A Week of Transit

For one week I documented my transportation around the city to see how far I traveled and by what mode of transit I travel most often. This does not necessarily reflect a typical week, but for the seven days of April 4-10 I wrote down my destinations and used Google Maps to estimate my distance, and this is what I got. I went out at least once a day, but never more than twice, as I was able to combine multiple destinations into single trips. This documentation only reflects my getting from one place to another, and not the walking around that I do once I get there. Sarah came along with me for most of these trips, but this is meant to follow the urban navigations of one city dweller.

On Sunday, we rode the bus to church 3.3 miles, and walked 0.7 miles getting to and from the bus stops. Our church is located on the other side of the river near the Rose Quarter and Convention Center. Afterwards, a friend gave us a ride home in his car, 4.0 miles. People seem troubled to see us walking to the bus stop, so rides are offered fairly often after church.

Monday I worked my very infrequent part-time job, where I am helping a friend build a house. I got to the site 7.3 miles away, riding with my friend in his car. In the afternoon, I took the MAX (light rail) home, 5.0 miles, and walked 0.5 miles to and from the stations. Luckily, the house we are building is just a few blocks from a MAX station.

The next day, Tuesday, I made one walking trip in which I stopped at three stores. The total loop was 1.8 miles, stopping at Trader Joe's, Ace Hardware, and Fred Meyer; all in the Northwest Neighborhood. We usually get groceries a few times a week so that the bags can be easily carried. We get groceries from Trader Joe's and Fred Meyer fairly equally, and occasionally we shop at Food Front Coop (further away, see Friday) and Zupan's Market (more expensive, and not this week).

Wednesday I went out to the church to help paint the outside of the building. I rode the MAX 2.4 miles, and walked 1.3 miles to and from the stations. Note that the mileage is different than our trip to church on Sunday, as the bus and the MAX take different routes and drop us off different distances from our destination. On the way home, I took the MAX 2.0 miles, stopped at Fred Meyer for some groceries, and walked 1.3 miles before returning home.

On Thursday we didn't have anywhere to go, but Sarah and I took a short walk up the hill to Washington Park. The total trip was 1.0 mile.

Friday was another multi-stop walking trip, again to the Northwest Neighborhood. I stopped at the bank, Food Front Coop, and Trader Joe's. Returning home, I had walked 2.5 miles. Later I walked downtown to Powell's books to browse, and stopped at the mall and a few downtown stores around the mall. I bought a new belt and Sarah bought a scarf. This is the first trip of the week to use three forms of transportation. 1.2 miles on the MAX, 0.5 miles on the Portland Streetcar, and 1.3 miles walking.

Lastly, on Saturday I made a trip to Fred Meyer, for a round trip total of 1.0 mile walking.

For the week I traveled a total of 36.9 miles. By far, the most frequent mode of transportation was walking (9 trips), followed by riding the MAX (4 trips). Since our new apartment is close to a MAX stop and our previous apartment was close to a Streetcar stop, it is interesting to see a switch in usage between these two. In general, I would expect to take more than one bus ride a week but this is just how it happened, and we usually do not rely on rides with friends, though they come along when least expected and are helpful. We would have taken the MAX or a bus for these trips. Most interestingly I didn't drive myself at all, and I notice we haven't rented a zipcar for about a month.

11.0 miles Walking (9 trips)
3.3 miles on Bus (1 trip)
10.8 miles on MAX (4 trips)
0.5 miles on Streetcar (1 trip)
11.3 miles riding with a friend (2 trips)
0 miles Driving

36.9 miles Total Transportation

duplicating myself

The strangest thing has happened at work. There's another me. Well, not really me, she's a completely different person. More hopeful, less frustrated, and certainly less tainted by the chaos that is my job. Lucky her, she only has to take on 25% of it. So she's only 25% of me.

Last year was a battle. I was stressed out to breaking point, and then got married (but it was awesome and worth it, like going down in blazing glory). I got shingles on the way back from our honeymoon. Why? Because my subconscious recognized that I was returning to the domain of excessive stress. Shingles sucked (it's like revenge of chickenpox), but then I got progressively worse and worse. Mentally, I mean, which has a huge effect on your physical well-being. I was descending into depression and illness; it was a dark place.

My husband is incredibly supportive, though, and after some consideration and prayer we decided it wouldn't be the best thing for me to leave my job just yet, but I should work less so that I wasn't falling apart every day and/or unable to work. The chaos of the new school year in September brought more stress, so I bargained with my boss. He listened, and supported me (people often say they don't know what he'd do without me...and I know he'd be so lost and sad; I don't really want to leave). I reduced my hours from 40 to 30, and rather than spreading it evenly over 5 weekdays, I decided the best thing for me would be to commute less overall and to have one full day off in the middle of the week (I jokingly tell my boss that I can only handle 2 days of him before I need a vacation).

The cool thing about volunteering to reduce my hours was an idea I had to give the other 10 hours per week to someone else, and have them focus on 25% of my job, so that I wouldn't be so stretched over so many projects. This is where Beyth comes in (you remember, the other me, who's actually someone else). She's the new journal coordinator, so she gets to focus on production and coordination of the seminary's biannual academic journal. This was supposed to take 25% of my time, but always got neglected and wasn't very well-organized. The idea is that giving it all to a single person with a dedicated amount of time will give the journal the care it needs and help it flourish. I'm sad to say goodbye to the editorial team, but it's really for the best.

