Anyone up for a trade?
Frisbee is, yet again, in danger of being rained out. What’s up with the weekly thunderstorms on Tuesdays?!
Frisbee on the Cape = fun. In spite of a thrown-out back. Beach on the Cape also = fun, though the sunburn makes it less fun now.
While on the subject, I wanted to share some more about biking in Boston:
- I saw someone get hit on their bike last night, and the car just drove away. Asshole. We tried to catch up to the car, but running is sadly much slower than driving. Thankfully the biker was okay.
- I’ve seen several people in the last few days smoking cigarettes while riding their bike. Enlighten me.
- It’s harder to see potholes at night.
Off to the Cape this weekend for a frisbee tournament. Woohoo!
As I was biking in to work this morning, I came to an intersection. As the light for the cross-street turned yellow, this guy starts crossing the street. By the time our light was green, he was only halfway across. Unsurprisingly, I started to go across with the cars next to me. This guy, in the greatest of Eastern European accents screams at us “RRRRRED LIGHT!!” while wildly gesturing at the traffic light. I quietly pointed to the light and said “No, it’s not, actually,” but he didn’t respond, preferring to think we hated him and decided to run the light, en masse. Oh well…
Biking in Boston is not the most straightforward of things. Well, maybe it is – you bike and drivers do everything in their power to try to stop you. But I have a new tactic that’s been working quite well: it amounts to yelling at the drivers when they do stupid things. It sounds simplistic, I know, but you can’t argue with success. Since it’s the summertime, a reasonable percentage of car windows are open, so the yelling is heard, and I’ve had several drivers apologize (in Boston, no less!) when alerted to their reckless driving. Maybe it’s even making them pay attention more the next time. Perhaps that’s asking too much.
Well, some more woodworking is in order tonight – Danielle & I are cutting the dovetail joints for our breakfast trays tonight. Wish us luck.
Craft day was quite a success yesterday. In fact, the lathe came in handy for the first time. The dowel pin on Laura’s sewing machine that holds the spool of thread broke off (it was measley plastic) and so I made a new one out of aluminum on the lathe. Slight overkill, to be sure, but this one will never break…
Matt’s entry in the 5k contest is ranked quite highly – the results should be posted soon… keep your fingers crossed.
If you’re in the area, be sure to check out Art Beat in Davis Square this weekend. Sure to be fun are: “Musical: The Musical” at 3:30 on Saturday at the Elm Street Theatre (a friend’s group that does improv musicals) and Snappy Dance at the Somerville Theatre at 4:30 on Saturday (fine, witty, and impressive dance).
Oh yeah, Craft Day this Sunday.
I saw an amazing band last night – if they’re ever in your town, check out The Hot Club of Cowtown. They play great old-timey/swing/country-western swing music, and they play it well! Johnny D’s proved a great venue; aside from being scant blocks from my house, the dance floor was just big enough for the 5-10 couples that were dancing to the music.
On a side note, on their second CD, Peter Ecklund, of Peter Davis and Lindy Hop Heaven fame, plays a mean cornet.
I think grampus is one of the coolest words ever. According to a few dictionaries, it has (at least) the following meanings:
- a small, black fierce toothed whale, in the dolphin family
- a person who breathes loudly
- tongs used to handle iron blooms
- the giant whip scorpion (Mastigoproctus giganteus) of the southern U.S.
The long weekend was well spent relaxing with lots of friends in Connecticut. Much boggle, spit & dictionary was played, much food was eaten, and some swimmin’ took place, too.
At work I’ve switched from the evil business of writing software to the wonderful world of mechanical engineering. So far, so good.