Biking

Last October, I had a bike accident involving a cracked fork and a nasty fall.  After determining that fixing my beloved orange bike would be more of a project "for later" than a short-term solution, I found myself a lovely gray Schwinn.  I bought this bike from a co-op called Free Ride that fixes and sells bikes (or lets you buy cheap and fix yourself), so it needed just a little straightening and adjusting before I could ride it.  On my first ride, beginning of December, to a destination mere minutes away, I was hit by a car that pulled out of a driveway (slowly, thankfully) and right into me!  "Didn't you see me?" he said.  I wasn't yet too comfortable on that bike to begin with, so between the shaken-up feelings and the impending cold, I was out of commission for biking all winter.

This spring, I finally mustered the motivation to re-straighten the bent rims as best I could and get on the road!  Now that I'm driving to work every day, I've noticed a shift in my thinking (one I'm not fond of) that makes biking seem like much more of a hassle than it is.  Thankfully, it hasn't taken too many rides to give me back my confidence and remind me how much I love the feeling of being on a bike!  The handful of rides I've done so far this year is a far cry from what I was doing in the fall (I rode at least 1.5 miles 26 out of 30 days in September), but being able to get around by bike is probably one of my favorite parts of summer in Pittsburgh.

Free Ride also has a program where you can volunteer time in the shop and use those hours to earn a bike or maintenance classes for free.  I've been meaning to participate ever since I moved here 21 months ago, and I finally volunteered for the first time and went to my first bike maintenance class (on derailleurs) earlier this month.  One of my goals for this year was to do their whole series of six classes, so I'm pleased to have started!

Another exciting biking-related thing was going on an underwear bike ride!  Hundreds of people did a 10-mile ride up and down hills, over bridges, past houses and restaurants, and even through one of Pittsburgh's many tunnels wearing nothing but underwear!  This happens monthly during the summers here, but this was the largest one yet and my first.  Beautiful night for it, and what fun!  

Murals of Pittsburgh, Part II

Update

I've been working for about two and a half months now as a lab tech in a paints/coatings development group at PPG Industries.  I have some administrative responsibilities (customer complaint tracking, cleanliness/efficiency initiative, other duties as assigned), but most of my time is spent in the lab.  This is no chemistry lab, mind you, but a paint lab.  Being in development, I get to work on a variety of paint formulations, but the basics stay the same: collect raw materials, mix up a small batch of paint, adjust the formula and remake the paint as many times as needed to obtain the right color or specifications, paint metal panels with said paint, put said painted panels through testing or cut them up into displays for a customer.

Probably the most useful outcome of this position for me will be the look I'm getting into industry.  Quite a bit different from the nonprofit/academic world I've been in.  I don't imagine I'll work in paints long-term, but I'm enjoying becoming familiar with how the company functions and I'm trying to pick up bits and pieces of chemistry along the way.  It'll take me a while longer to completely know my way around or to have a good sense of what goes into the production of the big batches of paint that actually get sold.

Even in the short time I've been at PPG, I've settled into a routine that makes me feel like I've been doing this for quite some time.  Working in a small-town suburb, driving to work every day, and getting to know coworkers with significantly different priorities than mine were all big adjustments at the beginning.  Surprising how quickly something can become the new normal.

Outside of work, my stressing about the growing number of adult-ish things I have to do has been punctuated by some novels, some trips to Indy, some newly learned Hindi phrases, some happy hours, some chilly walks, and a lot of snuggling up in blankets.