A Good Weekend

It didn't seem like so much, but over spring break I rode five of seven days, for a total of 146 miles. There was my 35 mile jaunt to Birch Bay, then on Saturday I rode the Samish Way hillclimb past Lake Padden Park, starting from Ferndale. I was glad to have low hill-climber gears, but the climb seemed easier than I remembered, and easier than I expected. I crossed over the freeway, but skipped the Lake Samish loop, turning right at the Shell gas station, to Old Lake Samish Way, to ride the very fun, fast, pretty roller-coaster through the woods downhill to Chuckanut Drive, making a hilly 40+ mile ride. Sunday I took an easy 20-mile round trip to my favorite brunch place, The Bagelry. I started off this week with a 25-mile errand-running ride, but today, Tuesday was rainy, and also the first day of spring quarter - back to school.

I did a little bit of spring cleaning over break, too. All the time I've been so poor, I've been skimping on expensive little things like light bulbs. I had been using only two of those new eco-green curly-bulbs in the fixture above the bathroom sink, but I splurged and replaced them with four 60-watt soft-whites. Now the bathroom is the brightest room in my apartment.

After my final exam I stopped in at Best Buy to celebrate, and bought a new vacuum cleaner. The one I chose only weighs fifteen pounds, but came in a box about three and a half feet high and 18-20 inches on the sides. It was too awkward to carry home on the bus, so I asked to have it delivered. Naturally, they couldn't just send me the one from the store, it had to be ordered from the distribution center. Naturally it was mis-routed to Illinois, where the container was delayed overnight before being shipped to Bellingham, so my vacuum cleaner could sit in the UPS distribution center here over the weekend. I wasn't home when UPS came on Monday, but they delivered this morning, eleven days after I visited the store.

It was worth the wait, though. My old vacuum, left over from my college days, has a quart-sized bag, very weak suction, and the only attachment left is the two-inch wide upholstery nozzle. I had been starting to notice some vague sinus-infection-type symptoms which I blame on not being able to vacuum properly for three years, but I think my cat and I will both be healthier and happier soon.