. . . for a bike! But first things first.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted for 6 months. The basic jist of the last 6 months is thusly: I took the bar on July 26-28th. It was a gruelling three days (well two and a half). I can honestly say it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done (studying and taking the bar). I remember driving out of the garage at the convention center after it was all over and hardly recognizing the world. And of course there was joy and glee, but also confusion as to what I would spend all my waking hours doing.

I waited for 10 days or so for Cedar to return from his research cruise. I was very happy to see my sweet boo. I think he was glad to see me too. After he got back, we rested for a week. Cedar had been working very hard on the boat, and, well, I had taken the bar.

After that we went on our much awaited road trip. Read all about it here. Cedar took some amazing pictures (viewable on the previous link). I think we were on the trip for 2 weeks.

In September poor Cedar had to go back to work. I did some lolly gagging and waited for my bar results. I enjoyed the nice weather and schemed about what to get Cedar for his birthday.

I finally decided on a new bike. But I hadn’t decided what kind - I just knew that his old, heavy mountain bike with broken gears wouldn’t cut it anymore. But of course I’d been giving Cedar hints that I’d get him some camera lens or something. Well apparently he got worried about the whole camera hints and told me he’d prefer a bike. Well, I decided to tell him of the plan. That turned out to be a good idea, because then he decided that we couldn’t just get him a fancy new bike, then I’d be too slow on my mountain bike to keep up with him. We had to get me a new bike too for Cedar’s birthday. An excellent outcome!

A little before Cedar’s birthday we went bike shopping at Gregg’s Greenlake Cycle (the LBS = local bike shop. Bicyclists use lots of lingo). We decided on road bikes because we’d been watching the Tour de France for 4 years and learning more about road racing. But we also thought it would be a good way to exercise - a way that wouldn’t break our bodies quite like ultimate had. So we tried 5-6 bikes (various Bianchi, Specialized, and Trek’s). We road steel frames, aluminum, even a carbon bike (though not to actually buy it, just for kicks). We both ended up liking the Lemond Alp d’Huez the most. It is an aluminum frame with a carbon fork, seat stay, chain stay, and seat post. A picture:

That is the 2006 Alp d’Huez, we have the 2005. The only difference is that the white Lemond part is silver on our bikes.

So we started cycling and really loved it. I’ve got about 500 miles on my bike (Cedar’s probably the same). I would still be biking at least a few times a week, but it gets really cold on a bike when it is 37 degrees out. I’m hoping to have some heavy duty bike gear after Christmas.

I’ve learned that I have much to learn about cycling. I’m still trying to get my bike fit perfectly - the saddle fit is particularly difficult as it takes at least 20 minutes to see if a given saddle is uncomfortable, and sometimes an hour to see if it will cause numbness (a bad thing). Cedar and I might join a co-ed team and get competitive. But even if we don’t do that, I’ll be really glad I started biking. There is something really relaxing - almost meditative - when you get in a groove on the bike - not so much jouncing and jolting as running. I can ride for 3 hours whereas I could never run for 3 hours. Plus, there is so much geeky stuff to learn about biking! For example, a bike with only one gear, which often has no brakes and usually cannot have the crank turn independently of the rear wheel, meaning that you brake by using your legs to peddle slower, is called a “fixie.” A gallery of fixie bikes. In Seattle they are popular with young, shaggy looking men who never wear helmets and usually are wearing mostly black. Go figure.

So we did a lot of biking in September and October. Meanwhile, I passed the bar. Thank god. I also did some temporary work for an immigration law firm downtown. It was a good learning experience, and I ended up working a lot. From working there I realized that I couldn’t really tell if I wanted to focus my practice to immigration law and it didn’t seem wise to focus when I didn’t know what type of law I’d like to practice. So I did some thinking and decided that I’d try to find a position as an associate at a firm that was large enough to have a number of different practice areas. Typically new associates either do a few different kinds of work, or do litigation of some sort. That seemed like a pretty good way to start out as I could gain good skills and experience a few practice areas. I further decided that the important thing in finding a firm was to find one whose people I liked and which would treat me well.

So I’ve been networking and researching firms, keeping my eyes on job listings (of which there have been pretty few), and spending some time reading, exercising (running, sadly, not biking), and socializing. I did apply to a smallish downtown firm as a friend of mine knew someone there, and they were looking for a litigation associate. I still may get an interview there, but they are still making the decision as to what kind of help they need. Generally I’ve managed to stay upbeat and positive about the job search process, but I do have moments where I feel a bit forlorn.

Enough about the job search. Cedar and I went to West Virginia for Thanksgiving. We stayed there for 9 days and ate ourselves into oblivion. It was a really nice trip. It snowed about 3 inches, then 5 days later it was 60 degrees. Crazy! We saw Destiny’s (Cedar’s mom) Stardust Cafe in Lewisburg (website coming soon) which was beautiful and had so many yummy drinks and food.

The past two weekends Cedar and I have gone skiing/snowboarding at Stevens Pass and Whistler. Whistler has amazing scenery, though the snow wasn’t quite as good that weekend as it had been at Stevens. It is still very early in the season. Our friend Rhetick has a cabin at Whistler which is very nice (it’s available to rent). The Vancouver traffic almost killed us - it was awful, some tunnel was closed or something. I thought everything was supposed to be nice in Canada? See if I drive in that stupid country again.

And Christmas is upon us! My Dad and Stepmom will visit again this Christmas, so I expect we’ll have a merry time.

So, Merry Cookies, Happy Eggnog, and Sugarplum Greetings to you!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2005 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Adventures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.