tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31271542024-03-07T15:58:52.222-08:00randomesque...i solemnly swear that i am up to no good...Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.comBlogger1151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-61232272930317152962010-05-04T00:02:00.000-07:002010-05-04T00:08:44.735-07:00yup, i think it's time to resurrect this blog.<br /><br /><br />it's funny... it contains a lot of my past, past with which i may have wanted to disconnect with for some reason or another, but... can we really part with our own pasts? <br /><br />our lives are the sums of our decisions, and you can't un-make decisions. this blog contains a lot of my decisions... so it is a big part of my life. i feel the need to reclaim it. <br /><br />especially after googling "kat reinhart" and realizing that there are other bitches out there with my name making worse decisions than me. lol.<br /><br />__________<br /><br /><br />it won't truly be "uncensored"... like i thought it would... back when the internet was a secret place that no one knew about... <br /><br />but on the other hand, i think that it's better than just hiding all of my thoughts in paper journals that no one else gets to read. if you have the time to go through my archives, feel free... it's all shit that i wrote. the real kat reinhart, please stand up...<br /><br />moar to follow. hello world, i'm glad to be back.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-11556374831841727482010-05-03T23:24:00.001-07:002010-05-03T23:24:51.146-07:00i hereby proclaim this blog... undead.(eom)Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-15663003598619763622008-09-15T11:35:00.000-07:002008-09-15T11:37:19.131-07:00A few months ago, Tessa left a comment on this blog asking if it is dead. <br /><br />Yes and no. My writer's block has combined with so many years of blogging here at the same place to leave me unable/unwilling/unwanting to update this one. <br /><br />So I'm starting a new one: <a href="http://oregonkat.blogspot.com">Kat in Oregon</a>.<br /><br />Pls update your bookmarks/RSS feeds/etc.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-46282381757417104932008-02-06T18:55:00.000-08:002008-02-06T18:57:07.448-08:00<a href="http://tinyurl.com/2h8juv">where in the world is osama bin laden?</a><br /><br />morgan spurlock? motherfucking hero.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-64023908980559960152008-02-06T10:32:00.000-08:002008-02-06T10:33:45.479-08:00from nova's twitter the other day"is anything more subversive than being an optimist in the face of harrowing adversity?"<br /><br />i like it.<br /><br />more posting later, quite likely. but for now, work to do.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-12858121910111859742008-01-06T16:14:00.001-08:002008-01-06T16:14:45.923-08:00forget r&rwhat you really need when you're under the weather is b^3:<br /><br />books and beer in a bath.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-38222393964728709112008-01-04T16:15:00.000-08:002008-01-04T16:49:04.540-08:00two thousand and what?so suddenly it's a new year, i haven't blogged in decades, and i'm home early from work because the persistent cough i had over vacation has turned back into something that makes me not feel good; the hacking and the mild nausea from the post-nasal drip has left me completely exhausted. i managed to crawl from the bed to the couch around 8:30 this morning, and then proceeded to sleep until 10:30, roll into work around 11, and then leave promptly when i was done with all i needed to do (timepoint + group meeting) and take the bus home. i'm planning on hopping back into the sack for a few hours here in a second, but i thought i'd blog in the meanwhile, since i never seem to do that anymore. <br /><br />2008. january. three times i've written and deleted this paragraph, and i just can't figure out what to say about 2008. i guess i'll just leave it at this: everything is lined up for a year of hard work that pays off. my goals for 2008: get into grad school, get at least one paper, and preferably 2 or more (plus a lead author one), accepted to a journal; maintain good relationships with all the amazing people i've met in the last year or four; and keep my fingers crossed for the right set of conditions to make another attempt at the mountain that kicked my ass last spring. in short: to do more of the things i'm constantly thinking about doing. will that apply to blogging? we'll see.<br /><br />and now, since i'm far too tired and lazy to write more paragraphs about what i've been doing, i'm going to forgo sentence structure and just start listing things.<br /><br />been reading:<br /><u>middlesex</u>, by jeffrey eugenides. (quite possibly the best book i've ever read; read it together with <u>mutants</u> by armand marie leroi for maximum impact)<br /><u>night watch</u> series, by sergei lukyanenko. just an awesome fantasy world, fun read but not fluffy.<br /><u>do androids dream of electric sheep?</u> by philip k. dick. not sure if i'll finish it; probably not dick's best story, but with the new cut of blade runner out i felt like i needed to at least give it a try....