Video Montage: Portland, OR to Portland, ME

It was a perfectly rainy day today and thus a perfectly spectacular day for making a video montage of my bike ride from Portland, OR to Portland, ME. You will recognize most of the photos from my blog entries, but you'll notice some newbies as well.

As this is the first video I've ever edited, bear with me on some of the rough transitions. With a few more bike rides under my belt, I'll become a pro at editing videos.

I hope you enjoy watching the video as much as I enjoyed making it!

Bob Is Famous!

Meet Bob.

Bob & his Surly Long Haul Trucker.
(From Bob's Facebook photos.)

I met Bob earlier this year. We both signed up for a bike maintenance class at Wright Brothers Cycle Works. When we rolled our bikes into the first class in January and noticed that we both had Surly Long Haul Truckers, Bob and I instantly bonded!

Bike Touring, Tiny Houses, & Slug Sex

There is nothing better than a mini-adventure that combines my two loves: bike touring and tiny houses.

For those of you who may not already know, I am in love with tiny houses. "Tiny houses" are small, mobile homes that are built to look like houses (as opposed to RVs). They are built on trailers, thus enabling the homes to be easily moved from one location to another.

I have been obsessed with tiny houses for a couple of years now. I came very close to building a tiny home last fall when I first left my job. Alas, I've decided to hold off for now, until I become a little less feral.

I first mentioned tiny houses to my friend, Claudia, a few weeks ago. She quickly fell in love with them, too. Because it can be difficult to fully appreciate tiny homes without actually having been in one, I suggested that Claudia and I go on a bike adventure to visit my friend, Candice, who owns a tiny house in Snohomish County.

Me & Claudia.

Hunting Typos to Save the World

Nom, nom, nom. Punctuation is critical. It can spare granny's life!

My appreciation for written language began as a youngster in Spelling class. I loved spelling, mostly because it came naturally to me.

My appreciation for language further developed in junior high, when I learned to map sentences in Ms. Limbos's Language Arts class. I discovered that as complicated as the English language may be, it's quite formulaic.

Don't Let Tomorrow Be Your Retirement

Take one: Holy smokes! Prudential gets it!

Er... scratch that. Try again.

Take two: Holy smokes! Prudential has a really good ad agency!

Yes, that's more like it.

A friend sent me a link to an online video. Before I could watch the video, I was subjected to a 31-second advertisement. [Roll eyes.]

"Oh, but wait!" said I. "That's Dan Gilbert, the social psychologist from Harvard and author of 'Stumbling on Happiness.' I like him! This advertisement is speaking to me!"

Mamihlapinatapai

Imagine two people at the end of a first date. Each wants to kiss the other, but neither wants to make the first move.

This is "mamihlapinatapai." Each person wishes that the other will offer something that they both desire. But both are unwilling to offer it themselves.

My Stuff Owns Me

Since returning from my bike trip, I moved three times within 22 days:

1. From the sailboat in Portland to a friend's home in Seattle, where I stayed for a week.
2. From the friend's home in Seattle to a friend's sailboat in Seattle, where I stayed for two weeks.
3. From the friend's sailboat in Seattle to a house in Seattle, where I will be housesitting for two months.

Each time I have moved, I have also moved my belongings.

I don't own that much stuff anymore, as I went thorough a fairly decent downsizing effort earlier this year. Everything I own now fits in my little Corolla...

...well...aside from the Corolla itself, Shirley (my bike, which fits on the car's bike rack), the house, a box of valuable mementoes (which I'm storing at a friend's place), and a few boxes of stuff from my youth (which are at my parent's house).

Call Me Ginger

What do you think of my new hairdo? From this point forward, call me "Ginger."

Sarah Ginger.

I will never forget the first day of grad school. There was a sweet, innocent Filipino woman in my Tax Research & Property Transactions class. Her name was "Ginger." As the professor called off the names on his roster, he commented that Ginger sounded like a stripper's name. Dear god almighty--have we no filters? I guess you can say whatever you want as long as you are tenured!

But I'm a Ginger now, too. Apparently acquiring red hair is accompanied by the acquisition of professional strip-tease skills. Lucky me--a new career falls into my lap!

Great Weekends Are Memorialized By The Knees

Sarah ain't had a proper summer if her knees ain't scraped-up'n'bruised.

This summer has mostly been filled with biking. And while I love biking, it keeps my knees a little too pristine.

Thankfully my friend, Phil, and I went on a backpacking trip this last weekend to the Cascades. This trip enabled me to roughin' up my knees for this summer.

The photo on the left shows my knees after the first time I went rock climbing, five years ago. The photo on the right shows my knees after this weekend. Granted my knees aren't nearly as beat up as they were after that rock climbing trip, but they've still earned some color to them.

Great memories are memorialized by body scars. The proof is in the black circles.