So Beyth. She's very organized, very professional, has high standards, dresses way better than me, has similar musical taste, and likes to laugh a LOT. Good so far! We've completed 1 week of training, which has been enough time to give her an overview of her new job and start some pressing tasks.

Oh, and speaking of pressing tasks, I get the new dean of the seminary is testing me. Each time he asks me to do something, it gets progressively more difficult and further outside my training and skills. And it's always urgent. The first time he asked for a report of our financial data, which I had to track down (turns out my predecessor didn't keep that data to hand). Then I had to calculate potential budget savings from hypothetical initiatives, all of which are impossible (it's like squeezing a lemon that's already bee squeezed...and left out on the counter to dry...for a month.)

Then he asked me to come up with a new pricing system for the journal. I dragged Beyth into it with me, and we thought we came up with a pretty good plan. At the end of the meeting, he said he needed more information: our production costs laid out against some different revenue scenarios. We put our heads together again and managed to figure out how to forecast various hypothetical pricing rates with hypothetical growth and renewal rates for the next few years. We think he'll be impressed. But if he's not, I might just remind him that I have a BArch, not and MBA and if he wants an accountant, he'll have to pay me much more than I get paid right now. Sheesh.

So training is going well, and we're off to a good start. Getting all of my other work done is more hectic, though, and more draining. Once again, I'm spreading myself pretty thin, and juggling too much for too long isn't my thing anymore. Every night I've come home exhausted, numb, feeling queasy, but then I haven't slept well all week. And I haven't been motivated to go to the gym, cook delicious foods, or even knit. I just want to be unconscious or lost in a book. On the plus side, I've been getting a lot of business planning done for Bumblebirch Designs. I got some supplies in so I can get more stitch markers listed soon. Keep your eyes peeled.

I've been really stressed out the last couple of weeks. Lots of pressure. Our 4th Annual Benefit Dinner is tomorrow night and a lot is riding on it! I still have lots of little details to wrap up, but the interns have graciously volunteered their time here and there when they aren't in class. The dinner is at this fantastic place. While we can't serve alcohol at official Multnomah functions, what guests choose to do at the pub or pool hall before the dinner is their own business (wink wink). I can't think of a better place to be tomorrow!

In other news, TriMet has frustrated me 2 trips in a row. Yesterday evening I was trying to wrap up my work in time to catch the bus (it's now too dark to safely take the MAX at 82nd Ave., which is very sketchy), but missed it by 1 minute. Boo. The next one was supposed to come 20 minutes later, so I went back to my office for about 10 minutes, then went outside to wait. I waited. And waited. Aaaaaaand waited. I saw not 1, not 2, but 3 (!!!) buses go in the other direction. Maybe they fell off the edge of the Earth? It was cold and raining, and I was hungry and tired and achy and just wanted to be at home knitting and following the election! Grrr. Anyway, it ended up taking an hour and a half to get home. Ridiculous.

Then this morning I boarded the MAX red line, which goes toward my work on its way to the airport. Except it was actually a yellow line disguised as a red line. How sneaky! How funny it was when I looked up out the window to discover myself in North Portland. And how funny it was to have to run to catch the yellow line going to other direction (in the rain, of course). When I finally got back to Rose Quarter, where the yellow line splits off in its own direction, I had to pee so bad! So I went only 1 stop, got off, and went to Starbucks. The nice guy behind the counter asked, "What can I get for you today?" and I almost started crying. "A gingerbread latte and a bathroom!!!" Amazing how a warm drink and warm smile can make things better.

Oh, and Paul & I are super excited about the election outcome! Obama's speech was inspiring and emphasized what we both feel to be urgent and important to us both: we have a lot of work ahead of us as a nation. It's a challenge we're ready to face.

working hard

What a week! The first half was hectic and the second half was dragging...so slowly.

I've developed this little tactic with my boss: when he has something big going on, that needs to be my big thing too. For example, he left town early Wednesday morning for a conference. That means that Tuesday was filled with emergencies and urgent To-Do's. And computer failures, of course.

So what do I do when dates like this arrive? I plan on not doing anything except helping my boss get out the door. That is my one and only must-do task for the day. If he has to be somewhere, like a meeting or a speaking engagement, my job is to get him there with everything he needs in order. That means thinking about all the little details for him ("Do you have a ride to the airport at 4am?" "Do you need copies of your workshop materials I think I've mastered the "travel packet" for him. The hard thing is, it takes months of working with someone before you can anticipate their needs.

Aaaand I found out just a couple of days ago that the handmade portion of the Hogwarts Kit Swap is due TODAY. My hands hurt. If I run out of yarn I'm going to be so. very. angry! I think I remade this very hat 4 or 5 times now. I have all these great ideas for my spoilee's package, but I can't blather about it here. She'll see. I want it to be a big surprise!

my life right now

My focus is very limited this week. As the days go by, the focus becomes narrower and narrower. My mind hones in one one target: event.

Here's what I'm running tomorrow: Gospel, Church and Culture Workshop. It's going to be super-challenging, as usual for my boss and his partner in crime colleague.

My brain is a hurricane of details, but it's only an F1. Maybe just a tropical storm. It's not as complex as a full-blown conference: no registration, no food and coffee, no breakout sessions, no guest speakers. Very simple really, and I'll have my lovely crew of interns to help with setup and logistics all morning! All I need to do now is to triple-check my materials list and remember to set the alarm!