<br /><u>requiem for a dream</u> by hubert selby, jr. fucked up book. almost definitely won't finish it; almost as unitelligible as <u>naked lunch</u>. more readable to modern audiences than <u>finnegan's wake</u> though.<br /><br />currently listening: live at kexp volume 3. it's good. you can't buy it anymore.<br /><br />lots of new flickr photos up, but i'm too tired to go through them and post a few right now. expect some photoblog posts soon. in the meantime just <a href="http://photos.flickr.com/saladspork/">go look at them if you want</a>.<br /><br />ok. i think it's naptime.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-63387124362691307332007-11-24T11:42:00.000-08:002007-11-24T12:38:02.573-08:00turkey day<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/2057990020/" title="DSC03918.JPG by surlykat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/2057990020_f80c8b3b6e.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC03918.JPG" /></a><br />thanksgiving was pretty successful, i'd have to say.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/2057988264/" title="DSC03912.JPG by surlykat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2361/2057988264_8bbf488f02.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC03912.JPG" /></a><br />gregg cleans up alright, it turns out... despite all my worrying, he managed to come through and not just survive my family but even managed to impress them. Macallan scotch and being a closet Coug for the win.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/2057206557/" title="DSC03922.JPG by surlykat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2410/2057206557_3ffd1e803f.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC03922.JPG" /></a><br />all in all not a bad turkey day. <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/2057228359/" title="DSC03948.JPG by surlykat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2404/2057228359_5d978b2a3b.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC03948.JPG" /></a>Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-49731094415414023472007-11-22T10:11:00.000-08:002007-11-22T10:22:31.557-08:00giving thanksit's that holiday again, the one on which we are supposed to reflect and give thanks for all that we have. i have plenty to be thankful for, to be sure, this year more than others, it seems. i'll spare you the list, but needless to say i do not live a life of need. <br /><br />this year, thanksgiving is going to be an adventure; not only am i bringing the new boyfriend to meet my family, but we are having a huge dinner with 18 people. i've never had a thanksgiving that large, and i'm not sure i've ever seen 18 people crammed into my grandparents' house, but it'll be fun. <br /><br />we're going to have:<br />my grandparents (all 3 surviving)<br />my parents, my brother, my sister<br />myself, the boy<br />aunt and uncle (mom's older sister and her husband)<br />aunt, uncle and cousin (mom's younger brother, his wife and their 6-year-old)<br />aunt (dad's younger sister), her 11-year-old daughter<br />aunt's fiancee and his 24-year-old son.<br /><br />and that's just the people, that's not the food. there'll be more than enough food, i hope. <br /><br />should be interesting.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-11880404615529187652007-11-09T18:32:00.000-08:002007-11-09T18:44:31.614-08:00early novemberand we're a third of the way through november now. past the midpoint between the equinox and the solstice, so more than a quarter of the way through the dark part of the year, and coming into the darkest. i kind of enjoy it, though, when it's pitch black by 5:45. except for the whole commuting in the dark thing... makes me glad i have good lights on my bike. (thanks in no small part to a certain <a href="http://www.rideyourbike.com/greggsbio.html">someone</a> who makes sure i am well illuminated.)<br /><br />i've never been particularly prone to seasonal affective disorder; in fact, some of the deepest depths of my depression were during the summer. the lack of light doesn't seem to affect much other than my sleep schedule; however, with other factors at work on my sleep schedule these days i have found myself out of bed by 7:30 and out the door before 8:30 most mornings, instead of ignoring the alarm clock through 10 snooze cycles and bombing down the hill at 9:00, then pretending to be on time to work. plus, the mornings are still nice and light right now, so it's like i'm wasting daylight if i'm not up and at 'em before 8.<br /><br />grad school application deadlines are rapidly approaching; i'm trying not to panic. they'll get done, i'm sure, it's just a matter of sitting down and writing. and filling out damn online forms. harvard wants not only a transcript, but also a form-based enumeration of all the classes i took in my major field of study, in related fields of study, and in mathematics. plus $90, by credit card, for the privilege of applying to their university. it is where i want to go, though, and i'm really excited by the research going on there, so I'll buck up and pay the fees. I'll just bitch and moan about it in the process.<br /><br />it's a three day weekend, which is awesome, and which also means that my new sweetie and i will have a day off in common this weekend. this has never happened before; it should be fun.