Lee.org

Here’s a photo from my commute last week.

Nice, eh?

I’m commuting on the SF->Sausalito ferry to my Occupational Therapy Center volunteership. I’m upping from once a week to twice a week starting next week. Right now I travel:
Home –> Bart to Embarcadero –> Ferry to Sausalito –>bike to office.
It takes about 1 hr 10 minutes, costs $6.85 with about 1.5 miles of biking each way.

I’m going to try and bike the whole route, which involves a 12.8 mile ride going over the Bay Bridge Golden Gate Bridge! It should take about 1 1/2 hrs each way.

I applied to the DMI (Diagnostic Medical Imaging) program at CCSF in August. They’ll get back to me in November with a Yay/Nay. Right now I’m pushing hard to get into an OT (Occupational Therapy) program at San Jose State. I’m working, taking prerequisite classes, studying for the GRE, and volunteering in OT (starting volunteering this week!) this fall! I apply in January. I’ll know a month or two later for entry in September!

And this week I worked for Kern a little buying and maintaining computers and did a full week of one-on-one teaching at the Crucible. I taught Simone Electromechanics, Arduino Microcontrollers, and Flame Effects! It was a blast!

I’m considering becoming an Occupational Therapist. If you are one or have a friend in the field, I would love to speak to them about it!

If I go for it, there’s a master’s degree in my future that may take two years or more to get, so I want this to be a solid decision. Comment or email me at Lee at Lee dat org!

————————————————–
What is Occupational Therapy?
In brief, Occupational Therapy is concerned with helping people get back to doing whatever their “occupation” is, things like teaching an injured person how to brush their own teeth again, keeping an elderly person independent, and modifying classroom equipment for a disabled child. It’s pretty wide-ranging!

————————————————–
If you’ve been following along, I’ve been gunning for an Associates Degree at CCSF in Radiography. This Occupational Therapy thing would be instead of the current path. Just about all the prereqs crossover to both programs. There is no guarantee I’ll make it into the Radiography program. 130 applicants –> 30 spots in Radiography. Megan suggests that Occupational Therapy is more engaging and more appropriate for me; besides, it pays better and might just take the same amount of time to complete.

Today I submitted my application to City College of San Francisco for their Diagnostic Medical Imaging Program. If accepted, I might spend 2 1/2 years learning how to be a Radiographer. Wish me luck!

I helped a friend connect with some new passions. – D. writes “Seriously, it’s funny how I’ve been stumbling around in my own little world on how to do music-light-flame art that can be interactive, rather than a passive audience, and here you’ve shown me a whole community working on PID (Physical Interactive Design) for Music.”

EDD problems resolved – I can take a few classes at City College as long as they don’t interfere with work at the Crucible. My classes are generally during the day and I teach generally at night. And most importantly, “job offers” at the Crucible are rarely “bonafide offers of work” since they are almost always contingent upon us having enough students.

Megan loves me :-)

I found a nice outfit for a wedding a few weeks ago – good clothes are nice!

I found a good physiology class – I had a teacher I didn’t jell with so I switched and it was awesome

I’m set to apply for Diagnostic Medical Imaging (DMI) in August

Megan’s suggestion to apply for an Occupational Therapy (OT) program is a good one, I’m checking it out

I know I don’t like Radiation Therapy (RTT) – My dad had suggested I look into it as a career; I went forward with allied health and just recently got to shadow some folks at CPMC Medical Center. Yow! That is not for me!

I converted the miles on a new credit card to dollars and I’ve got $500 free money burning a hole in my pocket

Not having a car for the last 3 months has been OK (except for hurting my knees on my bike! but I’ll figure that out)

:-)

Now that I’m a student, and I can get to all my classes and volunteering by train and such, I’ll be selling my car. Of course, I figure I’ve got to fix the car up enough so that the Check Engine light stays off first. And then it’s all Zipcar, BART and biking for me.

So I bought a bike. At $630 complete, It should pay for itself in the first month or two of not having a car (my car costs about $600/month to own!).

Isn’t she pretty?

