to take the 5:45 bus home which would usually get me home around 6:15. I figured things would be moving slow though so that was okay. The bus didn't arrive until 6 PM and I didn't end up getting home until shortly after 7 PM. Thankfully it didn't feel as cold as it was while waiting, so I must have been dressed appropriately for the cold and our building must have been blocking a lot of the wind.
A few stops into the ride a man got on who was in a serious state of distress. He announced loudly to the whole bus that he desperately needed a ride to Eastlake from Shoregate, that his mother had passed away and he needed to get to the hospital in Eastlake as soon as possible. Understandably no one seemed to respond, usual bus etiquette is that you really don't talk to the entire bus at once and in general no one says anything to anyone at all unless they know the person. Not to mention most of these people probably don't have a car or they wouldn't be taking the bus, and the road conditions were absolute crap out so unless you were already going to be headed that way you probably weren't going to be able to help this guy. I felt bad for him, but I wasn't in a position to be able to help so I continued to read my book. Well this guy continues to repeat his story several times getting visibly angry that no one could help.
By the time we got to the highway the bus was absolutely packed with at least 8 people standing, maybe more. Although he had been seated earlier now he was standing towards the front of the bus. The highway was pretty much stop and go and he starts yelling wanting to know why the bus has stopped. Clearly it is because there is nowhere we can go but this guy was probably not in a stable frame of mind and he starts ranting. At some point he changes his tune and accuses us all of setting him up and saying that all of us got on this bus with him because we couldn't help him. Which he promptly follows with an exclamation that geeze don't any of us have a sense of humor, he is only joking. Then he starts talking about how rough it is working for the man and that we probably all voted for Bush... Finally he ends the rant with telling us all we are all hiding in our shells and we need to get out. He shouts that we just need to let it all out and then starts to yell that he WANTS TO GO HOME and prompts that we should all shout the same, repeatedly. Of course the whole bus has pretty much been quiet through all of this, other than a few people near him trying to calm him down. We've probably been on the highway for 20 or so minutes and we are still far from getting off. The bus driver finally shouts that he needs to quiet down because she can't concentrate on driving with him yelling and she doesn't know what he epxetcs her to do, she can't go any faster in these conditions. He starts apologizing profusely that he really is sorry because he knows her job is hard. Finally he seems to have quieted down.
A few miles from our exit he gets extremely distressed and announces his name and that he is the head of the Cleveland FBI. And that now that we all know who he is he can help us all get out of this mess, that he will get off the bus and get us help. While I felt awful for this guy, as he was obviously distressed I started to get a bit worried when I hear the guy seated next to me whispering to a man standing in the aisle that the distressed man has a bat, which he apparently dropped on the floor earlier in the ride. No matter who it is I am not really comfortable with anyone on the bus having anything that could be used as a weapon. Well sure enough the guy realizes he has lost his bat and starts yelling that he needs it and that we should please just give it back over and over again. At this point the guy next to me (thankfully a tough looking fellow) stood up and offered his seat to a lady still standing in the aisle. I felt a little better knowing that this guy was willing to try and calm the man down if he had to, and that that lady could get a seat in a safer place on the bus. Finally we got off the highway and on the exit ramp the guy starts freaking out and trying to get around the people in the aisle in front of him to get off the bus saying he will run all the way to East Lake. And the bus driver ends up letting him off as soon as she can safely stop.
It was definitely my most uncomfortable bus ride yet. And it ended up taking over an hour to get home. Hopefully the guy was able to find some help. As I got off the bus I noticed a bottle of liquor on the floor near where he was standing so it is very possible he was extremely inebriated. A very unsettling experience. You want to empathize with the guy because he is obviously suffering but at the same time you want to keep yourself and those around you safe.
So that is my bizarre story of the week. I'm hoping the plane ride to Cancun will be much less exciting than my bus commute home!
Plans for Cancun include a day trip to Cozumel to see my godparents and do some snorkeling, lots of free margarita's and some drink called a Miami Vice that GD highly recomended. The resort is adult only and has lots of different relaxation or exercise type options. I'm hoping to get in some rock wall climbing, swimming (including competitions!), aqua aerobics, yoga, spin class, and of course running. They also have a pool with a bar in it, I think I will spend quite a bit of time there :) I am pretty sure we get a free massage and a pedicure so those options are a must. Pretty much I am just going to have a blast. Hopefully I'll have a few spare minutes to post some updates and pics. If not I'll definitely have photos the following week to post!
