April 2005←

May 2005

→June 2005



May 27, 2005

so sore

04:17 PM

Our ride yesterday left me so exhausted I almost fell asleep during Deadwood last night and I’m having trouble climbing stairs today. It’s slightly worse than the other rides since this was the farthest I’ve gone yet. I fell off while taking a bend too fast and jammed my thumb. It feels fine today and is only as sore as the rest of my fingers from gripping the handlebars for dear life. There’s talk of heading up to Spring Mount, Pa. next Saturday for a change of scenery; it’ll be nice to see how the Wissahickon stacks up to other terrains.


May 22, 2005

been doin’

02:35 PM

I haven’t spent a lot of time working on stuff like writing or designing outside of work, but I’m pretty content with my productivity on the weekends. Just to catch up, here they are in reverse order.

This weekend I went to Lolita in the city for a BYO Tequila birthday dinner for Sam. It was our other coworker’s birthday as well, so she and her husband were there as well as Tim, (who filled in for Dia who was finishing up some homework in the eleventh hour). Afterwards we grabbed drinks at Steven Starr’s El Vez and then Belgian bar down the street which serves table taps and happened to have a live jazz band. Saturday I attended Geof and Kelly’s baby shindig at Al and Mary’s apartment for chips, salsa and other appetizers, a game of whiffle ball, and conversation with people I don’t get to see nearly enough. Every time I see people I haven’t seen in a while I realize my life has boiled down to mountain biking, Quizo, television with my housemates, and pre-planned events on the weekends. That’s not such a bad thing as long as I’m up on my planning and don’t give a lick about spontaneity. Today was our day at Hershey Park. Dia, Tim and I spent last night at his mom’s house and made it to the front gates by 9:30 a.m. to hit every rollercoaster in four hours flat. We even had enough time and energy to stroll through ZooAmerica.

Last weekend we did very little but clean the basement. It took us almost two full days to clear out everyone’s stuff, build the shelves to hold that which is ours, and stack Jeff’s stuff in the living room until he could come by to pick it up. We paused only for an evening barbecue at Scott’s place in Hamilton, N.J. and to pick up a bike for Dia.

Before that was our weekend in D.C.: a tour of the White House and games at my parents’ house Saturday, and Sunday’s four-hour tour of the city on Segways. The Segways were something we had a hard time convincing anyone to do, but those of us who went agree that it was an experience of a lifetime; in fact, Tim and Ian are signing up for a similar tour for their trip to Chicago in June. I was unimpressed with the quality of our tour guides, but the machines on which we spent our afternoon were truly fascinating and they were a speedy way to get around and take a lot of pictures.

The only down side to the past few weekends is my aching feet. There as sore as if I’d run a marathon. This weekend was particularly bad because I wore sandals all day Saturday and I was battered around by today’s wooden coasters making me sore all over.


May 02, 2005

happenings

10:28 AM

I’ve been a busy guy — and not Halo 2 busy either, though I’ve been playing a lot of that to be sure.

Yesterday was the MS Walk at Tyler State Park with Dave and Tara. It was a little rainy at 8:00 a.m. and a little hard to get out of bed, but by noon in the park it was a gorgeous day and the eight mile loop was a great deal of fun. We even got in a game of Hoity Toity at the barbecue at Dave’s house afterwards. It was slightly awkward running into Joel yesterday after what happened with his co-workers finding what I wrote about him botching up our would-be trip to Montreal for Dave’s bachelor party, but I apologized and he said it was all water under the bridge anyway.

Saturday I went bowling with Pat — who drove up for the University City 5k Run before anyone told him there weren’t a lot of people going and it was too rainy to be fun running by himself — and Dave, Greg and Kat — of whom I really don’t see enough nowadays.

Two of the previous three weekends were spent down in Maryland helping Hager knock out a good portion or painting. The whole first floor and the stairway needed three coats including primer, and while it’s hardly close to being finished he could be finished by the end of May if he tackles one coat per wall a day. They could probably knock it out even faster if Maria took care of the small spots around the kitchen counter while the kids are napping or something.

I also bought a mountain bike. It’s sweet as hell. I’m a tad worried that I spent so much money on it and haven’t used it once to ride the trails, but I’ll never have to buy a bike again. Lifetime warranty on the frame and the rest are premium parts so should hold up nicely. The reason I haven’t ridden since the purchase is I’ve yet to teach myself to use the clip-in sytle pedals. I fell too many times when I first got on that I need to spend a day on the grass in the park behind the house — with my gloves and helmet and maybe Dia for support — before I even think about attempting the Wissahickon anytime soon. I am itching to ride, however.

This week it’s more of the usual busy schedule: Quizo at Kildare’s Tuesday and designing the invitatilon for this year’s Memorial Day/wedding reception picnic in Davidsonville. Invites go out Saturday.