Lisa

Week One:

Sun 5.4.08, 2:30pm
So far so good.
I’ve only been caught in the rain once, while waiting for the bus. I haven’t been clotheslined by any car doors, I braved biking on Broad and Ridge Ave, and I haven’t pissed off any drivers, well at least none that have made it known to me…

Sun 5.4.08, 8pm
Just reserved and used a PhillyCarShare car for the first time! Have to say I was a little nervous. I reserved a Prius and was very happy that one of my friends who was Prius friendly came with me. The only real confusing part was that at the 22nd and Fairmount location the parking spots aren’t marked (like they are in the Center City locations that I’ve walked by on multiple occasions), so we had to check with a friend, who is a PhillyCarShare member, to verify that my key fob would only unlock the car that I had reserved. Once that was figured out, we were off and on our way to the grocery store.

Mon 5.5.08, 9:10am
Day 5, no car: I woke up this morning rather unexcited about the idea of biking to work. Contemplated catching the bus, but recognized that would mean I’d have to be out the door about 10 minutes earlier….which was not going to happen. So, I got everything into my backpack, lifted my bike over the gas stove that seems to have taken up permanent residence in the entryway to my apartment, was out the door and off to work. It was an awesome way to start my day!

Week Two:

Wed 5.7.08, 1:46pm
This week has started off pretty calm. Caught a ride with a co-worker on Tues. because I had to take the train to the suburbs in the afternoon. Gotta say, I do enjoy the train. Generally fall asleep, which I'm sure looks terribly attractive to my surrounding train mates as I sit there, head bobbing, mouth slightly open, and hugging the bag sitting on my lap. No real story to tell about this public trans. encounter, it was pretty tame.
This afternoon I'm tackling city biking head on. I'm taking off from work (at Judson and Norris in N. Philly) and have to get down to 17th and Pine, should be… interesting.

Thurs 5.8.08
Well, I survived the ride yesterday, woohoooooooo! The rain this morning meant I was bussing it to work. I had to leave the house a little earlier that usual in order to catch the bus. The ride was relatively unexciting and the walk from the bus was a few blocks longer than I expected it to be, but I made it to work on time and was probably dryer than I would have been had I biked. My only complaint would be that it took me twice as long to get to work.
Later today I'll be hitting up public trans again to get myself down to 10th and Pine from N. Philly. Should be pretty easy.

Fri 5.9.08, 5:33pm
So very wet. I was not a happy camper this morning. I thought about biking in the rain to work, but it was worse than yesterday, so the bus it was. By the time I got to work, my socks and shoes, the bottom 6 inches (or so) of my pants, and my left arm (I was holding the umbrella in my right hand, so my left arm was swinging as it does when one walks) were soaked. I was indeed missing my car this morning!
This afternoon I got a ride from a co-worker to my apt to grab my bags before a staff meeting at another building. Then I hopped on a bus to center city and caught the R5 to 30th street because at this very moment I'm on a bus to NYC. I have to give a little plug for this bus because it's pretty awesome (and it means I didn't have to drive or pay the hefty price for the train).. it's called the Bolt Bus and depending on how far in advance you book, you could pay $1 each way, and there's free wifi It also goes to DC. Well, I'm out of Philly for the weekend, but I'll be back on Sunday to hit up some more public trans, and hopefully (fingers crossed) bike to work on Monday.

Sun 5.11.08, 8pm
Well, I broke down and took a taxi back to my place after the bus ride from NYC. I managed to come down with a cold on my way up, so I'm feeling, well… not so hot. Called out for work tomorrow, I'll be sleeping it off.

Week Three:

Tue 5.13.08
I very much wished I had my car yesterday morning. I got all my stuff together for work, got my bike and began my commute. I got about half way to work when something caused me to realize I didn't have my backpack (in other words everything I needed for work). It was clear to me at that moment that despite taking Monday off to rest up and get healthy, I was very much not feeling even close to 100%. The bike back home really wasn't what I was concerned with, it was the bike back to work that I was dreading. If I had my car, this would not have been much of an issue… I'd have been a few minutes late, but no real extra energy would have been exerted. I called my co-worker to let her know I was going to be a little late and sensing the disaster that I'd become at that moment, secured me a ride with her ride, our supervisor. Needless to say I left work early that day, had a nice calm bus ride home, and climbed into bed.

Wed 5.14.08, 6:49pm
This morning's ride was much less eventful and provided me with a little energy for the day. By the end of work I was feeling much better, and looking forward to my bike home. Well, gotta head out… biking down to center city for some volleyball.

Fri 5.16.08, 9:21am
My morning bus ride yesterday introduced me to a woman who has been riding the 33 for the past 10 years. We chatted while we waited for the bus and for the duration of our ride. I learned that she works at a school about two blocks from the building where I work and that last summer she traveled to Paris (this morning I saw her again and learned that she has a cat named Pinky who has her own section of the house where everything is pink). My afternoon ride found me among two of my students who filled me in on what's been going on in their lives. As we were discussing certain situations they had found themselves in as well as their plans for college, two women sitting alongside us joined in our conversation. It was a really cool experience for me to get to interact with my students and see them interact with others outside of school. My night bus ride or lack there of…. I finished up at my catering job around 10:30 and there was no bus in sight. I walked for about 10 blocks, still no bus. After running up and down stairs and being on my feet in some less then comfortable shoes, my feet couldn't take much more… so I gave up and hailed a cab.

