I did a poor job of weight maintenance yesterday. My attempt to walk the Bob Collum trail was thwarted by a lack of parking in its tiny parking lot. Instead I visited a Cobb County Goodwill where I purchased two DVDs, but left the Georgia Beer Day 2022 glass on the shelf because I already own one of those.
I think my strategy for tomorrow will be to eat lunch at one of the breweries in Lee & White — Monday Night, Wild Heaven, or Best End — which should give me three chances to score a glass. And if I fail, I can always scour Goodwills until I find one.
This weekend I will finally start planning my BRAG Belgium Bike Ride Adventure, perhaps purchasing my flights in an effort to catch up with my ride mates.
Oh, don’t forget that we spring the clocks forward this weekend as we foolishly believe we can control our lives with arbitrary time shifts…
Wordle: two, my starter was REALM
Connections: one mistake (and a complete guess to get the Yellow, and never would have gotten the Purple), Green > Blue > Yellow > Purple
Wordle in 4 starting with TRAMP. One mistake in Connections: g, y, p, b.
A couple hints in Strands. That seemed hard. Eventually I might catch on.
Many areas to park for the Bob Callan Trail. Not just that tiny one. You drove by the store. You should have popped in! 🙂
We have a group run from the store tomorrow with Saucony but it looks like rain so I am hoping they cancel it. We have a GUTS race at Sweetwater State Park on Sunday. Going to be super early with the dang time change. I will be there most of the day as we are putting on a 25k and a 50k.
Finally got our marching orders to start the design process for our special BRAG jerseys.
Franklin is going back with Primal which makes me happy.
No Trivia last night as one Guy said he was too tired and the rest of us aren’t smart enough. Just chilled at home.
That is the only lot I know.
I didn’t drive by you, traffic was bad so I too 285 and 20 both ways.
Makes sense!
Well done on the deuce! I will try it later.
My sister-in-law (Kevin’s sister) came up from Savannah yesterday to spend the night. Her main office is in Atlanta so she has to come up sometimes for work. It was nice to see her but we had drinks and stayed up too late.
We are going to the United game tomorrow. It’s the home opener, which I don’t care about, but they are playing New England. I will stand there in my United shirt and secretly root for New England! Heh.
I played the app game last night with Seated & Upside – Kristina & I went to Anchor Bar up by Town Center Mall.
I got 20% ($8) back on my purchase, plus $15 since Kristina finally used the app, and another promo $10 – so $33 back on a $50 bill.
(if Paulie would ever use the app, I might get another $15 some day)
Then Upside should be giving me $7 or $8 – that app is slow to post.
Had a burger – it really hit the spot – so not sure if it was that good, or I was just hungry – I didn’t eat much all day, was way too busy with work yesterday.
HAHAHAH! Not knowing anything about restaurant apps, the first time I read the first sentence, this is what it said to me: “I went to a restaurant called Seated & Upside last night and had a bunch of appetizers.”
I don’t use any of the apps either and thought the same thing.
Well damn, send me a link, I’ll give it a try.
it is truly a stupid game, Seated sent a text about the $10 bonus, so I looked at restaurants around me to see if there was anything I might be in the mood for.
Upside is more of a pain, but you can get money back on gas, so I use it here & there.
Wordle in 4 starting with CRIME. I moved two letters between incorrect positions a couple of times before finding some traction. One miss on Connections. Strands was easy for me today, no hints. And no excessively frustration on my iPhone.
I had two crazy travel related things happen on Wednesday. The first was the maid in the hotel literally chasing me down on the street to return my iPhone charging cord to me. I told her she was amazing. I had left her a $20 tip in the room anyway, because I figure it has to be tough making a living in LA as a maid. She saw me leaving my room, and I was only partway down the block, but damn, she was FAST!