This photo from Aug 25, 2013

This old photo from January 2012

And when she gets stolen, I’ll tell people:

Body: 2011 “Fuji Absolute 3.0″ hybrid. Color: Grey with orange on the inside of the chain stays and underside of the seat stays. Serial ICFU12I01883. That serial number could be mistaken for ICFU12IO1883. 21″ frame. 23.6” back to front. Aluminum.

Seat: Black with an orange swish. It is secured to the frame with a length of wire.

Wheels: “Fuji Aero-V 25 700C/622 Etrto”. Both the front and rear wheel are secured with Pinhead Locks locking wheel hubs.
Update 2/13/13: I also got a Pinhead seat post lock and saddle lock. And apparently a Gator Grip tool can defeat these locks so Pinhead now gives away a locking washer thing on their website that prevents that problem.

Tires: “Panasonic Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 700x32C”, black with tan sidewalls.
Update 8-21-13: Rear tire is now a Continental Touring Plus 700Cx32, black with black sidewalls and a reflective tape.

Accessories:
Kickstand: On 8-23-13 I added a Greenfield Rear Mount Stabilizer Kickstand, adding 14 ounces to the bike. I tried adding a regular Greenfield kickstand but it had the same problem that ALL regular kickstand have, all the way back to when I was a kid: no matter how hard you tighten it down, the mount sometimes swivels on the bike, messing everything up.

Rack: made by Axiom, mostly to hold my Kryptonite lock.

I’ve registered the bike on Bikeshepherd.org and I got the 30 year registration with the National Bike Registry. Yowza, will they even have bikes in 2042? Or will we all have jet packs?

.

.

.

For the little I’ve ridden around, she rides like a dream. Of course, my last bike was a POS. I originally had a moderately crappy Burning Man bike. But at Burning Man 2009 it got stolen. After the end of the event, I went to center camp and stole a comparably crappy bike from the abandoned bike pile. When I was there, I got into this evil-eye discussion at center camp with a guy stealing his own bikes, but that’s a story of another time…

The new bike was actually quite a step down from my old bike. The steering was loose such that it was best to not steer too quickly, the front brake had virtually no grab, the handlebars had rolled down into an awkward position, the bike was several inches too small for me (I had extended the seatpost to it’s limit to no avail), it had big inefficient knobby tires, the rear brakes only worked moderately well, and it had been spray painted (partially and poorly) an awful shade of brown. That is how I rode it on the playa and that is pretty much how I rode it for 2 years. It’s a good thing I didn’t ride it often, otherwise, I’d be dead now. It is now terrorizing some kind soul at the San Francisco bike kitchen.

————————————————–

Specs from the Fuji Bikes website.

Specification:

SIZES	S (15"), S/M (17"), M (19"), M/L (21"), L (23")
COLOR(S)	White/Red, Semi Gloss Gray/Orange
MAIN FRAME	A2-SL alloy w/ tear drop down tube, double water bottle mounts (on SO frame only)
REAR TRIANGLE	A1-SL alloy, forged road dropout w/ replaceable derailleur hanger
FORK	Elios 1, 1 1/8" fork w/ CrMo steerer
CRANKSET	Fuji alloy forged 28/38/48T
BOTTOM BRACKET	Sealed cartridge bearing ST
PEDALS	Alloy cage w/ Boron axle
FRONT DERAILLEUR	Shimano FD-M191, 31.8mm
REAR DERAILLEUR	Shimano Altus, 8-speed
SHIFTERS	Shimano Acera
CASSETTE	Sunrace 11-32T, 8-speed
CHAIN	KMC Z72, 8-speed
WHEELSET	Fuji alloy 32H QR hubs w/ Fuji double wall alloy 32H rims
TIRES	Hutchinson Flash, 700x28c
BRAKE SET	Tektro Mini-V, forged alloy
BRAKE LEVERS	Tektro alloy
HEADSET	Fuji 1 1/8" standard semi-cartridge
HANDLEBAR	Fuji alloy
STEM	Fuji adjustable alloy
TAPE/GRIP	Fuji double density kraton
SADDLE	Fuji sport comfort
SEAT POST	Fuji micro-adjust alloy, 300x27.2mm
FENDERS	N/A
HEADLIGHT	N/A
TAILLIGHT	N/A
REAR CARRIER	N/A
OTHERS	7075 alloy water bottle bolts
WEIGHT	25.39 / 11.52

