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.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Bee bee queue.
Today was Mike and Ria's barbeque. Yesterday was a tofu stir fry at La Casa del Wagner.
It makes me happy that I can define these days by the food that they included.
Yesterday was also Friday, which included a lunch at "Za" - a pizza and salad joint that recently moved into an apartment/condo building near our office. It is, unfortunately, rather mediocre. You'd think that a place might be able to do something creative with a mac and cheese pizza, but no, they did something completely tasteless instead. Bummer. I went there with Mike, Daniel, and Erik, and I think the only reason any of us were remotely happy was because one of the pizzas had goat cheese on it which gave it some salty flavor. Double bummer.
Julia and I also went for a run Friday morning, which was great. A little less than 4.5 mills, I think. Tomorrow I needa go for about a six mile run. Yum.
I didn't get to the bike shop today... Hoping to do that tomorrow morning.
Earlier today, we went kayaking on the Charles out by 128. It was great! Lillies and their pads everywhere, and minimal power boat traffic. Great!
We (Jason, Kat, Eric C and his friend Angela) also went to Target and Best Buy for all sorts owe stuff. I think I spent upwards of $160 on household stuff, a capo, running gear, and shaving equipment. Soooooo worth it.
Mike and Ria's party was great. Tons of people. So tired. So mostly tipsy.
Time to crash.
It makes me happy that I can define these days by the food that they included.
Yesterday was also Friday, which included a lunch at "Za" - a pizza and salad joint that recently moved into an apartment/condo building near our office. It is, unfortunately, rather mediocre. You'd think that a place might be able to do something creative with a mac and cheese pizza, but no, they did something completely tasteless instead. Bummer. I went there with Mike, Daniel, and Erik, and I think the only reason any of us were remotely happy was because one of the pizzas had goat cheese on it which gave it some salty flavor. Double bummer.
Julia and I also went for a run Friday morning, which was great. A little less than 4.5 mills, I think. Tomorrow I needa go for about a six mile run. Yum.
I didn't get to the bike shop today... Hoping to do that tomorrow morning.
Earlier today, we went kayaking on the Charles out by 128. It was great! Lillies and their pads everywhere, and minimal power boat traffic. Great!
We (Jason, Kat, Eric C and his friend Angela) also went to Target and Best Buy for all sorts owe stuff. I think I spent upwards of $160 on household stuff, a capo, running gear, and shaving equipment. Soooooo worth it.
Mike and Ria's party was great. Tons of people. So tired. So mostly tipsy.
Time to crash.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sippin' on gin and... gin.
Today worked out pretty well. Got up at 6:30 AM, went for a run around 7:00 AM from Julia's. Ran from my place to hers, ended up with about a 4.5 mile run, all told.
Got to work by around 9:30 PM, and had a fairly productive day with branding kits. Finished off the rest of my Tofu Yellow Curry for lunch, which was delightful. Around 3:00 PM or so, Mike, Mark, Eric and I (Hereafter known as The iPad Crew) took a trip to the mall to get coffee and wander briefly through the Apple store looking for various things. I wanted to get a sleeve for my iPad so I can actually, like, take it somewhere without worrying about scratching it.
Alas, no decent case/sleeve was to be found. Bummer. At least, not for anything cheaper than $40, which is absurd.
The rest of the day went without incident, and I left around 5:30 PM or so.
I took the train back to Harvard Sq., and then walked up to Porter from there, reading Bird By Bird as I went. It was a great walk - very pleasant!
Upon arriving home, I went into cleaning mode after a quick snack-o-dinner. I put away all the dishes, put away my clean clothes, and sorted, trashed, and filed every single piece of paper in my possession. That last one feels spectacular. Normally I end up with a stack somewhere... not this time! Bwaha.
Ahem.
Since then, I've kinda been hanging out, playing a bit of Warpgate, mentally preparing myself for tomorrow.
Which, I think, I'm going to go physically prepare myself for by going to sleep.