<br /><br />and, completely unrelated, here's a picture from the latest episode in bicycle hooliganery:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1935550570/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2153/1935550570_1371499d3c.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC03638.JPG" /></a>Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-74036024638895499812007-10-31T09:14:00.000-07:002007-10-31T09:26:27.653-07:00seasonal obscenitiesmy morning commute is fun, but it can be harrowing at times. today was no exception - i had no fewer than 4 close calls on my way in. one or two of them were my fault - i was not paying attention and was irritated at lights for being red - but the others were caused by drivers being inconsiderate. like when the bus decides to pass me just as the road narrows and cars are parked in my travel path, forcing me to move left. or the jackass whose boat was hanging out into the intersection long after the light had changed. <br /><br />being that it's halloween, the phrase which popped into my head to yell (i usually don't actually yell, i just mutter, or think rude things at drivers) was not the usual "eat a dick!", but the more seasonal "eat a VAMPIRE dick!"<br /><br />i don't know where i come up with these things. i think that riding with other aggressive riders makes me more inclined to ride like a bat out of hell, which will probably come up and bite me in the ass someday. until that day, though, i just keep in mind: rubber side down!Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-4675998005464674042007-10-29T17:51:00.000-07:002007-10-29T17:55:31.759-07:00tessa saysi need to update my blog. so here it is, blog update. :p<br /><br />she's probably referring to something specific that she wants me to post about, but i think i'm going to be oblique about it and not say anything direct. ha! take that, tessa.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1793025225/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/1793025225_835d709816.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC03480.JPG" /></a><br />in other news, life is good, the weather is getting cold but not too terribly rainy, and i have a shitload of work to get done in the next week. it's coming along, but essays refuse to write themselves. which is kinda frustrating, especially when there's other stuff i'd rather be doing.<br /><br />also in other news, my cousin krissy got engaged over the weekend! congratulations to her and her fiance, corey. i think they'll probably make it. he is a great guy.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-65489499471143904762007-10-19T22:25:00.000-07:002007-10-19T22:33:20.450-07:00it's wetand suddenly october is half over, and november is quickly approaching. it's been wet, warm and wet, the last few days, and we've had some decent winds too. this is what happens in seattle during la nina, evidently.<br /><br />i'm really falling in love with this city all over again this year. it makes me very sad that i will probably be leaving it in less than a year.<br /><br />we've entered a season of lots of work, work and stress. it seems like it happens every fall, things just get busy and hard. but at the same time, i'm really enjoying life, and trying to live every moment of it. it's put me outside on my bike a lot, but at the same time it's keeping me from a lot of the work that i need to do. <br /><br />but for now, i'm going to go enjoy the fact that i can sleep in tomorrow. one of my favorite things, sleeping.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-33673435376757348192007-10-09T20:59:00.000-07:002007-10-09T21:06:39.679-07:00reduce carbon!so i just had an extremely nerdy revelation: all this talk of "reducing carbon" is, well, accurate. <br /><br />we want to reduce carbon. as in, the opposite of oxidizing it. <br /><br />now, i don't know how many of you remember high school chemistry and the concept of REDOX, but i'll try to make it simple. When we're talking about carbon (which cycles throughout the atmosphere, from plants photosynthesizing CO2 into sugars and other organisms breaking it back down), oxidation is the process that animals do (breaking it apart from other atoms and attaching it to oxygen), and reduction is the process that plants do. Anything that takes energy from carbon-based materials, be them hydrocarbons such as those found in gasoline, or simple sugars or even proteins that animals eat, is oxidizing the carbon. It's outputting CO2. Processes which remove CO2 from the atmosphere (which, last time I checked, all the environmentalists were advocating) are reducing carbon.<br /><br />So Al Gore is right when he says that we need to reduce carbon. We need to reduce more carbon than we're reducing right now, that's for sure.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-26018642795067654842007-10-08T21:40:00.000-07:002007-10-09T08:28:10.161-07:00blockwhy is it that when i most need to write, i am least motivated and least able to focus on writing? i know it's not panic time yet (which may be why i'm not particularly focused yet), but i still know i should be working on many of the things i have due in the next couple of months. instead, i just sit here staring at my keyboard, noticing just how dirty it has become (designed by highly trained engineers at apple, it seems, specifically to collect dirt and crumbs and skin cells) and not allowing it to be a tool in the formation of my thoughts into words.