What more can I say?

[raybear]

I had a choice to make this morning -- coffee in a to-go cup and walk to the train, or forego coffee and ride my bike to the train as originally planned. I went with the latter. Can we talk for a moment about how out of shape I am? I mean, on Saturday evening I had a spontaneous sprint across Wicker Park and I was pleased that I wasn't out of breath at all, but I don't engage in any aerobic activity on a regular basis. So yesterday when I got home, I barely got five blocks on my bike before I started finding my way back home. Part of it might have been panic at the thought of riding on Western when I'm still paranoid about about the toe cages -- I'm sticking to side streets for awhile.

So, this morning I rode to the Western train stop. I'm starting small -- riding to the train in the morning and home from the train in the evening. Maybe in a couple weeks I can attempt to ride all the way downtown. Although after my exhaustion at riding ten blocks this morning, perhaps I should reassess. Don't worry, I'll keep at it. But I'll need to adjust my coffee drinking schedule so I can drink my cup at home or buy a thermos with a sealed lid that I can throw in my bag.

Last night was deemed a night off by me and I did zero school work. I watched the movie Pieces of April, I made dinner, I took the Entertainment Weekly pop quiz (I scored an 88), I talked on the phone with a couple people, I did some reading for pleasure. I almost started up The Sims, but didn't want to be up until 1 am, so changed in to pajamas and went to bed somewhat early instead.


At this time I'm going to pull a vfc and offer some grammar lessons, only because recently it seems I've seen the same mistakes made repeatedly by multiple people (including people at work, but I don't think I'll forward this to everyone in the office, despite the temptation). Now I know I'm not perfect, especially since I don't even take the time to spell check my entries and only occasionally re-read them, so take my know-it-all moment with a grain of salt and with an understanding that I'm fully aware of my issues when it comes to appearing dumb and stupid which is why I always wants to do "the right thing".

That paired with me just being a general word geek. So feel free to correct something I've been doing (that's not typo related) and/or share your own grammar notes.

Enquiring: This isn't really a current [American english] word. "Enquire" is techinically a variant of "inquire", but for those not writing in old english (which I think is most of us), the preferred spelling and use is "inquire". Unless, of course, you are referencing the television commercials for the National Enquirer and their tagline: Enquiring Minds Want to Know.

Seder: the dinner held on the first (or first two) night of Passover. SEDAR is an acronym for System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval and has nothing to do with boiled eggs and bitter herbs.

Irregardless: I really should let dommeyourass handle this one since it's her major pet peeve. I occasionally will use this word ironically, but only when said in the style of Jimmy Fallon's character Sully from the recurring SNL sketches. But don't listen to me, here's what dictionary.com has to say:

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Factoid: I think I've covered this one enough in my journal, but you click here. In some ways, I almost love that the definition of "factoid" has BECOME a factoid in and of itself.

skeptical: Okay, actually no one is mis-using this word, but I just thought it was weird that this morning no fewer than six people on my friends page used it in an entry.

Big ups to Mrs. K. Williams and Ms. Freeman from eighth and ninth grade, respectively.

Comments

[raybear.livejournal.com]

it was tough. i might have to wake up earlier so i can drink coffee before leaving the house on a bike. it's just safer for everyone that way.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

do you have a helmet?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

yes! now i'm considering elbow pads because i'm concerned about falling over from the toe cages on the pedals and breaking my arm. i have problems determining if my premonitions are actually psychic or just anxiety-induced.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

it sounds like a reasonable concern! people are always getting hit by cars, falling over... even when they feel really cozy with the way their bike works. i want to start riding bikes but i'm kind of a pansy about it. i never learned how to ride as a kid, and it is hard to start as a grown-up.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i didn't learn to ride until fourth or fifth grade, which was sort of late for a kid -- everyone child i knew was ahead of me. and i was never that great at it, even after i learned. i had a bike in college, but again, didn't use it that much. now i'm starting up after close to five years of no riding, so i feel very awkward and self-conscious, esp. since many of our friends are constant bikers.

if you ever want to learn and/or ride with another wobbly beginning biker, let me know!