Got to work by around 9:30 PM, and had a fairly productive day with branding kits. Finished off the rest of my Tofu Yellow Curry for lunch, which was delightful. Around 3:00 PM or so, Mike, Mark, Eric and I (Hereafter known as The iPad Crew) took a trip to the mall to get coffee and wander briefly through the Apple store looking for various things. I wanted to get a sleeve for my iPad so I can actually, like, take it somewhere without worrying about scratching it.
Alas, no decent case/sleeve was to be found. Bummer. At least, not for anything cheaper than $40, which is absurd.
The rest of the day went without incident, and I left around 5:30 PM or so.
I took the train back to Harvard Sq., and then walked up to Porter from there, reading Bird By Bird as I went. It was a great walk - very pleasant!
Upon arriving home, I went into cleaning mode after a quick snack-o-dinner. I put away all the dishes, put away my clean clothes, and sorted, trashed, and filed every single piece of paper in my possession. That last one feels spectacular. Normally I end up with a stack somewhere... not this time! Bwaha.
Ahem.
Since then, I've kinda been hanging out, playing a bit of Warpgate, mentally preparing myself for tomorrow.
Which, I think, I'm going to go physically prepare myself for by going to sleep.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
All together now! (All together now!)
I want my bike back! I just haven't had time to go get a patching kit yet.
Needless to say, I took the train to work today. On the way, I stopped in Central to cancel my BSC membership, finally. After that, i stopped into Carberry's for some coffee, which was delicious. Work ran a bit long with a short lunch - just how I like it. I ended up leaving around 6:30 pm or so. By the time I got home, Jason, Kat and Allie were all waiting for me at my apartment. Music night!
We played a few songs (All Together Now and some Clash tune) before deciding to call it quits cause it was crazy hot. My downstairs neighbor banged on the ceiling once.
I don't like those people. At some point, we were all like, "What's that smell?!" We turned off the amps and started sniffing tinges to see what was burning. ... Turns out it was the living room TV. Doh! Poor thing went "Poof!" and died.
Julia showed up around 9:30 after what sounded like a long day. She's currently taking a bit of a nap. I think that's about it for this Wednesday.
Oh. And it was Eric M's last day. Major bummer.
Needless to say, I took the train to work today. On the way, I stopped in Central to cancel my BSC membership, finally. After that, i stopped into Carberry's for some coffee, which was delicious. Work ran a bit long with a short lunch - just how I like it. I ended up leaving around 6:30 pm or so. By the time I got home, Jason, Kat and Allie were all waiting for me at my apartment. Music night!
We played a few songs (All Together Now and some Clash tune) before deciding to call it quits cause it was crazy hot. My downstairs neighbor banged on the ceiling once.
I don't like those people. At some point, we were all like, "What's that smell?!" We turned off the amps and started sniffing tinges to see what was burning. ... Turns out it was the living room TV. Doh! Poor thing went "Poof!" and died.
Julia showed up around 9:30 after what sounded like a long day. She's currently taking a bit of a nap. I think that's about it for this Wednesday.
Oh. And it was Eric M's last day. Major bummer.
Nine Twenty-Five, Press Return
Yesterday was your average sort of between-projects sorta day at work. Lots of jumping from thing to thing, trying to get a few other things done in the meantime.
After work, we went for a run down to Harvard and back up Oxford. It was wicked hot. I've run in hotter, but this was, I think, our first like... 80+ degree run of the year, and I was feeling it. Somewhere close to Porter I dropped my pace a little. Bummer. But that's okay, there'll be more runs.
The wanderlust has been returning the past few weeks, I've noticed. It seems for most of the last year or so, I was very content with my current situation and activities. Maybe it's the end of the school year, but I find myself thinking about all the things I could be doing again. It's an exciting feeling as always, but it's also concerning. It's distracting, and generally, there's little to be done for it.
Maybe it's just summer - I don't know. I think I probably need some sort of absurd vacation that'll remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing.