Sun 5.18.08
Biked to U city yesterday for my catering gig, not too bad of a ride… and then the ride home brought me the chance to tackle rainy nighttime biking; wasn't too bad. I might be hitting up PhillyCarShare tonight to go see a movie, but I'm still in the process of figuring that all out.

Mon 5.19.08
Reserved a Prius, drove through a downpour to W. Philly to retrieve my friend, hit up the movie theater on Columbus, got popcorn for dinner, watched (and subsequently enjoyed) a movie, got back in the Prius, dropped my friend off, and drove the car back to it's spot on 19th and Monterey. I would also like to note that on our drive back to my friend's house we were driving next to another PhillyCarShare Prius and got very excited that we had a twin… the people in the other car were not nearly as excited. We figured they were not as new to the car share experience as we were.

The bike to work this morning was the perfect way to start my day.

Week Four:

Wed. 5.21.08, 11:48
My bike and me aren't speaking. I impaled myself on the handlebars Monday afternoon on my way to Trophy Bikes for my free safety check.

I was making a left turn onto Market from 32nd, there was a lot of traffic and I had to decide (quickly) if I should make a sharp left to go between the parked cars and the moving ones, or take the ramp onto the sidewalk… well, I didn't make my decision at the speed that was necessary, so I ran right into the curb. OWWWWWWWWWWW. I walked it off a bit; trying to show how much pain I was in. I made it to the bike shop without anymore problems. But when told they had no openings until Friday and asked if I wanted to leave the bike there or come back with it later… I thought, you can have it! So, I'm on a little bike hiatus, we'll be re-united after the long weekend (as I'm heading out of town), and I'm sure I'll be ready to forgive and forget.

So, I've been using the bus and my feet to get myself around the city, so far so good. The bus saved me from getting soaking wet getting to center city yesterday, which was much appreciated on my end.

Sun. 5.25.08, 11:07 (9:07 Utah time)
Only one real entry for this week since I left Philly early Friday morning for a little fresh air in Utah. I fully intended to catch a bus, then a train, and then my plane out early Friday morning, but my mom (who I was to be traveling with) wasn't to keen on the idea of my doing so at such an early hour of the morning (5am) and informed me that she and my father would be picking me up instead.

I got a phone call Friday from Trophy bikes letting me know my bike was ready. They gave me brand new brake pads b/c apparently the ones I had were completely dry rotted (which is why when I braked the slightest bit, people's heads would turn). So, I'll be retrieving that after work on Tuesday.

Can't believe I only have on more week left!

Week Five:

Recap of the past week:

Monday: got home from Utah (my parents dropped me off on their way home).

Tuesday: Was sick in bed all day.

Wednesday: Caught the bus to work in the morning, got a ride home in the afternoon.

Thurday: Took the bus to work in the morning, then took it all the way down to 10th and Market (that's far from 22nd and Berks) for an appointment. Walked to 18th and Walnut, caught the bus to Trophy Bikes, picked up my bike (which no longer squeaks, wooohoooooo!), rode back down to 18th and Walnut, met my up with a friend, caught the R5 out to Devon (which was unfortunately almost $10 round trip) for a quick dose of the Devon Horse Show, took the train back into the city, biked to Sidecar Bar at 22nd and Christian, met up with another friend, and then walked with my friend (and bike) all the way up to my apartment on Fairmount.

Friday: biked to work, biked home. Took the bus to center city with a friend to do a little shopping, hopped the bus back up towards my place, stopped at Whole Foods on the way to grab something for dinner, and walked home.

Saturday: I reserved a Mini Cooper convertible for the day to a couple friends and I could take a day trip to the beach. We packed up the car and were heading out of the city by 830. We made great time and got to Cape May a little before 10. It was a little chilly and pretty windy, but we all managed to read and take some really great naps throughout the rest of the morning. We had stopped at Wawa before we left to grab sandwhiches for lunch, which we happily enjoyed while watching the waves crash onto the shore. We decided to pack up around 2 due to the impending weather that had already arrived in Philadelphia. About 10 minutes into our drive I had to pull over b/c I couldn't see out of the windshield. It was fine by me though, I wanted to watch the storm. It was absolutely incredible how much rain was pouring out of the sky and when I looked at the road it looked like little waves of water were being forced across. It let up enough that we could continue on and make it back safely. We hung out at my place for a little bit before heading (via mini convertible) to see a show my roommate was in. After the show the two friends who had been my partners in crime for the day went their own way while my roommate and I headed down to the movie theater on Columbus. The parking lot was packed (it was around 945 pm at this point), but we managed to find a nice little spot for the mini. After the movie, we drove the car back up to its home on S. College Ave and enjoyed the gorgeous night air as we walked back home.

Sunday: Woke up super early this morning so I could drive (my own car) out to my parents' place to do some laundry before working a catering job out that way. My car had been parked under a tree for the month and was covered in this residue from these little berry like things that had left their mark all over it. So, I gave it a little bit of some tender loving care and he's looking pretty dapper. The one good thing about being able to use my car again was being able to work this job, without my car I wouldn't have been able to get to the location (and unfortunately it wouldn't have made sense to rent a PhillyCarShare car for the time b/c then half of the money I would make working the job would go to paying for my ride to and from).

Overall, I've really enjoyed my carless month. It forced me to get out on my bike more and get over my fear of city biking (I'm not completely there yet, but I'm working on it). I'll be biking to work a lot more now and probably only use my car on rainy days, to go grocery shopping, and visit my parents.

Thanks again PhillyCarShare, this was an awesome experience!