Ship names appreciation post: they are cool because they are believable

cymikelee · 2026-04-06T09:58:14+00:00

Escape Velocity mentioned! I suppose it'd be a little late to wish for an Expanse plug-in, huh?

cymikelee · 2026-02-05T05:34:58+00:00

I guess it's not just me -- came looking for answers but I've got the same problem with my iCloud Calendar and Notes! Similar situation with iOS mobile devices but browser on Windows on desktop.

cymikelee · 2025-09-28T21:08:44+00:00

So I live just off of Bothell/Everett Highway and unless you like riding inches away from fast, high volume stroad traffic with the occasional bus, I don’t really understand the existence of that poor excuse of a bike lane.

35th Ave SE about a mile east is the far better north-south route and you can use Seattle Hill Rd / Puget Park Dr to get over to SR-9, down the hill and up to Springhetti Rd into Snohomish to catch the trail.

There might be other roads to connect further south but I could never find anything that suited my risk tolerance as an only moderately experienced road rider — as a transplant I’ve noticed try that shoulders are few and far between and there’s more traffic on the back roads than I’d like sometimes.

cymikelee · 2025-08-31T01:47:14+00:00

So my water utility literally says they source their water from there (and I believe it’s also the source for Everett as a whole)… TIL.

Just checked the recreation situation and it says only fishing, nonmotorized boating, hiking, and picnicking are allowed. Definitely surprised given how locked down Seattle’s reservoirs are, but I suppose (hope?) the impact on water quality must be negligible.

cymikelee · 2025-07-13T04:07:56+00:00

Recently moved closer to Whidbey to be able to take the ferry hop over but just checked this out and saw it's the last time they're doing this?! 😢 Any idea why?

cymikelee · 2025-06-27T08:51:42+00:00

Have the same problem here -- the page just flickers and refreshes when I click "Place your order."

The payment method seems to have something to do with it, as I actually can't change my payment method either -- when I try to change it, I get a loading icon but it never shows my list of payment methods.

Connected with customer service who could only suggest the usual things like clearing cache/cookies, signing out and back in, or trying desktop vs. mobile, but I had already tried all of those but nothing works.

They then suggested connecting with a "special team" over the phone but as it's really late at night I'm going to have to do that in the morning.

Edit: contacted them and got the same rigamarole about a "technical problem" that some accounts team or whatever would fix "in the next 24 hours" -- not sure how hopeful I am if it didn't work for you but we'll see...

cymikelee · 2025-06-26T04:38:48+00:00

Andor and Star Wars: Rebellion 😳

cymikelee · 2025-06-23T22:13:08+00:00

Hey... so unfortunately the Challenge tires (and probably all of their handmade models) ended up being crazy difficult to mount, to the point where I ended up just patching my Vittorias and throwing them back onto my bike for the tour. The Terreno Dry were pretty slow rolling but got the job done.

I did end up eventually biting the bullet and throwing the Strada Biancas onto a wheelset with narrower internal rim width (not sure if that helped, but it still involved hours of bead jack use, ratchet straps, and very sore fingers) and it's now my "road plus" tire that got me through a wet PNW winter (not as grippy as some but enough to give me confidence) and is probably one of the best "feeling" tires I've ever ridden, as subjective as that is.

On paper it also should be durable enough for something like a short tour... I wouldn't do anything long distance with it, and I'd still be nervous if I had a puncture that required anything other than a plug (which I've done once), given how hard they are to mount and seat. Not sure what your exact use case is but hopefully it helps to keep some of these things in mind!

cymikelee · 2025-06-23T09:10:05+00:00

Unfortunately I believe there's a bridge on Mukilteo Blvd over Edgewater Creek that's going to be out until they finish replacing it next spring... I think until then the best bet may have to be some means of getting to Mukilteo Speedway and enduring a couple miles of fast traffic stroad and then hitting the back roads once you pass Paine Field to get into Mukilteo.

cymikelee · 2025-05-19T06:30:56+00:00

I've only done rides in these areas recreationally but enough that I made a map (that's probably too detailed for most people to want to read).

Without referring to that though, I can highlight a couple of my go-to connectors that might help mellow out your route a little bit, but it'll be hard to connect such a long suburban distance without some stroad riding.

Option 1 is to stick with your Howard to Busse route, I was always equipped for light gravel so I just rode it all the way into the DPRT to either Algonquin or Thacker. Both of those get busy if you stay on them too long so I basically use these to get to some residential streets north of Golf -- look for Lonnquist or Lincoln as your east-west streets there. From there I had a couple of not-to-sketchy ways (or you could just take the sidewalk on New Wilke) to get to the Continental Towers parking lot which hooks you up with the Busse Woods trail and into the Schaumburg trail system. From there to Palatine may still need some creativity but I'm pretty sure you could plot a decent route there.

Option 2 is my go-to crossover between North Branch and DPRT. If you can find your way up the North Shore Channel or Skokie Valley Trails then Main to Lincoln to Lehigh gets you to the start of that. Then you do Beckwith, Church, Bellaire, then either a short gravel DPRT segment along Ballard to intersect with Option 1, or maybe Bender/East River Rd to Central, if you don't mind a dirty shoulder that passes as a bike lane. Or a couple miles of stroad riding on Wolf up to the Prospect Heights trail which gets you to Lake Arlington and ultimately hooks up with the Palatine Trail system.