Major good vibes out to all my local friends running and volunteering at the winter buckeye 50k this weekend. I hope the trails are runnable for you! Daisy kick some trail ass girl! You are in awesome shape and so ready to bring home a win to kick off the year! Solar just have fun out there girl, no pressure, Trisaratops hope that cold is gone by the weekend for you! Bridget good luck with the back to back events! Before you know it I will have you signing up for a 50 miler ;) Tkins have fun and don't let Peterman out of your sight ;) I am sure I missed someone so good luck to you too ;)
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Bus Musings
I will have taken the bus to work every day this week and all but two days the past three weeks now. So far so good! I wish they were spaced closer in the evening (after 5 they only come every 30 minutes), but there are plenty of options in the morning which is good because I am always forgetting one thing or another :)
I think I am starting to get into a schedule now, although I have been feeling rather lackluster midday lately. I am going to blame that on the heat and not my new schedule which mostly involves running at lunch and gardening in the evening with an earlier bedtime before I get up to do it all again. Bridget was kind enough to give me a ride in the evening to the Solon Track on Tuesday this week so I even got in a track workout with company without having to drive!
So far the bus rides have been pretty uneventful. Just one crazy guy who decided he wanted to stand and rant in front of the bus one evening downtown. (He thankfully moved after the bus driver hollered at him) The bus seems to be getting more and more crowded but since I run at lunch I usually take a later bus home and those don't get quite as much foot traffic. I wouldn't be surprised if I have to start standing on the way to work though. I'll just have to learn how to read and stand and hold on at the same time!
I have started to catch up on a lot of reading with the free time on my hands. Figured I would keep a list here and any fun notes about the books I am tackling. Reading is one of my other favorite hobbies and I am so excited to have a legitimate time to do it now that isn't taking away from other important tasks I should be doing each day. Started my bus trips with some lighter fantasy reading (what can I say I am a bit of an escapist at heart), and have moved into some outdoorsy fiction, some non-fiction, and some gardening books to help with my empty garden beds.
His Dark Materials Trilogy- Excellent trilogy in my humble opinion. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they adapt the 2nd and 3rd books into movies. Was disappointed I had to finish this one, would have loved for the story to keep going. Good book for thoughts on how religion, politics, and the organizations that run them affect our daily lives with a great fantasy tale to keep you from getting too depressed by it all :)
A Walk in the Woods- Wow. I loved this book. I am so excited about the Appalachian trail now it isn't even funny. Informational and funny take on a novice hiker attempting to thru hike the Appalachian trail. Dreams of thru hiking dancing in my head...
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons- Second time reading this one and still loved it. I think I am going to pick up a few of her other books and see if they are as good. Just a very good novel about the special bonds a special group of women can have when brought together by love of a similar hobby, in this case reading books.
100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants: For American Gardens in Temperate Zones- I would really love to plant an entirely native garden (a rain garden if I could swing it even). This book was extremely useful, now if I could just find the plants that it helped me to pick in local nurseries. Hmm apparently planting native may not be quite so easy!
Bird Gardens: A Year-round Guide to Creating an Alluring Haven for Birds- Just started into this one. Mostly just some amazing photos of gardens that will successfully attract birds year round. Reminding me that I need to put up our blue bird box!
The pitiful gardener's handbook : successful gardening, inspite of yourself- Just perused this so far. Kind of a boring read but good advice for gardeners like myself who seem kind of hopeless sometimes. Now if only I would practice some of it ;)
Trowel & error : over 700 shortcuts, tips & remedies for the gardener- Cute little book with lots of fun illustrations and tons of little gardening tips. Way too much for this gardening dummy to remember but I will write down the tips that stand out as being most helpful for my situation.
I think I am starting to get into a schedule now, although I have been feeling rather lackluster midday lately. I am going to blame that on the heat and not my new schedule which mostly involves running at lunch and gardening in the evening with an earlier bedtime before I get up to do it all again. Bridget was kind enough to give me a ride in the evening to the Solon Track on Tuesday this week so I even got in a track workout with company without having to drive!
So far the bus rides have been pretty uneventful. Just one crazy guy who decided he wanted to stand and rant in front of the bus one evening downtown. (He thankfully moved after the bus driver hollered at him) The bus seems to be getting more and more crowded but since I run at lunch I usually take a later bus home and those don't get quite as much foot traffic. I wouldn't be surprised if I have to start standing on the way to work though. I'll just have to learn how to read and stand and hold on at the same time!
