Late this afternoon, after I had finished up my meetings at the office, I cycled down to the park to meet up with Lisa before heading to a nerds' night out. I arrived a little bit early and found a spot in the shade to work while I waited for Lisa to arrive.
I have really taken to Ezio Faraone park. Even though I only lived about three minutes away from my current apartment, my visits to this park were so infrequent. Now I treat the park like it is my backyard and love spending time there working or relaxing. There is lots of shade so I don't have to worry about dying from heatstroke and there are always people there, whether they are basking in the sun, jogging or cycling through, or torturing their bodies with boot camp deep lunges, bench dips or sprints on the grass. My one wish is that the City install WIFI so working there might be a bit more efficient (yeah, yeah... I know I can tether my phone, but I'd rather not).
Once Lisa arrived (also by bike), we sat and conspired about our collaborative projects and then at about 5:20pm we hopped on the multi-use trail to get to the drinks establishment where the nerds were gathering. After getting around the city by foot for so long, I feel sort of lazy when I arrive at my destination after only a couple minutes. I also feel like I've cheated time a bit.
I've hung out with the nerds once before and had ended up spending most of the evening talking about photography. Tonight though, the drinking establishment was full of rowdy old men who had were celebrating the end of a work golf tournament. They were so loud and raucous that it was almost impossible to hear any of the conversation that was taking place at the table. So instead we played a little game I invented called "Guess their Profession". It was a very entertaining game, particularly when some of the drunken golfers started lifting up their shirts to compare their (unexpected) tattoos. They kept to themselves and didn't bother our table, but my seat looked towards the bar and all the craziness at the bar was a bit like watching a reality show (my guess for one pair at the bar was bounty hunters).
Around 7 o'clock the reality show at the bar switched to something a bit more soft-core. We tried to avert our attention, we really did... but this couple at the bar started up with the most ostentatious mating ritual. The close talking, the mutual jutting of hips, the clumsy spilling of beers, the sunglasses coyly clenched between the teeth all led to the eventual sucking of face. No exaggeration. This display of drunken affection was akin to watching someone afix a vacuum cleaner to the face. And then there was the leg drape and the painful drunken goodbye. I've witnessed this type of behaviour in the wee hours of the morning (back in the days when you might occasionally find me at the discotheque... woo hoo Club 54!), but rarely do I see it before eight on a Tuesday. I've never been to a golf tournament but I guess they are pretty crazy times. Pandora's box must have been opened by the whole Tiger Woods scandal.
The gentleman was chiding me tonight when he asked what I was blogging about tonight and I answered, "oh, just the nerds' night out." His response, "must have been crazy. You were home by eight." If only he knew all that happened. I've only posted about the stuff that was PG-13.
So the bike is proving to be rather useful. I haven't tackled any major hills with it, but for the little slopes it's proving to be fairly easy. I did learn today that the handlepost hinge on the Dahon might be part of a recall, so I need to take it in to an authorized Dahon dealer to get it inspected. It's okay, I needed to take the bike in anyhow. I'd like to replace the rear rack with one that will allow me to hang some panniers. Although I really love the basket that Sarah is letting me borrow. Unfortunately it just doesn't work all that well when I want to carry my laptop. And of course I would still like to switch out the grips. The right-hand grip keeps coming off while I'm riding. I'm on the lookout for natural cork grips to match my new saddle.
The ride is only partially pimped.
I have really taken to Ezio Faraone park. Even though I only lived about three minutes away from my current apartment, my visits to this park were so infrequent. Now I treat the park like it is my backyard and love spending time there working or relaxing. There is lots of shade so I don't have to worry about dying from heatstroke and there are always people there, whether they are basking in the sun, jogging or cycling through, or torturing their bodies with boot camp deep lunges, bench dips or sprints on the grass. My one wish is that the City install WIFI so working there might be a bit more efficient (yeah, yeah... I know I can tether my phone, but I'd rather not).
Once Lisa arrived (also by bike), we sat and conspired about our collaborative projects and then at about 5:20pm we hopped on the multi-use trail to get to the drinks establishment where the nerds were gathering. After getting around the city by foot for so long, I feel sort of lazy when I arrive at my destination after only a couple minutes. I also feel like I've cheated time a bit.
I've hung out with the nerds once before and had ended up spending most of the evening talking about photography. Tonight though, the drinking establishment was full of rowdy old men who had were celebrating the end of a work golf tournament. They were so loud and raucous that it was almost impossible to hear any of the conversation that was taking place at the table. So instead we played a little game I invented called "Guess their Profession". It was a very entertaining game, particularly when some of the drunken golfers started lifting up their shirts to compare their (unexpected) tattoos. They kept to themselves and didn't bother our table, but my seat looked towards the bar and all the craziness at the bar was a bit like watching a reality show (my guess for one pair at the bar was bounty hunters).
Around 7 o'clock the reality show at the bar switched to something a bit more soft-core. We tried to avert our attention, we really did... but this couple at the bar started up with the most ostentatious mating ritual. The close talking, the mutual jutting of hips, the clumsy spilling of beers, the sunglasses coyly clenched between the teeth all led to the eventual sucking of face. No exaggeration. This display of drunken affection was akin to watching someone afix a vacuum cleaner to the face. And then there was the leg drape and the painful drunken goodbye. I've witnessed this type of behaviour in the wee hours of the morning (back in the days when you might occasionally find me at the discotheque... woo hoo Club 54!), but rarely do I see it before eight on a Tuesday. I've never been to a golf tournament but I guess they are pretty crazy times. Pandora's box must have been opened by the whole Tiger Woods scandal.
The gentleman was chiding me tonight when he asked what I was blogging about tonight and I answered, "oh, just the nerds' night out." His response, "must have been crazy. You were home by eight." If only he knew all that happened. I've only posted about the stuff that was PG-13.
So the bike is proving to be rather useful. I haven't tackled any major hills with it, but for the little slopes it's proving to be fairly easy. I did learn today that the handlepost hinge on the Dahon might be part of a recall, so I need to take it in to an authorized Dahon dealer to get it inspected. It's okay, I needed to take the bike in anyhow. I'd like to replace the rear rack with one that will allow me to hang some panniers. Although I really love the basket that Sarah is letting me borrow. Unfortunately it just doesn't work all that well when I want to carry my laptop. And of course I would still like to switch out the grips. The right-hand grip keeps coming off while I'm riding. I'm on the lookout for natural cork grips to match my new saddle.
The ride is only partially pimped.