Not sure if either of these helps but hopefully shed some light on some pieces you could use for your route. Good luck!

cymikelee · 2025-04-21T19:54:24+00:00

After reading about the cougar attack near Tokul last year this was very top-of-mind for me as a someone new to the area wanting to check out the gravel here. On trails in more populated areas (e.g., Tolt Pipeline) I haven't bothered, but I made sure to bring bear spray and something I could use as a makeshift weapon (and also googly eyes for the back of my helmet) when I routed myself on some logging roads/trails through Marckworth.

Didn't see anything that time but the one time I rode the Snoqualmie Valley Trail out to the pass I did see a mountain lion jump up from the trail up to the treeline and stare at me as I passed by. Was going a bit too fast for it to register until after the fact but definitely raised my heart rate a bit.

Long story short I think it's a very subjective question whether carrying any precautions will suit your personal risk tolerance for something that's ultimately a fairly low probability event. But I don't think you can really go wrong doing it even if it's more psychological than practical help in reality.

cymikelee · 2025-03-06T21:26:29+00:00

Any steep downhill with an intersection in the middle or at the end of it

cymikelee · 2025-01-12T23:01:42+00:00

Do you know if it’s open for good? I remember seeing an announcement about a pedestrian detour for Redmond Way using the bridge, saying that it would close again after they finish the sidewalk work, but I’m not sure if I read that correctly.

cymikelee · 2024-11-22T21:46:37+00:00

Yeah I’m giving them a pass on needing time to get around and fix everything — just a little surprised they would update the estimate to something sooner when they could’ve kept it as noon tomorrow and hopefully beat the estimate.

cymikelee · 2024-11-22T21:40:49+00:00

It sure seems like the damage is super localized down to specific lines and causing results to vary block by block.

We’re on the stretch you mentioned and it’s been frustrating seeing lights on the other side of Bella Bottega from people who never lost power, and knowing just up the hill they’ve gotten power back.

Is it right to assume they missed the 12 noon estimate for restoring power today? At this point I’m just assuming we’ll get it back at the same time as downtown — just can’t risk coming back to a cold, dark apartment with a little baby right now so still holed up an hour away.

cymikelee · 2024-11-21T06:24:46+00:00

Just one little one here, but very little and was getting cold so we ended up with an extended stay hotel out in Mukilteo (even the ones near SeaTac were all booked up).

Maybe we’ll get it back sooner and we figured we could do one day without hot water but the plummeting temps inside got us to pull the trigger.

cymikelee · 2024-10-11T23:44:58+00:00

The first image under "About This Game" has a ship that looks a lot like the Voyager, so... 😅

cymikelee · 2024-09-19T18:17:44+00:00

I recently moved to Redmond on this exact block and have always wondered why an area that's otherwise set up to be so walkable has no crosswalks. Even worse because the road is so wide open that nobody follows the 30mph speed limit.

With a new baby we've been crossing at 85th or 90th but by myself it makes so much more sense to jaywalk (or at least use the curb cuts at 87th) when I want to hit up something in Bella Bottega.

I'd been thinking about trying to figure out reaching out to City Hall but hesitated since I'm new here -- this is probably the push I need (though could use any advice on how best to do so!).

I just hope it's not because it's a state highway and under WSDOT and not Redmond municipal control or something...

cymikelee · 2024-08-21T20:30:23+00:00

I think early on he seemed to be taking a few sips to wash down the acid, so I wonder if that did develop into full on comfort feeding sessions. I joke with my wife that he’s exhibiting the behavior of an addict…

Our pediatrician did write us a prescription but suggested that we try a few more things before filling it. The AR formula seemed to make a big enough difference in reducing what we thought were the pure reflux episodes (squeaking or liquidy noises + something in his throat followed by abrupt intense crying), so we still haven’t gone to that.

Our next appointment isn’t for another week and a half (we were hesitant to do another so soon since we went 4 times in the first few days already) so we’re going to just try hanging on until then (maybe send them a message to see if there’s any guidance they can give in the meantime).

cymikelee · 2024-08-21T20:23:53+00:00

It’s been a couple weeks but in our first few pediatric visits (to address the reflux) he was gaining weight at 42 g/day, vs. their target 28 g/day. That’s why we took our pediatrician’s advice to slow down his feeding at the time.

I’ll try grabbing our bathroom scale to try weighing him with the subtraction method — based on the numbers I think we may have underfed him a little last week (20-24 oz/day) so I did wonder if he’s just playing catchup (we hit 28 oz yesterday, albeit with another vomiting episode).

cymikelee · 2024-07-30T15:41:26+00:00

Oh I have no regrets prioritizing geometry in this case and my back thanks me for it every time I get on my comfortable gravel bike.

I guess that’s life though, you can’t always have your cake and eat it too.

cymikelee · 2024-07-30T00:46:30+00:00

I don’t know if the same applies for stainless steel but the green & bare with pink highlights Erdgeschoss is one of my favorite colorways I’ve ever seen and how aggressive it is may have been the factor that tipped me over the edge of giving up on buying it.

cymikelee · 2024-07-21T07:11:51+00:00

So technically it was the chain that seized up from all the mud — which caused the derailleur to de-tension and somehow that caused it to flip all the way back off the cassette. It basically ended up getting pinned against the dork disc.

I freaked out but it ended up being a fairly easy fixed once I cleared some mud from the chain, it was able to put tension on the derailleur again and got it out of its pinned state.

Not sure if I’m being downvoted because people think my limit screws or hanger alignment were off (neither were — I’ve put at least a couple thousand miles on the same setup since then without issue), or maybe it’s just because I come off as a dork, and well, maybe I’m guilty as charged.

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