Bar bee queue num bar tue

Today involved a grand total of four things.  See if you can spot them in the post below!  Lesser things done whilst being exhausted don't count.

I woke up at 10:00 AM, puttered for a few minutes, and decided that I needed to get out, get running, and do my weekend long run.

The plan was to go for about 6 miles. I decided that this might best be accomplished with the aid of Fresh Pond. Whippin' out my Gmaps Pedometer, I figured out that from my apartment to Fresh Pond, twice around the pond, and back to my apartment was 6.7 miles. That seemed appropriate - if I couldn't make the whole thing, at least I'd be sure to get the six in.

So around 11:00 AM, after looking up said route and getting myself ready, I set out.

The first trip around the pond (and the preceding mile or so to get there) was fine. The second one started getting a tad rougher, but I made it. It wasn't wicked hot out or anything, but it was definitely warmer than I would have preferred. By the time I made it around the pond the second time, I'd seen a bunch of people multiple times on their way around. On the way back home, I made it as far as the corner of Concord and Walden. At that point, I was quite happy to be done.

After I got to the corner, I cooled down for a bit at the edge of St. Peter's Field/Park/Thing off of Walden.  Turns out I made it approximately 6.2 miles.  Not bad!  I got the whole six in!  I think this is officially the longest run I've ever done.  Next weekend I'd like to push it up to seven, perhaps.  I think I can do it.

This also gives me a sense of how the Boilermaker's going to go.  Julia and I signed up for it yesterday.  I think if I keep training towards it, it'll go fine, but ~9 miles or so feels like a stretch if they're like today's.  By the end of this one I was feeling pretty beat.  That may have something to do with having a good deal of alcohol yesterday, as well as the heat - I don't know.

Anyway.  The run was awesome, and I'm thrilled.

After I got home and cleaned myself up, I grabbed my bent-spoke wheel and wandered over to Ace Wheelworks.  They said they could fix it in 20 minutes or so, so I walked back to Cafe Zing and got myself some coffee, sat for a few, and then returned.

Turns out they didn't think I should actually do anything to the wheel.  The spoke isn't that bent, and the gentleman helping me out said that it'd probably be worse to unbalance the wheel to replace it than it would be to just leave it.

Replace it when it breaks, he said.

Okay then!

So I bought another tube and a patch kit, then went home and patched my other tire.

First patch!  And it seems to have worked!  (I'll find out for sure tomorrow morning, I imagine).  Getting the tire and tube back on the wheel proved to be an adventure without any tools.  I got it after a bit of a struggle, though.

After getting everything back together, I took Mr. Surly out to JFK Park for a celebratory ride, sat down under a tree, and finished Bird by Bird again.  What a great book.  It's very motivational, in its own weird way.  

Around 5:00 PM, whilst sitting under said tree, I decided maybe I should look up and see when Daniel's BBQ was supposed to start.

2:00 PM, said my e-mail.

Dah!

Picking myself up, I biked up to Somerville through Union Sq., around the mountain, and eventually found my way to Daniel's place.

Ahh, what sights, smells, and tastes awaited me!  What glorious fare!  What delightful desserts!  What pungent punch (read: sangria)!  Wonderful.  They always throw excellent parties.  I stuck around there until around 8:15 PM or so, when it started to get dark.  Then I biked myself down Highland Ave. back to Davis Square, backtracked, and shuffled into my apartment.

And then I promptly sat around going "Uuhhhh" for a while as a day full of activity finally caught up with me.

I played a little of some iPad MMO.  Not half bad.  Good interface.  Something something Legends.  Little Legends?  Happy Legends?  Neither is correct.  Something like that, though.

And now I'm going to pass the feck out.

Dwah, dwah do-be-do-do

Going to client offices is, ultimately, exhausting.  Simply the act of going to some foreign place where you're trying to do your best to be helpful, explain things, solve problems, etc., is rough.

So, yeah, by 3:00 PM I was frickin' done.

I left the office around 5:00 PM and went home to practice and choose some songs that I want to learn to play next.  I chose West Coast Blues (Wes Montgomery), cause I like it.  At my lesson, Dave was playing Killer Joe (I forgot the name of the personage who wrote it), and we decided maybe I should learn that one too.

Uhh.  Oh!

So this morning I got up all nice and early and headed out a bit after 8:00 AM so I could meet Tara and Hillary in Porter.  I ended up at Cafe Zing in the Porter Square Book Store, hanging out, drinking coffee, eating a lemon scone.  It was crumbly and delicious.  Some woman came into the place after tying up her little puppy on a bench outside.  I watched the dog kinda wander around in a circle a bit, sit, decide it was too cold to sit, stand, try to sit again, get cold and stand, etc.  Then, she goes back outside and the dog freaks out with happiness to see her, jumping all over her.  I think it was just about the cutest thing ever.  The woman next to me turned and goes, "Oooh!  Thank goodness Mom is back!"  Exactly what he must have been thinking.

There, that's your cute moment of the day.

... And that's about all I got.  Long day, but a good one, generally.