I've decided to bike to work, from about Central Square in Cambridge to Lexington. Altogether it's about 12.5 miles each way. Biking is much more economical (I would be spending about $8.40 on public transport every day) and time-saving (instead of sitting on the bus/train for two hours, I get up to three hours of exercise).
Here's the log of the first few days:
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Saturday, I took a test run to check out the roads. I left at noon, at the peak of the day's heat, and forgot sunscreen, and neglected to put on my sunglasses until I realized my eyes were burning. That was painful. I also went down a few wrong roads on the way there. Upon reaching the office, my nose bled. On the way back, I decided to take an alternate route (not Mass Ave), and got a little confused around Harvard Square, but not for much.
Way there: 1 hour 40 mins
Way back: 1 hour 20 mins
Yesterday, I left at 5:47 AM. In the afternoon, I left the office early, at 4 PM, in hopes of beating the traffic, but I seem to have just biked into it. It was also very hot then.
Way there: 1 hour 15 mins
Way back: 1 hour 30 mins
This morning, I left at 5:43 AM. A road in Lexington was blocked for paving, and I ended up taking an alternate route, which was wrong. I realized this after I'd gone a fifth of a mile off. I ended up working 11 hours today, leaving from the entrance of Vistaprint at 6:43 PM. A few drops of rain fell on my face not far into my ride, and I got a little scared given those flash downpours Boston has been having. So I biked vigorously, partially driven by fear, especially as I got closer to WILG and the drops got bigger.
Way there: 1 hour 20 mins
Way back: 1 hour exactly: 6:43-7:43 PM
Total: ~75 miles.
Tomorrow I have to take public transport because it's going to rain.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Commencement
For the past couple of weeks, I've been scuttling between Burton Conner and my hometown. A week at home, a week at BC, a week at home again. Today I moved back to the city for good, since my internship starts tomorrow.
During the week at BC, I tied up loose extracurricular ends, including finishing up a feature story (begun in February) about tenure for The Tech. Then that Friday, I volunteered for Commencement, getting my first glimpse of a day two years from now.
As one of the roughly twenty people assigned to street duty, I witnessed the healthy line outside Killian Hall at 7 AM. It was like a mini-Black Friday; I was told people had started lining up as early as 6, maybe even before. Commencement didn't begin until 10 AM or so. What a long day for a lot of family members.
In the course of the morning, I moved from furiously handing out programs as waves of people entering Killian Court flowed by me, to standing on the Memorial Drive sidewalk saying good-mornings and directing people toward the correct side of the rope that was set up to corral them into a line (next year, they just need an arrow sign).
Around 10:45, I was reappointed to the interior of the Court, where I spent the rest of the day saying, "Please sir could you take a seat? You're blocking everyone's view." One person would go up to the front of the section to take photos, and a pack, a nonstop stream, would follow, leading to a wall of bodies blocking the views of those sitting behind them (a problem of fairness) and packed aisles (a problem of safety).
During the week at BC, I tied up loose extracurricular ends, including finishing up a feature story (begun in February) about tenure for The Tech. Then that Friday, I volunteered for Commencement, getting my first glimpse of a day two years from now.
As one of the roughly twenty people assigned to street duty, I witnessed the healthy line outside Killian Hall at 7 AM. It was like a mini-Black Friday; I was told people had started lining up as early as 6, maybe even before. Commencement didn't begin until 10 AM or so. What a long day for a lot of family members.
In the course of the morning, I moved from furiously handing out programs as waves of people entering Killian Court flowed by me, to standing on the Memorial Drive sidewalk saying good-mornings and directing people toward the correct side of the rope that was set up to corral them into a line (next year, they just need an arrow sign).
Around 10:45, I was reappointed to the interior of the Court, where I spent the rest of the day saying, "Please sir could you take a seat? You're blocking everyone's view." One person would go up to the front of the section to take photos, and a pack, a nonstop stream, would follow, leading to a wall of bodies blocking the views of those sitting behind them (a problem of fairness) and packed aisles (a problem of safety).
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