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-66853038723686664362007-10-06T15:46:00.001-07:002007-10-06T15:58:19.318-07:00cyclocross!So I rode in my first cyclocross race today, and I have to say: it was EXTREMELY fun. Aside from the fact that I had to haul myself out of bed at 7:15 this Saturday morning, it was a good time. My friend Matthew races too, and was nice enough to give me and my bike a ride to the race (up in Kenmore) so I didn't have to leave hella early and ride my bike there. <br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cyclocross">Cyclocross</a> is a different kind of bike racing: instead of riding on pavement, you're riding on grass, dirt, gravel and even occasionally sand. Plus there are barriers, where you have to dismount and jump over (with your bike) and get back on and ride, all without stopping. I'm not so good at this part yet, so I did end up kind of stopping a little on the remount a few times, but I am getting the hang of the dismount. Not that I'm fast, but it was mostly just hella fun. The barriers and the varied terrain of course make CX slower than road racing, but the top performers are often the same people and are by no means less fit than road racers. Also, at this one at least, there was a beer garden (bonus!) and Matt offered to buy the first beer for anyone in our bike club that rode and finished the race (double bonus!) So after my race (which was first) and the mens' equivalent race (in which a few of my friends were riding, and which was second) we all stood around in the beer garden heckling and cheering on the later, faster, better racers. <br /><br />The best part about doing a CX race is that you can eat whatever you want afterwards. Because really, spending 40 minutes (which was how long my race was; i think i came in around 39:00) at or near your maximum heart rate, riding a bike up and down hills and running and jumping barriers is a good workout and burns hella calories.<br /><br />I ended up finishing 8th out of 15 women in my category; not a bad showing for my first race. My average lap time was 9:35, while the women who won were closer to 7:30, but... like I said, being my first race and being as out of shape as I am (trip to HI, no bike...) I think I did pretty darn well. <br /><br />After the race, Matt needed to stop at REI, so I tagged along and once again demonstrated my inability to enter that store and exit without spending over $100. OTOH, I picked up some much-needed gear (floor pump; front light; new tubes) and only one overpriced fun gadget - a heart rate monitor watch. So now, if I'm wearing the chest strap sensor, I can see what my heart is doing at all times, and make my workouts more efficient. Hopefully the fun gadgetry will make me more inclined to actually work out, rather than just riding with my <s>beer</s>bike club twice a week. I can see CX being a really fun way to keep in shape this winter... and who knows, after a few more races, I might actually get faster.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-6518598121546791352007-10-03T08:10:00.000-07:002007-10-03T08:20:52.545-07:00i love seattlebecause only in seattle can four semi-randomly selected members of a given bike club, standing around enjoying tropical drinks in chilly weather, discuss <a href="http://xkcd.com/323/">the latest xkcd comic</a> and not have to explain to a single party present either the nature of the webcomic (because everyone reads it) or the joke (because everyone has experienced the ballmer peak, firsthand).Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-12579245244404093252007-09-28T11:34:00.000-07:002007-09-28T11:46:20.100-07:00it's fall in seattlei left perpetual summer (albeit a slightly cloudy one) around 9:30 last night and arrived in wet, chilly autumn at 6:30 this morning. the sun has since come out, but it's very definitely the dark half of the year; yesterday at this time the sun was directly overhead and now it's clear over *there*.<br /><br />the fact that the sun is out has made it harder for me to sleep as i was planning this morning; damn east-facing apartment. i did catch a few z's on the plane, but they were not peaceful cozy z's, they were uncomfortable and slightly paranoid. (i've been having wacky dreams the last few nights; wonder if it's the full moon.) <br /><br />oh, and to add to the complaint pile: the one working USB port on my laptop seems to have given way, meaning all the pictures i haven't yet uploaded to flickr (and the rest of the 680someodd i took on the trip which i wasn't going to subject the entire world to) are in limbo on that computer. i guess i'll take it into a genius and see what they have to say... but according to brian it could be the motherboard, so it might just not be worth fixing. i'll have to get firewire devices or something.<br /><br />anyway, i'm going to read now, in hopes that it'll eventually make me sleepy and i can get a nap in before critical mass this evening. it's been too long since i've ridden a bike; to get to go out and do it with a fuckton of people today is just too exciting to pass up.