http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com Mostly true tales and some tall tales of Carry's adventures en http://www.eedesign.org/logo.jpg http://www.eedesign.org 144 31 carry@nwoutdoorgrrl.com Copyright 2010 2010-07-26T23:24:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/please_can_i_have_a_hug/ The day before the bar, I intended to take a few moments to write about the impending doom that has kept me from falling asleep at night this last week or so and apologize to my family and friends for being such a testy, irritable sot the last two months. Alas, someone beat me to it and explained everything much better than I ever could. The full post is available here and is worth reading if you have the time. If not, here are a few salient highlights: To set the scene: I am not a panicker. I never have been. I’m a major proponent of the Seriously Just Chill The Hell Out school of major life event prep, and I’ve been known on more than one occasion to tell 1Ls, OLs, and everyone else who will listen that they need to stop taking life quite so seriously. But right now? I’m panicking. The reason? $100,000 ... and three years later, this is the test that will determine whether we actually get to be a lawyer. The pressure is enormously high: Nothing [in law school] actually prepare[s] you for this exam. So here, in this 2 1/2 month timeline, you must cram everything there is to know about this state’s law into your head, and hope that most of it sticks come exam time. It’s an extraordinary amount of pressure, akin to nothing else I have done in life. We fear the horror of having to repeat this dreadful experience: I’m not nice. But this experience? It’s so miserable, I don’t even have the heart to wish it on someone else. Failure is spectacularly public: Unlike the LSAT, you can’t hide out, and pretend that your score wasn’t totally shameful, or that you aren’t studying for the test, or that you didn’t really care. You do care. Unless you live in a cave, everyone knows that you’re studying for an exam, because you look haggard, miserable, and short tempered, and they never see you anymore. The list of bar passers is publicly posted. So, when the final results come out ..., and your name isn’t on that very public list, everyone knows. If you fail, there is no way to really feel good about it: You can’t even claim that you just got desperately ill halfway through and couldn’t finish, because Jan Honisberg has been telling us BarBri kids all summer about all the appendicitis-ridden, in labor, concussed bar-takers who have taken the exam and passed. This, ultimately means that not only are you a failure: you’re less competent than a concussed person. Fantastic. Telling me “you’ll pass the test” really doesn’t help. Really. The specter of failing is just as real, and just as terrifying, as a child who’s been left at a grocery store, convinced he’s alone for good. No, your parents haven’t left you forever, and no, you may be right. We may pass. But in this moment, we feel alone, and overwhelmed, and totally terrified ... We don’t need assurances that we’ll pass, we need your help to mitigate the crazy. We’re looking for damage control. Tell us you understand how we’re feeling, and you think we’re smart. Give us a hug. So, if you see me between now and Thursday, please accept my apology for my horrid behavior the last few weeks, and please, can I have a hug and a prayer? Law 2010-07-26T22:24:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/mad_scientist_moment/ One of the things I love about Nick is the fact that he takes great satisfaction in fixing problems on his own. Nick’s motorcycle has been a little fidgety lately (aka it’s been running like crap), so he decided to see if he could fix it yesterday. The suspected problem: unsynced carbs. Commercially made menometers (pressure measuring tool) for this sort of job cost $50 - $100. Being the frugal guy he is, he went to the hardware store instead, and for $7 made his own. Gotta love that! Pictured above is the homemade menometer, which apparently did the trick. He had so much fun using it yesterday, that he replaced the spark plugs and re-synced the carbs again today!  Motorcycles 2010-07-24T20:19:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/i_feel_the_needthe_need_for_speed/ When the motorcycle peeled off, the racers gutted it out in a 40 mph sprint for glory. The national Kierin champion looked mighty fine leading the pack over the finish line in his stars and stripes kit. Cycling 2010-07-24T05:30:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/soy_milk_makes_the_best_foam/ One of the side benefits of going dairy-free: soy milk foam you can stand a spoon in. Food & Wine 2010-07-23T03:47:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/kirkland_farmers_market/ 2010-07-22T03:46:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/tribute_to_barbri/ I’ve noticed that my stress level and youtube watching time are directly proportional. The advantage, of course, is that I come across gems like this that help soothe the nerves just a little. Law 2010-07-22T02:02:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/brunch_with_phil_paul/ We woke up late after yesterday’s adventures and enjoyed a leisurely apple-oat flaxjack brunch while watching the Tour replay. Vespa is truly Nick’s cat. Look how intensely she’s watching the race. 2010-07-18T18:21:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/another_day_another_box_on_the_life_list_ticked/ On July 17th, Nick B Brown & Carry Porter rode 208 miles at an average of 18.8 mph for 10 hours 59 minutes from Seattle to Portland. Every