I have started to catch up on a lot of reading with the free time on my hands. Figured I would keep a list here and any fun notes about the books I am tackling. Reading is one of my other favorite hobbies and I am so excited to have a legitimate time to do it now that isn't taking away from other important tasks I should be doing each day. Started my bus trips with some lighter fantasy reading (what can I say I am a bit of an escapist at heart), and have moved into some outdoorsy fiction, some non-fiction, and some gardening books to help with my empty garden beds.
His Dark Materials Trilogy- Excellent trilogy in my humble opinion. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they adapt the 2nd and 3rd books into movies. Was disappointed I had to finish this one, would have loved for the story to keep going. Good book for thoughts on how religion, politics, and the organizations that run them affect our daily lives with a great fantasy tale to keep you from getting too depressed by it all :)
A Walk in the Woods- Wow. I loved this book. I am so excited about the Appalachian trail now it isn't even funny. Informational and funny take on a novice hiker attempting to thru hike the Appalachian trail. Dreams of thru hiking dancing in my head...
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons- Second time reading this one and still loved it. I think I am going to pick up a few of her other books and see if they are as good. Just a very good novel about the special bonds a special group of women can have when brought together by love of a similar hobby, in this case reading books.
100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants: For American Gardens in Temperate Zones- I would really love to plant an entirely native garden (a rain garden if I could swing it even). This book was extremely useful, now if I could just find the plants that it helped me to pick in local nurseries. Hmm apparently planting native may not be quite so easy!
Bird Gardens: A Year-round Guide to Creating an Alluring Haven for Birds- Just started into this one. Mostly just some amazing photos of gardens that will successfully attract birds year round. Reminding me that I need to put up our blue bird box!
The pitiful gardener's handbook : successful gardening, inspite of yourself- Just perused this so far. Kind of a boring read but good advice for gardeners like myself who seem kind of hopeless sometimes. Now if only I would practice some of it ;)
Trowel & error : over 700 shortcuts, tips & remedies for the gardener- Cute little book with lots of fun illustrations and tons of little gardening tips. Way too much for this gardening dummy to remember but I will write down the tips that stand out as being most helpful for my situation.
Everything Besides Running
So with all this downtime after Boston I actually have been trying to keep myself busy. Here's a short list as well as some slide shows of what has been going on since Boston.
The weekend I got back Solar and I were signed up to make rain barrels! Basically rain barrels capture runoff from your roof which you can then use to water your garden and lawn instead of using tap water. Better for your plants, better for your pocket book, and better for the environment. I just need to get a better overflow system hooked up to mine and paint it with some flowers and stuff and it will be set to collect rain water for my garden. Too bad it will probably stop raining as soon as I hook it up!
On an another environmentally friendly note I started taking the bus to work. So far it has worked out great. Only had to run to catch it once and haven't had to stand for more than a few minutes once on. Although it does look like this is becoming a very popular alternative to driving! Think the gas prices may have something to do with it? ;) I did the math and it works out to save me a little money but mostly it just saves me the hassle of driving. As a bonus I get to read on my way to work, I have already zoomed through the Phillip Pullman trilogy and need to get my butt to the library and pick out something else (any suggestions?) for now I am catching up on my running times and runners world magazines. Once the weather breaks I will alternate between cycling and taking the bus in.
On another driving note the man who I rear ended oh about 3 years ago finally settled the lawsuit against me. WooHoo! No bankruptcy or court for me. What a load off. I swear about 50 trees were killed in the process of that whole lawsuit, I have never seen so much paperwork in my life!
I got a new (pink!) camera just before Boston so I have been trying to use it as much as possible :) It's small so I expect some photos on the trails will happen soon. For now I have just in general been driving my hubby nuts with it and taking tons of photos and video at our cousins birthday parties. The kids parties are always a nice way to catch up with the family. Oh and a nice excuse to sugarfy myself with cake and ice cream.
Although it didn't involve me running I did go to the Captains 5K and volunteer. I got to do race day registration and be the 2 mile timer. Fun times in the rain. As a bonus we got two free tickets to a captains game!
I have been working on getting the house de-cluttered so that our distressed feline will stop peeing on everything in site. This involved going through a lot of paper and shredding as well as some home repairs. I even scoured the bathroom (and almost lost my dinner, drains are freaking disgusting!).
