YesThatCasey's Journal

02/14/2014 22:03 #58684

Snowboarding

For the first time in at least 5 years, I was able to slide around a mountainside (ok, hillside). Michelle wound up driving us out there, and Tanya met us shortly after. Unfortunately, Tanya hurt herself pretty quickly and had to return to drinking at a cabin (not the worst alternative plan).

I couldn't believe how much I retained after such a long hiatus. I thought for sure I'd stumble the first time getting off the lift, but I didn't have an ounce of difficulty the entire day. Only fell twice while riding, and both were fairly minor. The conditions were pretty close to perfect.

After the first 8+ runs I realized that I could have been tracking my performance. Ran up to the car to get my phone, bought Ski Tracker, which is an awesome app:

I wish I had snagged a screenshot of the map, since it doesn't seem to save that after you end the session. :o( I also wish it pulled out lift/idle times, so I may look around for other apps next time I'm heading out there.

Bonuses of the day:

Phone interview for a position that I'm excited about (though not sure I did all that well...had just removed a way-to-tight ace bandage during the lunch break, and mind wasn't very focused)

And going on a bromantic trip to Florida.

Going to sleep well tonight

paul - 02/15/14 22:29
1 week to go.

02/11/2014 12:27 #58670

Allen Street Redux

So, tomorrow they are meeting to discuss the Allen Street redevelopment:

Along with Elmwood, I think this is one of the areas that has the greatest potential for ROI, and I'm going to try and attend. My thoughts on it below (which involve Wadsworth as well, which is unfortunately not a part of this project and gives me cause for concern). Much of it is geared towards increasing friendliness towards non-vehicular transportation, which I think should be encouraged for a drinking hot-spot.

- Extend bike path from Symphony Circle to Medical campus. This should be obvious, but after the debacle of Main Street, and the existing comments that mention a bike/pedestrian path between Washington and Oak but nothing of Allen, I'm worried the ball will be dropped again.

- Convert the street to one of the following: 1-way single lane (heading east, starting at Symphony Circle), 2-way with parking removed, or pedestrian zone. Seems safe to assume that only the first would be seriously considered.

The first two greatly improve the flow of traffic. Converting to 1-way would help with how difficult it is to use the parking lots adjacent to this street, allowing them to change to diagonal layout with cars reversing out instead of making the 20-point turn to exit going forward.

In the case of a pedestrian zone, Wadsworth could be connected to Days Park.

- Any additional space from the above conversion should be used to expand the sidewalk which is difficult to traverse during busy hours. Brick Bar, Nietzsche, Bend, and Hardware don't help with their patio's, but I doubt anything will be done about this.

- Convert College Street to 1-way going North, Mariner to 1-way going South, Park to 1-way North, and Peart St to 1-way South. The bottleneck created by (presumably) the selfishness of locals to avoid through-traffic creates a nightmare on Allen, and a dangerous environment for non-vehicle traffic.

- Increase bike rack access, hopefully incorporating an artistic theme for the area.

- Depending on some of the above decisions, implementing cobblestone may be beneficial, with elimination of curbs to improve bike/pedestrian travel.

- Extension of curbs at intersections of Delaware and Elmwood, though the latter may be less feasible due to the alignment. I find myself wondering if the Delaware intersection could be converted to a Roundabout considering its size (I can't recall where it becomes a 1-lane street).

- With Food Trucks clearly taking a permanent place in our city, it would be nice if there was a spot set up tailored to this business that would also generate revenue through a reservation system, although the amount of use it would see may not be worth it considering the limited real estate.

- Encouraging, perhaps commissioning, additional street art murals on non-historic buildings

YesThatCasey - 02/11/14 15:42
I thought about including trees in the list, but unless there is a significant increase in walkway size, space is an issue again. Trees are almost always a wise investment, but I think this is one of the few exceptions.

North Street bike lanes make no sense to me. You watch designated lanes to be along main thoroughfares where they get the most use and where mixed traffic is a problem. North could use them on top of Allen, especially considering how perilous that street is to bike on now, but if we are choosing only one Allen is the obvious decision; a sizable number of patrons bike to the area, best demonstrated by it being the starting point for Midnight Mass. As always though, it's the cultural problem in our area, where business insiders live on the false impression that bike traffic doesn't generate business.

Time is the only obstacle to my attendance. If you find yourself able to join just gimmie a shout.

joe - 02/11/14 12:40
Are you going? I wish I could!

I feel like bike lanes are going to be a no west of Main, since this year they are redoing North and adding bike lanes from the circle to Ellicott. :::link::: Business owners would probably scream about parking too.

I definitely agree with you about wider sidewalks though. All of the sidewalks and curbs are in such terrible shape, it's almost embarassing they would let a destination like Allen get like that. They should really change the code to allow patios without the fences, they take up so much space and make the sidewalk a lot less flexible.