Later that day I was one of the last people on the plane. The gate agent was making almost everyone check their bags at that point, but let me pass with my two backpacks. I wasn’t worried about finding a spot, I knew worst case I’d have to just walk back up to the front with my bag. As I’m walking toward the back of the plane, almost every single overhead bin was closed, EXCEPT FOR THE TINY ONE RIGHT OVER MY SEAT. It’s like it had my name on it. I had to flip my backpack around, but then it fit perfectly. It was unbelieveable.
I flew in to California last Saturday, and made a beeline to Santa Monica to get my feet wet. It was raining lightly, but the water still felt amazing on my feet. I had an overpriced but tasty Mexican lunch, and then had to go to Best Buy because my past self had cannibalized my travel cord from my pack when my bedroom cord wore out. Trying to buy an iPhone cord at Best Buy is an exercise in frustration. They’re behind the cashiers now, and you can guess it took me a while to figure that out, including waiting on a blue shirted person to even ask.
The winds were ridiculous in Twentynine Palms Saturday night, so I just crashed once I finally made my way there. It was like gale force winds. The winds weren’t as bad on Sunday, and were gone by Monday. On Sunday morning I drove from the north end of Joshua Tree over to the west entrance, and then made my way out into the desert to La Copine (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/dining/la-copine-review.html) at Betsy’s recommendation. It was an amazing meal. I got there at 10:40, and was the 6th name on the list. They opened for brunch at 11, and I was seated shortly thereafter. There was a massive crowd of people waiting outside when I left.
I had an interesting person sit next to me. I was sitting at counter under the front window. They seated a guy next to me who seemed tentative. I made a joke, “I won’t bike”. He was clearly a regular, because the staff new him, and he harrumphed “I like to watch them cook.” In my head, I was like, dude, who doesn’t? You’re a table for 1 at Sunday brunch at a crazily poplular restaurant. I kept to myself after that and enjoyed my lovely drinks and meal. He ordered a fried egg, a poached egg, and avacado toast. At the end of his meal he sent the poach egg back for being “not cooked enough”. Um…. At any rate that was amusing. The absolute standout was the panna cotta with marscarpone, topped with fresh figs, drizzed in honey, with cracked black pepper. When I was leaving I told the waiter that it was so good that it almost made me cry. And that was not hyperbole. The place does make you wonder where in the hell you’re going, and it is definitely worth the trip. Reservations book up a month in advance, which was another reason why I was glad to get a table, and that I found the “I like to watch them cook” guy to be a wee bit entitled. 😉
I definitely needed a nap after that meal, then I went back to Joshua Tree and bummed around until sunset. That morning I had taken advantage of the all wheel drive on the Subaru that I rented to drive down an unmarked dirt road. It was a very cool experience, and one that I repeated after sunset. This ended up being a big of scene setting for the next day, because in the past I would have been far too fearful to drive down a dirt road in the desert after dark. But I realized, hey, I know this road, I drove it this morning, and it’ll be fine. It was a very cool experience, and I drove it again the next night too.
Monday was my epic Mojave Desert day, with hikes at Amboy Crater and Kelso Dunes. By the way, 600′ is the equivalent of a 60 story building. That explains why I had cell service at the top. That day flowed magically, and I made it back to Joshua Tree in plenty of time to film the sunset again. I knew right where to be, becuase my shots from Sunday night were OK, but Mondays where definitely better. I was amazed that I could spend five hours that day driving, however much time hiking, and then organically land back at Joshua Tree at the right time. I wasn’t on any sort of schedule, I was just going with the flow.
Tuesday morning I headed back to LA, and went out a different way than I came in, which was go south to the bottom of Joshua Tree. I drove down a different dirt road for several miles. It was good until it wasn’t, once the car started sliding a bit on the sand, I was like, I’m out and turned around. When I got back to the start of the road, I saw a second sign that I missed the first time. The sign I did say basically said “Warning, 4 wheel drive vehicles only”. The rangers are so over people and their shit. The smaller print on the first sign talked about where the two dirt roads go, and the history of the area, which includes a former mining camp. One sentence says “Miners suffered from isolation and scarcity of water, and you might too.” 😉 😉 😉
LA was a sensory overload Tuesday evening, so I crashed and slept 11 hours. I had time to kill after my class, but it was raining, so that ruled out a return to Santa Monica. I wanted to do something quintessentially LA, so I found a taco truck, and ate my dinner at a Starbucks. I tried to find a bar to have a beer in, the Library Bar looked promising, but it was hopping and very unlibrary like. I found a nearly empty Indian restaurant that had a bar. They had one beer on offer, a pilsner, which I normally eschew, but it was good!
