Is this turning into a bike blahg?

Perhaps it is, and I'm okay with that because clearly that suggests what part of my Chicago life I'm most super pleased with right now.

The semester started last Thursday.  I TA two sets of freshmen now, all day Thursday, all day Friday, and my kids now seem super fun and generally more energetic than they were last semester. Maybe we all had a rough start. We were all new.  I looked at my reviews from last semester's class and they were, to put it modestly, stellar.  I feel like I'm doing something right here. I am wondering how late is too late to switch the the teaching track...

I'll still be working long Mondays and a jaunt on Tuesdays in the computer lab, and I've got a required Art History class on Tuesday mornings, Thesis I on Tuesday nights, and another social theory sort of class on Wednesday mornings with the same incredible teach from last semester. I am generally pleased with this schedule, and it leaves me with mostly free evenings and nice blocks for studying/reading/doubting.

Over the weekend I rode for a short bit of Critical Mass and also did the Full Moon Fiasco with my new bike friends.  I seem to be developing two full sets of very different social scenes, ArtEd and Chainlink, and I really really like it. Like a lot. I suddenly feel like I know people here who could eventually make this place feel like home.  I am working on it and embracing it and feeling generally in love... but that kind of tentative love where you're sure this thing is worth loving in thought, even if it hasn't yet quite proven it in deed, so you decide to just go ahead and love because that is more pleasant than resisting, but sometimes you still get a little worried about the whole situation and you tend to keep that to yourself.  Unless you have a blahg.

So here are things I want/need (besides bikes themselves):

Clipless Pedals , major major step
Shoes , for my pedals.  Velcro for grownups!
Tights like this , but specifically windproof
Lobster gloves , for real finger quotes and dinosaur impressions
Rain gear , because it isn't always snowing


For those and many other reasons, I've been asking the universe to help me win the lottery.  I guess I should help the Universe by actually buying a lottery ticket some time.

Post lottery money deposit, this place will be one of my first stops.