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-52724078808869657662007-09-20T23:08:00.001-07:002007-09-20T23:17:37.064-07:00it is a big islandso i'm here on the island of hawai'i, the big island, so big that all the other Hawaiian islands could fit on top of it. so far i've seen the town of kailua-kona, and the northern half of the island. <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1411200086/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1429/1411200086_957cfe3c52.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC02645.JPG" /></a><br />the sun is huge here, especially at sunset. (the zoom lens doesn't hurt either.)<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1416048816/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1374/1416048816_72155d4cfd.jpg" width="300" height="400" alt="DSC02699.JPG" /></a><br />so are the waves.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1415170825/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1381/1415170825_ff5a3be225.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC02686.JPG" /></a><br />the landscapes are so varied, within a half hour drive you can go from completely barren desert to lush green rainforest... <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1416051286/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1328/1416051286_4764b6cfb9.jpg" width="300" height="400" alt="DSC02679.JPG" /></a><br />there are so many microclimates on this island it's amazing. you can see many of them at once from some lookout points... and the sunsets over the ocean are always stunning.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1416042548/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1214/1416042548_81c321a53d.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC02768.JPG" /></a>Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-44678933270107432132007-09-16T12:17:00.001-07:002007-09-16T12:29:46.468-07:00volcanicso yesterday i hiked across the crater of haleakala, the volcano that makes up the east half of maui. it was a pretty awesome journey, 12 miles across the crater of a "dormant" (not technically, since it erupted in 1790, but dormant enough) volcano. "haleakala" means "house of the sun", and according to hawaiian legend, it was the place where maui, the demigod, went to lasso the sun so that his mother could have more daylight. <br /><br />i'm in the process of uploading photos from the trip, but the internets are slow here at the hostel since it's free wifi, so it might take awhile. so for now, have a picture of the sunset on friday night, off my friend Cass's parents' lanai in napili, on the northwest coast of maui:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1393266212/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1104/1393266212_563f9e0e78.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC02379.JPG" /></a>Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-25206735151670780762007-09-13T22:29:00.000-07:002007-09-13T22:43:44.910-07:00maui.so i arrived here in maui about an hour ago, after a long damn plane ride and a quick trip from the airport to my hostel. it's a pretty sweet place here, i've got a bed in a room with 4 other women, and the common areas of the hostel are pretty well populated. <br /><br />no time for photography tonight, unfortunately... we flew in at sunset, and being on the east side of the mountains it got dark pretty quickly. it's also cooled off; it was 90 and muggy when we landed, and the airport is pretty much all open air, which makes it a bit warm.<br /><br />i'm probably going to crash out pretty early tomorrow, since i'm still on pacific time, rather than hawaii time. it's a 3 hour time difference, so it's like flying from new york to seattle. tired early, awake early (or so i'm hoping). maybe i'll be up in time to catch the sunrise? maybe not. we'll see.<br /><br />anyway, i think i'm going to get a little reading or maybe some writing done, and then crash out pretty early. it'll take me a few days to get adjusted to island time...Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-81403919145711921842007-09-10T23:09:00.000-07:002007-09-10T23:27:37.850-07:00bryce a. lewis, 19 years oldwas the cyclist killed by the dump truck on friday. he had just moved here from colorado less than a month ago, and was in love with the city. he loved riding bikes, and fixing bikes, and was also an artist and a musician.<br /><br />he was just a kid. this is so fucking tragic.<br /><br />i spoke with his roommate last night, down at the crash site. she is also the girlfriend of caleb, the other cyclist. all i could do was reach out to her... i had no words. i cannot imagine the grief she must feel, and all of his family and friends. not having known him, grief is not part of my direct experience with this tragedy, though i do feel a sense of loss. <br /><br />as i stood there and snapped pictures of the memorial, i couldn't help but feeling a bit guilty for capturing this moment of grief... as the young woman knelt to light candles next to a sign which read "BRYCE WE LOVE + MISS YOU SO MUCH", a tragic and painful smile on her face...