My training class went very well. It was a trip that definitely hit on all cylinders. And Barb, regarding how you and Allan didn’t plan out Carmel-by-the-Sea, but just let it unfold? That’s exactly what I did for this trip, and what I did with Lucas in New York/Philly. I used to script trips down to the nth degree, and I just don’t do that any more.
One last thing, as a writer I’m fond of Hemingway’s shortest story, which has 6 words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”. The Jelly Donut store in Twentynine Palms has a sign with an even shorter story “Under old management”. 😉 The donuts were so good I went back a second time. They also sell pho, which I didn’t try, but doubled down on the chicken-jalapeno croissant that I got Sunday morning when I went back on Tuesday.
That’s a wrap on all of my recaps!
I am now tired.
That all sounds amazing. You are one of the few people (whom I know, at least) who is really good at traveling alone.
I would be another, since by default I have no one with whom I can travel.
You are also very good at it!
Traveling alone is absolutely fantastic. I will admit that in the past I would have been horrified at the prospect. Traveling alone in the desert when you only see others rather infrequently at all is even better. I loved being able to be completely on my time table and not subject anyone else’s predelictions and proclivities.
I do want to say that I fucking hate fucking spring fucking forward. Leave the goddamn clock alone already.
leave it on spring forward time please
Amazing trip.
Some overnight chest pains has .e visiting my good friends at the Piedmont Newnan ER. Stay tuned.
Uh oh Steve! I’m glad you’re on top of it!
Hope it’s nothing but glad you are not ignoring it.
Hope it’s nothing.
I need to find where I go now that I am with Kaiser Permanente. I should given my history and all…
Geez. Keep us posted!
Wordle in 3 starting with YOURS. Perfect Connections – b, y, g, p.
Back home from seeing the ortho who referred me to a rheumatologist. Waiting to hear from Steve on chest xrays. This aging bullshit is for the birds.
I broke my mini streak on Wordle yesterday by forgetting to play. I came home sick from work with a headache and nausea. I spent most of the day in bed trying not to hurl. I’ve either got a bug or side effects from the new hormone therapy I started 2 weeks ago. I’m giving the HRT another two weeks to turn the corner, but so far it’s a bust. See last sentence of previous paragraph.
Closing hunt is canceled due to the forecasted rain, but still having a catered lunch to top off the season. Looking forward to seeing everyone and then moving on to prepare my new horse for the fall.
Picking up Mickey this afternoon and then transporting him to a sale barn next Friday. I’m so ready to close this chapter and get him in a new home. This agent talks a big game about getting him sold in 30 days – sure hope she delivers.
Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Had a moment of zen this morning walking with Betsy. Saw a hawk fly into a tree, thought nothing of it. Standing still for a second we heard a thump, which apparently was a squirrel dropping from the top of the tree where the hawk was attacking the drey (nest)! It appeared the hawk was unsuccessful at getting its lunch as it flew away with empty talons.
Well, damn, I never knew that squirrel nests are called dreys. This is part of the quality education that I’m here for! 🙂
Hello from I-75 south.
World in 4 and one mistake in connections.
I’m able to play games while Travis is driving, he is doing well with not too many corrections
Looking forward to some sunny warm weather in Florida. Brought my bike to get some riding in.
Steve, hope you got a false alarm. Debbie is right, getting old is not for the weak 🙂
Have a great weekend everyone
By my count this is your third weekend out of town in a row! Who’s the travel god now?!
F R E E D O M !
No real news. Not worried. Connect with a “chest pain program” next week. 3 hours of watching “White water miners”. But I’m free.
what is White water miners?