After work, we went for a run down to Harvard and back up Oxford. It was wicked hot. I've run in hotter, but this was, I think, our first like... 80+ degree run of the year, and I was feeling it. Somewhere close to Porter I dropped my pace a little. Bummer. But that's okay, there'll be more runs.
The wanderlust has been returning the past few weeks, I've noticed. It seems for most of the last year or so, I was very content with my current situation and activities. Maybe it's the end of the school year, but I find myself thinking about all the things I could be doing again. It's an exciting feeling as always, but it's also concerning. It's distracting, and generally, there's little to be done for it.
Maybe it's just summer - I don't know. I think I probably need some sort of absurd vacation that'll remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Monday, May 24, 2010
That's all I got!
Pretty standard day.
Got in to work at about 9:30 AM. I brought my guitar with me, which I got a chance to play around lunch time out on the roof deck. Lots of people out there at lunch - was a good time!
Around 6:00 PM I left work and headed home. Called my parents on my way back. Mom was out, but I had a nice chat with Dad for a while. After said chat, I drove myself over to Jason and Kat's for the evening. We had pizza from Thyago's, talked about jobs, played iPad games, watched some Dr. Who, and generally relaxed. Nice.
And now I'm back here. Fan in the window. It's been a pretty nice night.
Got in to work at about 9:30 AM. I brought my guitar with me, which I got a chance to play around lunch time out on the roof deck. Lots of people out there at lunch - was a good time!
Around 6:00 PM I left work and headed home. Called my parents on my way back. Mom was out, but I had a nice chat with Dad for a while. After said chat, I drove myself over to Jason and Kat's for the evening. We had pizza from Thyago's, talked about jobs, played iPad games, watched some Dr. Who, and generally relaxed. Nice.
And now I'm back here. Fan in the window. It's been a pretty nice night.
Whoah, Mt. Holyoke.
Huh, last post was Tuesday. Crazy. That's sorta unexpected.
Lets see what I can remember.
I don't have much for Wednesday left in my brain. I seem to recall most days last week leading up to this weekend's trip out to Western Massachusetts for Mt. Holyoke's reunions/graduation proceedings. On Thursday, Jason came to interview here at work, which was fun. Afterwards, he and I raced back to my apartment - he in his car, me on my bike. I won by a few minutes, which was pretty gratifying. Unfortunately, it seems that I blew out my back tire in the process. I woke up Friday morning to find my front tire with a bent spoke (which happened, I think, prior to the race), and my back tire completely flat. Bummer. I need to make it out to Ace or somewhere to get a new tube.
After the wee little race, Jason and I went out to dinner with Kat and Eric Fields (I almost beat her to my apartment too). We had some tastiness at Christopher's. After that, around 9:00 PM, I hurried out of the place and hitched the Red/Green lines down to Fenway to meet Julia at the House of Blues for drinks with some of her MHC friends. A good time was had by all.
Friday was mostly an exercise in waiting for the weekend and trying to get all sorts of things done. It, unfortunately, did not involve biking to work. Booo. Jules and I went... somewhere... that night. OH! Right! We went to a play put on by the kids at her school. Tumbleweed. It was probably the best school production I've ever seen - they did a great job. We also had a brief adventure through Trader Joe's.
Saturday morning I bummed around for a few, packing up some things to bring with me to Western Mass. Meanwhile, Julia was out at another kiddo's soccer game. Around 1:00 PM, we got in the car, drove through Watertown, and got onto Interstate 90W. After a pleasant drive, we arrived at my cousin Shauna's place around 2:30 PM or so, and chatted with her briefly before heading down to MHC's campus for the afternoon. We walked along the horse/running trails, took a tour of the campus, saw a bunch of friends and acquaintances, and generally took in the whole experience. The evening saw us at the Hangar for a drink with a bunch of her teammates from track/cross country, after which the two of us went to Basta e Pasta in... Amherst... for dinner. Which was quite good. And then there was ice cream.