Geometry:
Name		Diagram			Sizes
SIZE			S(15")	S/M(17")	M(19")	M/L(21")	L(23")			
SEAT TUBE, CENTER TO TOP TUBE	A	381	432	483	533	584			
EFFECTIVE TOP TUBE LENGTH	B	535	550	575	600	625			
HEAD TUBE ANGLE	C	69	70	71	71	71			
SEAT TUBE ANGLE	D	75	74	73	73	73			
CHAINSTAY	E	440	440	440	440	440			
WHEELBASE	F	1050.3	1048.4	1054.8	1080.4	1106.5			
HEAD TUBE LENGTH	G	120	145	170	190	220			
BOTTOM BRACKET HEIGHT	H	269	269	269	269	269			
STAND OVER HEIGHT	I	730.3	767.3	805.4	839.7	880.3			
CRANK LENGTH	J	170	170	175	175	175			
STEM LENGTH	K	100	110	120	120	120			
HANDLEBAR WIDTH		580	580	600	600	600

My spring school schedule is set!

Darn it was stressful today. About 30 of us stood in the hall listening to people’s names being read, being accepted into Anatomy 25. With my heart racing, fingers tingling and shaking, I used what JTF taught me about my stress response to keep me standing. John, I wish I could slap you on the back and laugh about it. You see, I’ve got this plan. In this plan, I’ll be applying to the DMI (Diagnostic Medical Imaging) program at CCSF in August. But to make that happen, I need to get into all the right classes.

Turns out, Prof Guthrie let 56 people on the wait list into his class and I was. . . . #56. Phew! There were students that didn’t get in because of clerical mistakes. One hadn’t made sure to put herself on the attendance roster at a previous class. Another hadn’t shown up at another impromptu acceptance ceremony held last week and lost her spot. That kind of stuff is particularly crushing because I made my own mistake and missed the previous acceptance ceremony, but fate had it that my name wasn’t read then.

Last week, I was also the last person let into the Chemistry 32 class! So I have to give a shout out to the universe for those two bits.

My classes this semester:
Anatomy 25 General Human Anatomy and Lab
Chemistry 32 Intro to Medical Chemistry and Lab
Physics 10 Conceptual Physics and Lab
PE 200C Fitness Center Super Circuit
Volunteering at CPMC

Hurray!

Now I just need to pick up a Physiology class this summer (no one knows if it will be offered yet!), and I’m track for getting a shot at getting into the CCSF DMI program in January.

Oh yeah, and I’ve got to ace everything this semester.

Last semester at CCSF I was in a circuit training class. They’ve got a nice gym at the Ocean Campus!

I totally loved working out. Just about every time at the gym I pushed myself 100%, grunting and groaning and letting it burn. I worked to muscle failure on most machines most days. It was awesome. The “Growing Old Is Not For Sissies” poster is hanging in the gym. Yes, it inspired me.

I loved working my biceps; boy they get big quick! I hated doing abdominals; the burn feels like knives in my belly. I did them all.

Here is my review of the semester’s workout:

Data is taken from the Fitlinxx system. Every machine has a little Fitlinxx computer that tracks your progress. It’s not a perfect system but it’s pretty good and convenient to tell you what weight you did last time. The Fitlinxx online charts effing suck. It took me 45 minutes of copy-pasting and reformatting to get the data you see below.

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All measurements below are “2 sets of 10 reps of nn pounds”. That was my goal at each session. When I had to rest mid-way through a set, I’d tell myself, “Fine, you can take a break, you just have to do one more rep.”

Bicep curl. I never made much progress, going from 80 to 100. But my arms started to look awesome.

Tricep extension. Huge gains! Started at 30 (and huge lactic acid burn the day after) ended at 95!

Chest Press. Great progress. 60 to 120!