For Cinco De Mayo we actually went out for drinks with the coworkers. As a bonus we scored free tacos! I had more than my fair share and took part in the free tequila shot, gross!
Despite my efforts to clean the house the couches ended up being a lost cause. Not enough natures miracle in the world for that job (I have completely doused those things in natures miracle more times than I care to tell in the past few years). We found while we were hauling it out that he actually had not just peed on the cushions but had managed to spray (like a dog) the entire side of the sofa (how is that even possible?). So we are now seat less. Any ideas for alternative seating that a cat would not find an attractive place to be or pee on but is still comfortable for us? We miss watching movies!
In my attempt to finally get my garden going we drove over to the Shaker Lakes nature center's plant sale. Unfortunately they were sold out of all the native plants when we got there and none of the other plants fit what I was looking for. So we settled for a hike around the trails and I made David take lots of goofy photos. Is this man a keeper or what? I often wonder who Dirt Diva gets to take all of her fun trail photos for her. I know my man has a limit for how many posed shots he is willing to take or be a part of on any given outing :)
So without further ado enjoy the photos. I think that pretty much catches me up here. We will return to our regularly scheduled running program next post.
The weekend I got back Solar and I were signed up to make rain barrels! Basically rain barrels capture runoff from your roof which you can then use to water your garden and lawn instead of using tap water. Better for your plants, better for your pocket book, and better for the environment. I just need to get a better overflow system hooked up to mine and paint it with some flowers and stuff and it will be set to collect rain water for my garden. Too bad it will probably stop raining as soon as I hook it up!
On an another environmentally friendly note I started taking the bus to work. So far it has worked out great. Only had to run to catch it once and haven't had to stand for more than a few minutes once on. Although it does look like this is becoming a very popular alternative to driving! Think the gas prices may have something to do with it? ;) I did the math and it works out to save me a little money but mostly it just saves me the hassle of driving. As a bonus I get to read on my way to work, I have already zoomed through the Phillip Pullman trilogy and need to get my butt to the library and pick out something else (any suggestions?) for now I am catching up on my running times and runners world magazines. Once the weather breaks I will alternate between cycling and taking the bus in.
On another driving note the man who I rear ended oh about 3 years ago finally settled the lawsuit against me. WooHoo! No bankruptcy or court for me. What a load off. I swear about 50 trees were killed in the process of that whole lawsuit, I have never seen so much paperwork in my life!
I got a new (pink!) camera just before Boston so I have been trying to use it as much as possible :) It's small so I expect some photos on the trails will happen soon. For now I have just in general been driving my hubby nuts with it and taking tons of photos and video at our cousins birthday parties. The kids parties are always a nice way to catch up with the family. Oh and a nice excuse to sugarfy myself with cake and ice cream.
Although it didn't involve me running I did go to the Captains 5K and volunteer. I got to do race day registration and be the 2 mile timer. Fun times in the rain. As a bonus we got two free tickets to a captains game!
I have been working on getting the house de-cluttered so that our distressed feline will stop peeing on everything in site. This involved going through a lot of paper and shredding as well as some home repairs. I even scoured the bathroom (and almost lost my dinner, drains are freaking disgusting!).
For Cinco De Mayo we actually went out for drinks with the coworkers. As a bonus we scored free tacos! I had more than my fair share and took part in the free tequila shot, gross!
Despite my efforts to clean the house the couches ended up being a lost cause. Not enough natures miracle in the world for that job (I have completely doused those things in natures miracle more times than I care to tell in the past few years). We found while we were hauling it out that he actually had not just peed on the cushions but had managed to spray (like a dog) the entire side of the sofa (how is that even possible?). So we are now seat less. Any ideas for alternative seating that a cat would not find an attractive place to be or pee on but is still comfortable for us? We miss watching movies!
In my attempt to finally get my garden going we drove over to the Shaker Lakes nature center's plant sale. Unfortunately they were sold out of all the native plants when we got there and none of the other plants fit what I was looking for. So we settled for a hike around the trails and I made David take lots of goofy photos. Is this man a keeper or what? I often wonder who Dirt Diva gets to take all of her fun trail photos for her. I know my man has a limit for how many posed shots he is willing to take or be a part of on any given outing :)
So without further ado enjoy the photos. I think that pretty much catches me up here. We will return to our regularly scheduled running program next post.
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