I think sturdier, medium sized shade trees would be really nice too. The twigs the city plant get killed by cars, salt and people and end up never being replaced.

12/18/2013 20:18 #58466

Sporty Bling Bear!?

joe - 12/20/13 16:34
Wow for real - those glasses seem like a perfect match.

09/11/2013 22:07 #58067

Select photo dump from Scrody

joe - 12/20/13 16:36
This was such a great time. I still can't believe we swam in water that cold twice.

tinypliny - 09/13/13 22:11
what camera is this? {sung in the tone of what child is this... ;-}

YesThatCasey - 09/13/13 16:10
Usually I do, and almost all of my FB ones are. But, in this case, I was worried that waiting to sit down and post edit would turn into not posting them at all, so these are raw and uncut. Most of them came out pretty well thanks to the lighting in that area at the time.

And yeah, I'm the epitome of manliness in that picture haha

joe - 09/13/13 12:22
Wow these pictures are supa awesome Casey! Are these straight off the camera or do you post process?

And (e:paul) I literally shivered thinking about jumping in. I bet we could have pushed another minute or two though :::link:::

heidi - 09/12/13 17:37
These pix are beautiful! I'm glad there was an acceptable one of you chopping wood - so manly! ;-) I just wish we had gotten one of all six of us.

terry - 09/12/13 10:29
Awesome pics! Such a great job of capturing our time at the waterfall.

paul - 09/12/13 01:27
Its hard to appreciate how cold that water was. I literally thought I was going to seize up part way across the water.

paul - 09/12/13 00:08
Great pics. I wish my phone took such quality photos.

04/27/2013 11:50 #57584

Changing Room Analogy

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/26/swedish_high_school_institutes_gender_neutral_changing_room/

The solution is not to provide a separate space of equal rights, but to eradicate the barrier that is at best inconsequential, but often harmful, and certainly an impediment to progress.

Change the language to change the mental models and behavior.

Remove the barriers to empower all with one stroke.

metalpeter - 04/27/13 21:55
Interesting....

At first I agree with this idea... That it is good if you aren't comfortable changing in front of others .....

But that is what sham wow are for :) Or Ha for those that are blessed the two pack :) lucky bastards ........

But see that might not really be healthy lets us say for example I think I have a small dick cause I can't see it from being heavy ... or man boobs or back hair or unabrow ... I don't look like the football players... so I change by my self .... and just keep feeling that way... Well I hit the showers and notice I'm not as small as I thought I'm bigger then the entire weight lifting team or what ever....

Part of any sport or athletic stuff has a social aspect to it.... Getting along with others in the locker room is part of that......

But there is another question one has to ask who is this really for... in other words is it really for the people who don't want to see the gay or transgender people in the locker room.... or the fat girls or the people they don't like ?????

YesThatCasey - 04/27/13 21:12
lol, Matt. Though not so much to the approach that your school administrators took.

Paul, why do we have group changing rooms based on sex, instead of another bifurcation? Why is this particular arrangement appropriate in general, and even desirable for you? I doubt a majority of others share your belief that the odors in men's bathrooms are preferential, and we certainly wouldn't, as a society, support dividing changing rooms for that reason.

How is a private changing room, free of qualifications, not empowering to those who do not fit the specific models that we are relying on? Keep in mind that these models are constantly and exponentially evolving. Why is moving from a group changing room to a private model something that people are "hiding in", and not merely a sensible change to an archaic model? And what is the alternative that you would propose?

The fact that people will commonly feel uncomfortable (not ashamed) for a variety of reasons is why a private changing room (and eventually rest room, etc.) makes a lot of sense for all parties, and not just those who do not clearly fit the model that we currently enforce. This includes those hot people that you believe are going to congregate into our changing room relics (a belief I don't share).

I don't understand why you believe the order of these events is ironic.

matthew - 04/27/13 18:03
I was asked to change in a separate changing room while in highschool. I wasn't uncomfortable, but apparently I made the guys in my gym class feel uncomfortable. I assume it was not because of my sexuality but because of my perfectly beautiful penis. Jealous Bitches!

paul - 04/27/13 12:34
"According to student union member Camille Trombetti, the space isn’t just for transgender students, but for anyone at the school who would prefer a private place to change. "

How is having a private changing room empowering? Its just basically a closet to hide in. If they were really empowered they would be unashamed of their choices. Should everyone have their own private changing space built because they feel uncomfortable. What about the weak and skinny or the fat ones, etc. In the end you'd just a changing room full of the hottest people and a line for the uglys to get into the private one.

Would you honestly feel comfortable changing in a room with girls. Even if you say yes, I am sure many of them would not feel the same. I like that they are separate and its not because I am shy as you well know. For me just the smell of beauty products and hair spray, etc would send me over the edge.

I find it extra ironic that despite adding "hen" they still have gendered nouns but are working on gender free changing rooms.