Chin Assist. Small gains 130 to 100 (at this rate, I’ll be doing a real chinup in 2 years, meh.

Hip Abduction. 130 to 220. Nice!

Hip Adduction. 70 to 100. Good.

Lateral Raise (trying to build up my shoulder profile) I worked it every time I went to the gym and went from 30 to 90!

Back Extension. 150 to 190. Good.

Leg Press. 155 to 200. Good.

Leg Curl. 50 to 90. Good.

Leg Extension. 85 to 130. Good.

Leg Press. 210 to 210. Bad!

Some exercises not on the Fitlinxx system:
* Lower abdominal hyperextension crunch. Lay way back on a yoga ball and then sit up slowly. I started doing this mid-semester and went from 7 to about 11 reps. It buuuuuurns!

* A Lower back contraption where you lay face down, put your pelvis on the pad, hook your legs on a bar and let your upper body fall forward toward the ground. Then you straighten your back so it looks like you are superman. I started doing this mid-semester and went from 6 to 10 reps.

I’ll definitely sign up for the gym next semester :-)
————————————————–

Life Fitness Arm Curl Bicep Curl
8/23/2011	1	10	30.00
8/30/2011	1	10	50.00
11/8/2011	1	9	70.00
		2	6	50.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Bicep Curl (pretty much identical to the above machine...
they have 2 bicep curl machines)
9/6/2011	1	9	80.00	
		2	10	65.00	
9/9/2011	1	10	80.00	
		2	10	65.00	
9/13/2011	1	6	80.00	
		2	3	80.00	
9/16/2011	1	10	80.00	
		2	6	80.00	
10/21/2011	1	10	80.00	
		2	6	80.00	
11/14/2011	1	10	95.00	
		2	10	95.00	
12/2/2011	1	10	95.00	
		2	12	80.00	
12/9/2011	1	10	95.00	
		2	10	80.00	
12/16/2011	1	10	95.00	
		2	12	110.00	
12/20/2011	1	8	95.00	

Life Fitness Arm Extension Tricep Extension
8/23/2011	1	11	30.00
		2	10	30.00
9/27/2011	1	10	50.00
		2	14	40.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Tricep Extension
8/26/2011	1	11	40.00
8/30/2011	1	11	50.00
		2	10	50.00
		3	11	50.00
9/6/2011	1	10	65.00
		2	2	40.00
9/13/2011	1	12	80.00
		2	5	80.00
9/20/2011	1	10	80.00
		2	10	80.00
10/21/2011	1	10	80.00
		2	10	65.00
11/1/2011	1	10	95.00
		2	7	80.00
11/14/2011	1	10	95.00
12/2/2011	1	10	80.00
		2	10	80.00
12/9/2011	1	10	80.00
		2	10	95.00
12/16/2011	1	10	95.00
12/20/2011	1	10	95.00
		2	10	95.00

Life Fitness Chest Press
8/30/2011	1	12	60.00	
		2	12	60.00	
10/21/2011	1	10	75.00	
		2	11	90.00	
11/1/2011	1	2	75.00	
		2	10	90.00	
		3	12	90.00	
11/8/2011	1	10	105.00
		2	10	105.00
12/16/2011	1	10	105.00
		2	9	105.00
12/20/2011	1	12	120.00
		2	8	120.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Chest Press
8/26/2011	1	12	55.00
9/6/2011	1	10	70.00
		2	7	70.00
9/9/2011	1	8	70.00
		2	8	70.00
9/20/2011	1	10	85.00
		2	8	85.00
9/27/2011	1	10	85.00
		2	7	85.00

Life Fitness Dip & Chin Assist Narrow Grip Pullup
8/30/2011	1	8	130.00
9/16/2011	1	10	120.00
		2	8	120.00
9/20/2011	1	10	120.00
		2	10	120.00
11/1/2011	1	10	110.00
		2	8	110.00
12/2/2011	1	10	110.00
		2	5	120.00
12/20/2011	1	9	100.00

