Sunday, +/-

Oct. 7th, 2002 09:16 am
magid: (Default)
[personal profile] magid
-: Woke up with a sore throat.

+: Sunday morning I biked to Arlington Center with Queue.
-: My odometer wasn't working, again.
-: I am so out of shape....
+: At least I'm doing something about it.

+: M-over (this one with onions, tomatoes, bread, fresh oregano, chives, basil).

-: Didn't go to Roxbury Open Studios.
+: Finally had time to check email and LJ.
+: Went, briefly, to Oktoberfest in Harvard Square, instead.
-: Didn't have enough time to focus on anything there.
+: Ran into J, who I haven't seen in far too long, and things are good with him.

+: Got to get on the T as someone's Sunday guest, for the very first time. (Thanks, Queue.)

+: Went to the Zakim Bridge walk, and there was no line to wait in.
+: Got to see much of the bridge, and the views therefrom.
The bridge is beautiful (especially contrasted with the rust-colored pieces of the Central Artery currently right next to it.
I was surprised that the top of the curve of the bridge surface is not between the towers, but by the outer one. Also, the cables on the extreme north and south sides of the bridge attach to the wishbones from the center of the bridge (between the traffic), while the cables in the middle attach from the outside of the lanes. Intere sting. There were places that the lines of the cables seemed to form parts of quadratic relations...
Why 6 lanes northbound (from the city) and 4 lanes southbound (into the city)?
The bridge is usually lit blue (with red lights on top of the towers to alert planes), but this can be changed with a change of gels over the lights.
The wishbone towers are hollow, with ladders inside so things can be checked.

There are 70 hexagons cut out from between sections of lanes of the bridge, to allow light to get to the river surface, so the alewives will know how to go on their spawning runs. And all I could think of was math problems: Given the radius/apothem of the regular hexagon, find the area. Find the area of all the hexagons. Find the area of the bridge's shadow. What percent of the shadow are the hexagons?

Saw people walking their bikes on the bridge, and one person riding, very slowly. I wonder if the overnight bike ride will go over at least some of the bridge next year... Also saw a rather amazing purple wavy fur top hat.

-: Didn't bring a camera.
+: Had my cell phone, so could call other people interested in the bridge walk.
+: Met up with Cthulhia, JB, and met Claudia, as I was finishing my walk up and back.
+: Walked the bridge again with company.
+: Heard songs from "Sweeney Todd" I'd not heard before (perhaps the first time those songs were sung on the bridge?).
+: Stickers!
+: Ride home from Lechmere.
+: With a stop for ice cream at Christina's on the way.

+: The bread (with rye flour, hot cereal, sunflower seeds, almonds, half soy milk instead of water) I'd left on timebake had come out fine.
+: Brought it to Queue and Hrafn's housewarming.
+: There was also yummy, though very green, felafel to eat.
+: Got to play Boggle.
+: Got to see friends.
+: Got to see how Body Boggle is played
-: Sore throat worse.
-: Headache, barely noticed earlier, worse.
-: Sickness making me unsociable.
-: Had to leave early.

-: Fever.
+: Finally brought in (my usual bedroom) light from the sukkah.
-: Broke off a nail while doing it.
-: Bed early (or is this a +?)

Date: 2002-10-07 08:49 am (UTC)
ceo: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ceo
I've been sort of obsessively geeking over this bridge (and the Big Dig in general) for quite a while, so....
  • The Boston end of the bridge runs directly into the tunnel, and the other end connects to the elevated I-93 "Decks", so it runs downhill towards the Boston end.
  • They couldn't run the cables to the edges of the back spans because, at the Boston end, the old elevated ramps between I-93 and Storrow Drive are in the way (or were; that part of the ramp was recently dismantled).
  • The two lanes cantilevered off the northbound side come from the Sumner Tunnel/Dock Square entrance. For traffic-engineering reasons that I can't remember offhand, they don't join the I-93 mainline until just north of the bridge.

  • I missed yesterday's bridge walk, but I've been on the bridge three times before via tours and the previous walk.

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