Al Gore Disciple
I'm getting more settled by the day, and once everything is in place, I'll post some pictures (though no reprise of the photo tour, sorry). The move wasn't so bad, since I hired a company to do all the heavy lifting. I also had Andrew directing things on his end (thanks, man!) while I waited for the cable guy on mine. I can't imagine ever moving myself again.
I'm still adjusting to having my own place. It is pretty damn lonely here, though I suspect/hope that will subside somewhat with the start of school. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep myself busy unpacking, organizing, setting up my new laptop and router, putting my new Ikea furniture together, and buying kitchen appliances and accessories. Moving sure does entail buying a lot of stuff, but I guess that's the nature of getting a place to oneself after having lived with 14 housemates and sharing all their stuff for seven years.
My big purchase today was a new bike. It was about four years overdue, considering how short my commute was to Google, but driving was simply too convenient. No traffic, plentiful parking right next to my building. But now, driving to school would be decidedly inconvenient, which was just the motivation I needed (as opposed to watching An Inconvenient Truth, which didn't significantly change my lifestyle, I'm ashamed to say). So I walked into the shop right across the street, and ten minutes later, rode out with this beauty, the Giant FCR1:
Bikes are freakin' expensive these days, but I found this one on sale, and it provides a smooth, fast ride, unlike the POS I had at Stanford. After I graduated, I left that unlocked in front of Castaño; the idea of selling it to some sap, even for twenty bucks, didn't sit right with me.
Now that I'm sporting my first bike since then, I won't have to deal with the heinous parking situation on campus, or the traffic getting there through the Caldecott. The Lafayette Bart station is less than a mile down the street, and a 20-minute Bart ride drops me off at the station adjacent to campus.
Downtown Lafayette is also just a short bike ride away (actually it's a half-mile walk, but I'll bike anyway), and it has everything I'd need in an average week, so hopefully my only drives will be to see friends or Stanford football games on the occasional free weekend. I bet I could go a month without filling up, maybe more. Al Gore would be so proud. I even bought a lamp with an energy-efficient bulb!
Tomorrow's task: finding a sofa. It's not quite saving the environment, but after all the biking I'm gonna be doing, I'll need a place to lounge.
I'm still adjusting to having my own place. It is pretty damn lonely here, though I suspect/hope that will subside somewhat with the start of school. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep myself busy unpacking, organizing, setting up my new laptop and router, putting my new Ikea furniture together, and buying kitchen appliances and accessories. Moving sure does entail buying a lot of stuff, but I guess that's the nature of getting a place to oneself after having lived with 14 housemates and sharing all their stuff for seven years.
My big purchase today was a new bike. It was about four years overdue, considering how short my commute was to Google, but driving was simply too convenient. No traffic, plentiful parking right next to my building. But now, driving to school would be decidedly inconvenient, which was just the motivation I needed (as opposed to watching An Inconvenient Truth, which didn't significantly change my lifestyle, I'm ashamed to say). So I walked into the shop right across the street, and ten minutes later, rode out with this beauty, the Giant FCR1:
Bikes are freakin' expensive these days, but I found this one on sale, and it provides a smooth, fast ride, unlike the POS I had at Stanford. After I graduated, I left that unlocked in front of Castaño; the idea of selling it to some sap, even for twenty bucks, didn't sit right with me.
Now that I'm sporting my first bike since then, I won't have to deal with the heinous parking situation on campus, or the traffic getting there through the Caldecott. The Lafayette Bart station is less than a mile down the street, and a 20-minute Bart ride drops me off at the station adjacent to campus.
Downtown Lafayette is also just a short bike ride away (actually it's a half-mile walk, but I'll bike anyway), and it has everything I'd need in an average week, so hopefully my only drives will be to see friends or Stanford football games on the occasional free weekend. I bet I could go a month without filling up, maybe more. Al Gore would be so proud. I even bought a lamp with an energy-efficient bulb!
Tomorrow's task: finding a sofa. It's not quite saving the environment, but after all the biking I'm gonna be doing, I'll need a place to lounge.
posted by Chang Kim at Monday, August 13, 2007
2 Comments:
dude after you graduated i found an unlocked bike outside castano and sold it for 60 bucks!
If you ever rode that bike, even you would have had moral issues selling the piece of crap to anyone but a Hewlett, and a Hewlett wouldn't buy it.
Post a Comment
<< Home