There's always room for ice cream.
Sunday morning we got up, Julia went down to graduation, and I hung out with Shauna, Yem, and the kids for a bit. It was cool - I got to teach them a bit of guitar stuff. I need to ask Dave what the most effective thing to try teaching a nine year old is.
Around 12:30 PM I walked from Shauna's down to MHC and met Julia at the top of the amphitheater. We wandered around for a bit meeting/congratulating people before heading back to Shauna's for lunch.
A bit later, we said our goodbyes and went on our way. We decided to take route 2 back, instead of 90. Good choice, kids.
Route 2 was much more pleasant. On the way, we stopped at Mt. Skinner, drove to the top, looked around at the world, and went on our way. Then we saw a rainbow, chased it (in the car), found Mt. Sugarloaf, drove to the top, and once again checked out the world. Hey, world.
The rainbow was still there.
Sooner or later, we found our way back to Boston.
It was a great weekend.
Lets see what I can remember.
I don't have much for Wednesday left in my brain. I seem to recall most days last week leading up to this weekend's trip out to Western Massachusetts for Mt. Holyoke's reunions/graduation proceedings. On Thursday, Jason came to interview here at work, which was fun. Afterwards, he and I raced back to my apartment - he in his car, me on my bike. I won by a few minutes, which was pretty gratifying. Unfortunately, it seems that I blew out my back tire in the process. I woke up Friday morning to find my front tire with a bent spoke (which happened, I think, prior to the race), and my back tire completely flat. Bummer. I need to make it out to Ace or somewhere to get a new tube.
After the wee little race, Jason and I went out to dinner with Kat and Eric Fields (I almost beat her to my apartment too). We had some tastiness at Christopher's. After that, around 9:00 PM, I hurried out of the place and hitched the Red/Green lines down to Fenway to meet Julia at the House of Blues for drinks with some of her MHC friends. A good time was had by all.
Friday was mostly an exercise in waiting for the weekend and trying to get all sorts of things done. It, unfortunately, did not involve biking to work. Booo. Jules and I went... somewhere... that night. OH! Right! We went to a play put on by the kids at her school. Tumbleweed. It was probably the best school production I've ever seen - they did a great job. We also had a brief adventure through Trader Joe's.
Saturday morning I bummed around for a few, packing up some things to bring with me to Western Mass. Meanwhile, Julia was out at another kiddo's soccer game. Around 1:00 PM, we got in the car, drove through Watertown, and got onto Interstate 90W. After a pleasant drive, we arrived at my cousin Shauna's place around 2:30 PM or so, and chatted with her briefly before heading down to MHC's campus for the afternoon. We walked along the horse/running trails, took a tour of the campus, saw a bunch of friends and acquaintances, and generally took in the whole experience. The evening saw us at the Hangar for a drink with a bunch of her teammates from track/cross country, after which the two of us went to Basta e Pasta in... Amherst... for dinner. Which was quite good. And then there was ice cream.
There's always room for ice cream.
Sunday morning we got up, Julia went down to graduation, and I hung out with Shauna, Yem, and the kids for a bit. It was cool - I got to teach them a bit of guitar stuff. I need to ask Dave what the most effective thing to try teaching a nine year old is.
Around 12:30 PM I walked from Shauna's down to MHC and met Julia at the top of the amphitheater. We wandered around for a bit meeting/congratulating people before heading back to Shauna's for lunch.
A bit later, we said our goodbyes and went on our way. We decided to take route 2 back, instead of 90. Good choice, kids.
Route 2 was much more pleasant. On the way, we stopped at Mt. Skinner, drove to the top, looked around at the world, and went on our way. Then we saw a rainbow, chased it (in the car), found Mt. Sugarloaf, drove to the top, and once again checked out the world. Hey, world.
The rainbow was still there.
Sooner or later, we found our way back to Boston.
It was a great weekend.
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