Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Gearing Up

School is right around the corner and I am nowhere near ready. Holy crap, it's coming up fast. Orientation starts on the 15th, 2 weeks before classes, which sounds benign enough, except that there's a case competition during orientation which select the team to represent the U of O at the PAC 10 business plan competition or some such. Damn! These guys don't waste their time. So from the gun, before classes, it's on. Big time. I'm just figuring out when I'll be squeezing in my bike rides.

One good thing about the new school year is that I can justify some new toys. The lady hooked me up with a sweet new bag (Ortlieb waterproof), crayons, glue sticks, and the other essentials. I got a new netbook for taking notes - Linux rules (after a little hacking). Microsoft will be history as a dominant OS in 10-12 years, mark my words. I even scored one of the last two remaining open bike lockers on campus - so I can ride a reasonable training bike and not dash outside between classes to nervously check on it. My master school-bike-riding plan includes keeping a folding stool and a spare pair of shoes in the locker so I can switch the essentials right on the spot, then cruise on down to class in the AM.

The only hole in the entire scheme is the coffee situation. Now, at work, we currently have a supply of free coffee, albeit it swill. It might be Folgers, it might be some generic blend, but it's crap. Mostly this is because of the flat bottom filters and shitty drip machines - but that's for another discussion. So, down by my office, I have a nice grinder (gotta remember to take that one home) and an espresso machine. One of my co-workers also recently brought in a french press. So we are pretty much set. When in desperate need, I can also cruise over to the closest coffee joint and score a hit. However, I have no recourse for the poor-student-no-espresso-machine situation that I am about to enter. 3 bucks for a cup of joe at the bean joints is out of the question. In all likelyhood, so is plugging the espresso maker into the wall in the back of the Lillis Hall classrooms. So I am going to be dusting off the thermoses (is the plural thermii?) and for the time being I will have to settle for adding a couple of pounds of liquid to the contents of my messenger bag on my commute. Not such a big deal, I guess, but how am I going to carry the cream?

2 comments:

Miriam. said...

Put your thermii in a large ziplock bag when you commute. It sucks balls when it leaks in your bag. And they pretty much all leak.

g said...

oh good point, will do. that would have sucked - kill a laptop with coffee.