i'm going to ohio to visit ceri. after making half-hearted promises about a possible trip out i'm finally going to do it. of course, it helps that karen was planning to go and i'm just tagging along. karen is picking up a grill and a dog, named holiday. i'll be there for about a day and maybe a half. the half depends on how long we can stay up. i haven't seen ceri in...a year? maybe longer.
now i have to wash dishes so my apartment won't smell when i get back.
these birds are on the church that was between my house and ceri's. i would go over to her house for dinner at least twice a week...i owe her lots of dinners.
i took my bike in a few weeks ago for its annual check-up. and while there discussed putting mustache handle bars on my ride. a fairly simple conversion that requires new brake levers, shifters, cables, and a stem. just...i signed up for it anyway and took it in the next week for the procedure. but, the wrong parts were accidentally ordered and the whole thing was pushed back till the middle of the next week.
i actually gasped, like put my hands to my mouth, when i saw nate wheeling my bike out from the back...it looks that good. on a sad note, no more pig horn. the bars are a little thicker and it won't fit...though, i might try to rig something up. i took it on several test rides this afternoon and evening on probably the hottest day this summer.
the smoke before:
the water buffalo after:
i cut myself out of the last picture, but you can see both my hands clutching the seat. will they take it away from me? am i not a serious enough rider to merit these bars? actually, he's telling me about how i'll have to bring it back in and get the stem adjusted for optimal riding. and i'm glad nate cares about the technicalities, but i'm all about how i look when riding. in response to that comment, he said they weren't the gap, they don't sell things to people under the pretense of making the buyer look cooler. damn. that's a good bikeshop.
a shout-out to leah who took the after picture, was very sneaky about it, and made the other bikeshop worker laugh...
"a group of hard-drinking girls, comfortable with their nudity"
at the south mill, someone keeps leaving barbie dolls in the women's bathroom. is this like dumping your unwanted puppy on a country road? i wonder what barbie and midge were up to that got them in trouble and subsequently, dropped off in a coffee shop bathroom...
my new favorite person is ben yancer. he made me a leaf bracelet from a plant i was killing. and then we stood at the food table, i'm sure disregarding both our upbringings, to eat leftovers directly from the pans they were served in. he also discussed in detail how to make the perfect pie crust, adding that if you eat too much of the pie crust dough, while you are making the pie, it makes you feel like when you eat too much cookie dough.
it was the promise of a nap at lunch that got me out of bed this morning. which was the only thing going for me most of the morning. on my commute, i had to go out of my way because my street is blocked off for 'july jamm.' the garish posters promising equally garish performers. work, as usual, was hum-drum till i got an e mail from my sister announcing her blog...not the 12th century disease, but a means for communication in "one fell swoop."
this is an introduction into my sister's life that i rarely see. i'm excited. our family has to be one of the least communicative, and this continues the understanding of the individuals in my family since i started e mailing my dad on a semi-daily basis earlier this spring.
alpha boss told me to tell my immediate boss that the senator is here. i'm assuming she wants my boss to join them. honored, that i am the vehicle for such an important message i still have important information of my own. i know that immediate boss has already left for the day. i didn't say anything though.
you don't, or better yet, you won't. you won't like me after you get to know me. all the time i was asking questions about you while smiling and acting interested (get this) i wasn't really interested. see, if i was interested in you, as in dating you, i wouldn't be able to talk to you. i am pretty prickly when it comes to you liking me *bunches* and it really creeps me out when you do. and really, the more i think about relationships, the more i'm almost sure i'm okay not being in one. so, dear boy, i'm not trying to be a bitch. i'm not trying to lead you on just to tell you i'm not interested. i'm really just entertaining myself while i have to work with you...or in the evenings when i want someone to go to a movie with...or someone to ask how mulligatawny soup is made.
life sucks...now let's get on with the interesting parts.
it took me a while to realize, but this is weird. my postman knows where i live. my mail doesn't have my picture on it, so why, when i was walking out of my apartment building did he say, "so you live in A3?" which i don't, i live in A4, but still that's across the hall and this was the first time talking to him. how does he know that i live on the first floor and within one apartment number of where i actually do?
he also waves to me when i ride my bike down the street...like, leans out of his mail truck so i see him.
I was cramming five months of work into three days and was at the coffee shop trying to get some things done without the usual distractions. Being fairly focused on cramming five months into a three day schedule, I wasn't in a chatty mood. And when my friend Jake came in, and said hi, all I could do was stutter around. I was playing with a penny I had in my pocket and when I dropped it I picked it up to give to him and thus called the conversation good.
Hopefully, my friends are forgiving of the anti-matter vs. reality bridge I have to travel.
This afternoon, after leaving work early to eat pizza at Karen's work, I wanted a granita. And since my bike doesn't have a bottle holder I was wondering what I could do at the coffee shop to pass the time since riding home with it was out of the question. Then I realized I had my computer with me and the internet was at my fingertips.
"i still like the sound of a ralley in front of the protest." (karl rove was making a, more or less, suprise appearance in omaha and the guy next to me was organizing a protest)
I've been saying that I broke up with my imaginary boyfriend for the radio station I listen to online. KEXP.org is worthy of deep devotion and even mild obsession. However, when paying bills this month I've moved my love from online radio to the Lincoln Electric System.
Dear LES, You let me pay my bill late...a week, two months, six months? not a problem. And then this month how can I love you anymore when I pay my bill a week late and you STILL give me a two dollar and fifty cent "conservation credit"? I guess I'm responsible with using my electricity, but not with paying my bills. Yet, you reinforce my behavior and now I'm in love.