year 10,000 people make this journey on the flattest, longest, most boring route ever. Most do it in two days, but a surprising number in one. So why did we ride STP? As Nick wrote in an email: “Partly out of respect for Jerry Baker, partly because I live in Washington and you’re expected to do it in order to retain your citizenship, but mostly out of morbid fascination.” Like a mountain climb, STP begins with an “alpine start” at 4:45 a.m. No one has headlights, but everyone seems to have remembered their rear flasher. Looking up the road, as we coast along with 2,000 other one-day riders, it’s blinking red lights as far as the eye can see. The first rest area - REI headquarters - came quickly. We never intended to stop, but there was music blaring and the promise of a bathroom - much needed relief after the gallon of coffee and tea we downed after our 3 a.m. wake up call. The REI staff working the event were decked out in tuxedo shirts, and we took a moment to snap a few shots before rolling out again. Because we were on the tandem cruising at about 21 mph, we were an attractive wheel to follow. I’d say we pulled riders for about 60% of the way. It’s work pulling people behind you, and most were really appreciative of the tow. Next time, though, I’m going to pin a “WILL TOW FOR BEER” sign to my back. Oh, wait, there’s not going to be a next time. Never mind. By the end of the ride, we were tired of towing people (and more than a little sketched by the seeming inability of most riders to hold a straight line), so we adopted a passing strategy that involved swinging about 5’ wide of any group we intended to pass and mustering our best poker faces for an out of the saddle sprint. We usually passed going at about twice the speed of the group, which resulted in many “go tandem people” cheers and a few awestruck “whoa” murmurs. And finally, after a detour through downtown PDX traffic, we made it to the finish line. The showers were hot, the burritos were tasty and the beer was about as wet and refreshing as it comes. 2010-07-18T17:32:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/we_now_have_a_drag_strip_in_front_of_our_house/ The city of Kirkland is repaving our street as part of its ongoing preventative maintenance projects. This has been an amazingly inefficient effort. Two weeks ago, half of our street was ripped up and repaved. Then the city tore out all of the storm grates and reinstalled them a day later. Huh? Finally, today, they tore up all their beautifully laid blacktop. Sigh! The removal of the speed humps, also known as the high schooler launching ramps, was pretty fun to watch, though. Halfway gone, you can see just how high (or not so high) they are. 2010-07-16T17:21:00-08:00 http://www.nwoutdoorgrrl.com/index.php/november/comments/rules_of_sport_conduct_like_laws/ WARNING! Tour de France spoiler below! Competitive sports, like life, are governed by rules, which competitors agree to abide by. In sailing, the are the Racing Rules of Sailing. In professional baseball, there are the Official Rules. Like our laws, these rules are designed not only to tell competitors how the game is structured, but also what conduct is appropriate and not appropriate. After watching Mark Renshaw of Columbia-HTC headbutt Julian Dean of Garmin-Transitions at the finish of today’s Stage 11, I wondered if cycling has a similar set of rules - ones that address sprint conduct specifically and give race officials the authority to pull a rider. In case you missed the incident, the video below should fill you in. Renshaw was running interference for his teammate Mark Cavendish, while Dean was working to clear the path for his teammate Tyler Farrar. Afterward, Tour de France officials pulled Renshaw from the race, reminding riders that “this is a bike race, not a gladiator’s arena.” Skip forward to around 4 minutes to see the action play out: Turns out someone answered my question about sprint rules, using past race decisions to illustrate the nuances of what UCI Regulation 2.3.036 actually means (just like lawyers would do!). Gotta love it! The takeaway from this is clearly that the UCI’s rules on the subject are poorly-written and inconsistently enforced. In light of that, did the officials react properly? On one hand disqualification might be viewed as overly harsh, because sprints are aggressive, unpredictable, and dangerous. It’s the nature of the beast. Renshaw didn’t do a lot of things that would have resulted in relegation alone. He didn’t take his hands off the bars to push or punch Dean. And he didn’t swerve into Julian Dean and take him across the road – which would have put the whole pack in jeopardy. On the other hand, Tour organizers have limited options for disciplining a lead-out man that would act as a deterrent or penalty. Relegation is irrelevant, because it doesn’t matter where he finishes as long as his teammate wins. Organizers could levy a fine, but fines at the Tour (for feeding when you shouldn’t, hanging on the car, etc.) are pretty much the cost of doing business. And it’s not like you can suspend a rider for one day – like they do in baseball or basketball - or say he has to ride at the back of the pack for the whole stage. So even if disqualification is too harsh for the offense, the other options are essentially meaningless. Who’s the real loser in all of this? Mark Cavendish. He won today’s stage, but in the process lost the man who has led him to three stage wins this year. He’ll miss Renshaw in the remaining sprint finishes, especially the final one on the Champs Elysees – which Renshaw helped him win last year. Cycling 2010-07-15T18:30:00-08:00