Life Fitness Hip Abductor (Outer Thigh) Abduction
9/6/2011	1	2	10.00
		2	10	70.00
		3	10	70.00
9/13/2011	1	9	90.00
		2	12	90.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Hip Abduction
9/9/2011	1	10	130.00
		2	10	130.00
9/20/2011	1	12	160.00
		2	11	160.00
10/21/2011	1	10	160.00
		2	11	160.00
11/1/2011	1	10	175.00
		2	10	185.00
11/8/2011	1	10	190.00
		2	10	190.00
12/9/2011	1	10	205.00
		2	10	205.00
12/16/2011	1	10	220.00
		2	10	220.00
12/20/2011	1	10	220.00
		2	10	220.00

Life Fitness Hip Abductor (Inner Thigh) Adduction
8/26/2011	1	12	70.00	
9/6/2011	1	4	75.00	
		2	10	10.00	
		3	10	90.00	
11/1/2011	1	8	90.00	
		2	11	100.00

Life Fitness Lateral Raise
8/23/2011	1	10	30.00
8/30/2011	1	6	30.00
		2	9	10.00
9/6/2011	1	8	40.00
		2	8	40.00
9/9/2011	1	10	40.00
		2	8	40.00
9/13/2011	1	10	47.50
		2	10	47.50
9/20/2011	1	10	60.00
		2	11	60.00
9/27/2011	1	9	70.00
		2	12	70.00
10/21/2011	1	10	62.50
		2	9	70.00
11/1/2011	1	8	62.50
		2	8	70.00
11/8/2011	1	10	70.00
		2	11	70.00
11/14/2011	1	9	77.50
		2	10	77.50
12/2/2011	1	10	77.50
		2	8	77.50
12/9/2011	1	10	85.00
		2	9	85.00
12/16/2011	1	10	90.00
		2	8	82.50

Life Fitness Leg Extension
9/16/2011	1	10	75.00
		2	10	75.00
12/16/2011	1	10	90.00
		2	10	90.00

Life Fitness Back Extension
8/26/2011	1	12	150.00
		2	12	150.00
8/30/2011	1	12	165.00
		2	12	165.00
11/14/2011	1	10	180.00
		2	10	195.00

Life Fitness Leg Press
8/30/2011	1	6	95.00	
		2	12	155.00
		3	11	155.00
		4	10	215.00
9/9/2011	1	14	175.00
		2	13	195.00
9/16/2011	1	10	115.00
		2	12	115.00
10/21/2011	1	10	195.00
		2	13	235.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Leg Curl
9/13/2011	1	10	50.00
		2	9	50.00
9/16/2011	1	10	50.00
		2	10	50.00
9/20/2011	1	10	50.00
		2	11	50.00
9/27/2011	1	10	50.00
		2	10	50.00
11/1/2011	1	10	65.00
		2	8	65.00
11/8/2011	1	11	80.00
		2	10	80.00
12/2/2011	1	1	80.00
12/16/2011	1	10	95.00
		2	10	80.00
12/20/2011	1	3	95.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Leg Extension
9/20/2011	1	12	85.00	
		2	10	85.00	
9/27/2011	1	10	100.00
		2	10	100.00
10/21/2011	1	11	115.00
		2	12	115.00
11/8/2011	1	10	130.00
		2	8	130.00

Life Fitness Pro2 Leg Press
11/1/2011	1	10	170.00
		2	12	210.00
11/8/2011	1	10	210.00
		2	11	230.00
11/14/2011	1	10	230.00
		2	5	230.00
12/2/2011	1	10	210.00
		2	10	210.00
12/9/2011	1	10	210.00
		2	10	210.00
12/20/2011	1	12	210.00
		2	12	210.00

This took quite a bit more time and effort than originally anticipated. But I’m pretty pleased with it.
Originally mentioned on my blog and on the DNA Lounge blog.

Go visit it this week at DNA Pizza, before nature claims it’s shiny buff job in place of a dark, sinister rusty patina.

Now the sign needs to get lit from behind (not my job), a bird shield added (my job), a little painting (not me), a little natural rust patina (nature’s job), some clearcoating, and total victory is ours.

Thanks go to Michael Kearney (pictured above) and Lou!