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1354121502/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1322/1354121502_87b73ddb55_b.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC02314.JPG" /></a><br /><br />and stenciled on the street, in the bike lane on eastlake and the right lane on fuhrman:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1354114598/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1035/1354114598_4b0ed873ee_o.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC00079.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saladspork/1353227689/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/1353227689_5eeb892e12_o.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="DSC00080.JPG" /></a><br /><br />my conversation with lauren did make me feel better about the slightly activist nature of the response to his death: his family and his friends are 100% behind our efforts to raise the visibility of this horrible tragedy. the more people know about what happened here, the less likely it is to happen again. <br /><br />ride safe, boys and girls. cyclists and drivers.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-25631883659995280612007-09-07T20:50:00.000-07:002007-09-10T23:25:20.728-07:00overwhelmed. a strange, crushing emptiness pressing me into my chair.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/stories/NW_090707WAB_eastlake_dump_truck_bicycle_TP.afffaf76.html">cyclist killed by dump truck</a> at an intersection I cross every single morning.<br /><br />an intersection I can't reasonably avoid crossing. every day. a cyclist, riding in the bike lane, obliterated by a dump truck making a right turn.<br /><br />what's the answer? what could have been done? do we need a special bike signal at that bridge, like there is by the fremont bridge? no right turns allowed from eastlake to fuhrman? <br /><br />a dedicated right turn lane, with a dashed stripe and an arrow? (hey, now there's an idea!)<br /><br />stupid fucking trucks to use their damn turn signals, and be aware of the fact that there's a bike lane?<br /><br />or stupid fucking cyclists to slow down, ride more carefully and for fuck's sake don't ride without a front brake* in this city FTLOG!!??!11? (this is seattle, we have hills. this isn't a fucking velodrome.)<br /><br />(*edit: he did have a front brake. he was not wearing a helmet, but it's unlikely a helmet would have helped in this situation.)<br /><br />this hurts me. physically. fresh from my first major crash (bike vs. pavement, no other vehicles involved, thankfully), recovering from the inevitable loss of confidence brought on by some minor road rash and a bit of a bonk, only to have this happen. on a route i take every single day.<br /><br />did i know him? have i ever seen someone on that bike at a ride?<br /><br />how many more senseless deaths will it take? <br /><br />christfuck. words cannot express.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-63718317748155547602007-09-07T09:34:00.000-07:002007-09-07T09:55:48.207-07:00it's fridayit was brought to my attention last night that I haven't been blogging with much regularity recently. As I explained (and as my archives will attest), i tend to go through phases as far as blogging is concerned, and i've learned the hard way about divulging too much in this seemingly protected forum. When I'm blogging less, it generally means that I'm living more, and the past few weeks have been no exception.<br /><br />August was a busy month, and the first few days of September have offered little reprieve from the insanity. Between putting together a show of my photography (all month at the copper vine, 1315 E Pine, check it out if you're in seattle! better yet, come to my opening, 6-9pm, next Tues. the 11th), taking pictures with my bike for the bike girls' calendar, taking the damn GRE, and work, I've been booked. Solid. <br /><br />It's not goign to get better over the next few months, but it will be slightly less insane for a few weeks. I leave in less than a week for more than 2 weeks on islands far from any continent, during which time I hope to work on my tan and write my grad school application statements. <br /><br />today, however, is no reprieve: I've got 17 batches of fish in the incubator, at various stages of treatment. If all goes well I should get a good dose-response curve from one of the mutants we've been working with, and possibly find a few heterozygous pairs of another. then I have to take down other fish for a screening run I'm doing next week, take pictures of fish slices so that the EM guy knows what he's looking at, scan negatives from this week's EM runs... oh, and see if the agarose I need came in, and if it did, run out on a gel the products from yesterday's PCR.Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127154.post-19371016846782665242007-08-24T19:19:00.000-07:002007-08-24T19:20:52.981-07:00zomg<a href="http://stripteasecomic.com/d/20001024.html"><img src="http://stripteasecomic.com/comics/20001024.gif" width=400></a><br /><br />someone needs to tell people to stop making webcomics. i do need to get things done besides read webcomics...Kat Reinharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02440508556409967330noreply@blogger.com0