Noted Today on a 76-Mile Bike Ride

In the area west and southeast of Washington, D.C is a grand trail that starts in the southeast at Mt. Vernon and continues along the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport and connects via Arlington County Trails to Washington & Old Dominion Trail all the way to Purcellvile, Virginia. Round trip, this is a 90-mile route. Please comment if this is not correct. But there is a section between Reston and Herndon in which roots have undermined the smoothness of the trail. In this case, they have created regular trail-wide cracks that cause an annoying bump every 25 feet or something. They look like roots that have caused cracks through which grass has grown anyway. This W & OD Trail is an amazing gift, but these little things slightly erode smoothness and speed.  C'est la vie. Not only that, it is amusing to see yet another effort by humanity (even with regular upkeep and attention) get slowly destroyed by nature's relentless crawl against human artificiality. 

:>)

Bicycle Commuting Coach

I have been riding my bike in all kinds of towns - Chicago, beach towns and in Washington D.C. Each space is different, each place has a slightly varied culture in how it reacts to and "allows" bicycle transportation. DC certainly has its own plan, as well as do Maryland and Virginia - the two states between which is sandwiched The District. I like to ride my bike and put in an average of 150 miles weekly. Have no fear, this summer will see an increase in those mile counts. The point is that I have gained experience riding and very much am an advocate of commuting via bicycle. But sometimes it takes encouragement and just a little advice to work it out. This might mean the rider has questions about clothing for all types of weather or does not feel comfortable with negotiating a certain type of intersection. 

Sometimes it only takes one time to ride with an encouraging person to "get" the ways of bicycle commuting. It's such a fun activity and need not be scary.  Right now, and through this summer at least, I am making myself available as a Bicycle Commuting Coach on a per-contract basis. This just means that for a small fee, I will advise on clothing, lighting, picking routes and bicycle technique so that each rider can improve their bicycle commuting skills and have more fun as their overall confidence grows.

Thank you. 

Jesse. 
E-mail me: JL.taglich(at)yahoo(dot)com


PS: I am curious how people find this post. I am asking that whomever comes to this post, even if you don't need my services, that you leave a comment on the page or send an e-mail about the path you took to get here. Thanks so much.

On the Radio and in the Library

On Thursday, 12 April 2012, I was on the radio (Our Digital Future) at University of California - Irvine talking about librarianship and digital aspects in the field. Very fun. I got to talk about library school and bicycle riding (and the differences in the cycling scene between the DC Metro area and Chicago (where I used to live). But I also was given the opportunity to discuss projects underway at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Some of these projects are standard preservation and patron service projects. Great stuff indeed. But the Folger is also linking data to finding aids from their Luna Insight database, in which they keep their digital objects. Folger has a huge collection of digitized objects - full books, manuscripts, letters and all kinds of other rare materials. And they have the right team of professionals as they have staff who have been on committees deciding standards for a full range of rare materials. Folger is a highly professionalized place. And right now, they have an exhibit titled: Shakespeare's Sisters: Voices of English and European Women Writers, 1500-1700 in the great Hall. 


The best resources are here to stay and somehow manage to make their presence known again and again.

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