Bike bar party Amoeba, Ho!!

One short hour until the bike bar party amoeba sets forth!
The excitement is palatable.
By that I mean that it is very tasty. It tastes quite like taco salad, in point of fact.

Why a bike bar party amoeba?
It's an amoeba because it may split, divide, or "mitose" at any moment. It may also absorb any smaller, lesser, weaker, parties that it comes across.

"Bike" because, well, we'll be riding bikes. duh.

"bar" because we plan to stop at bars. duh.

"party" because, well, just because. Because I said.


As a side note, I don't use the word "pecuniary" enough. I intend to use it in conversation today. Also "pulchritude" I don't under use Pulchritude.

I miss camping

The weather could not be better today. Really, weather does not come nicer than this. I have been biking to work this week. Trying to get back into shape for some bike touring this summer.
In the meantime I want to go camping.
I've been looking through some old pictures.

Yesterday's ride

Inspired by my friend, Gina,(who is a much better photographer than I) I went on a ride around the Central West End yesterday. It was really nice out when I left, and I was having such a good time riding around that I mostly forgot to get around to taking pictures. I posted what I did take on my flickr page. At one point, I watched yesterday's cold front coming in. I foolishly stood and looked and toop pictures when I should have been rushing for cover.
Needless to point out, I got teh soaked!1!
Once I was totally soaked, I sought refuge under a bank awning. When I thought the rain had let up a little, I decided to rush to the safety of home. I had been enjoying my ride, and wandering a bit, and I was in the "Fountain park" neighborhood which was quite a bit further north than I had really intended to go. (I was at about Boyle and Page)

But! As Bilbo Baggins famously pointed out, "Adventures can't all be spring time pony rides."

It was all in all a good time. It's good to be remided once in a while that a little rain and cold won't hurt anybody. Also, a little adversity makes you appreciate your post-ride coffee all the more.


Picture of me seeking shelter under a bank awning. the picture doesn't convey my cold misery very well, but I kind of like it anyway.

Downtown ride, pt. 2

Read my previous entry first!!


After we got finished downtown, Anne and I decided that we didn't want to be done. We rode around aimlessly for a bit, then we decided to head up to the Delmar loop. I enjoy the loop, the only downside is that it is full of hipsters. I have little patience for many of these hipsters.
However, I do enjoy the loop. We rode to the far end and got some bubble tea. Yum, bubble tea. It's like drinking sweet iced tea, but big chewy lumps periodically shoot up your straw and try to kill you. Really, it's a good time. I'm pretty glad that the bubble tea joint is so far from home, as it's expensive, and I would want it all the time if it was handy.
Not much is harder than riding a bike one handed in crowded traffic while negotiating with an open drink in the other hand when that drink is doing it's best to kill you, so we parked our bikes. Adequately armed with our semi-lethal drinks, we felt ready to venture to the den of hippies surrounding the drum circle in a small plaza. There were some folks dancing around, and some hippies drumming. About like you might expect from a drum circle. We watched a guy dancing with flaming batons, which was pretty cool. The pictures turned out Very cool.

Feeling peckish, it was decided that Thai soup was the better part of valor. Boba were chewed, cups discarded, bikes recovered, traffic braved, Thai restaurants located, and soup ordered. Hot Thai soup is brilliant stuff. I must learn to make it.

All thing must eventually end, and the dark and cold finally drove us in the direction of home. We took Skinker over to Lindell, then cut through Forest Park some distance. Anne decided our lights were inadequate to cut through the park fully, so we took a more typical route homewards.

All in all, it was a great (and impromptu) time. I'm glad that I had the camera, as it spurred on the blog entry.

Downtown St. Louis

Anne and I rode downtown yesterday.
It was a really good ride. I don't expect it to be 70 degrees out in mid-November, but it was beautiful. We really didn't want our (putatively) short ride to end, so we just sort of kept going. The plan had been to go downtown to look at the cool old buildings. And to laugh at the homeless people. (just kidding) On our way there, Anne pointed out of all things the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily circus train!


They still have a train?!

Less than fully impressed with the train itself, we decided to ride on. Shortly after that, we came upon a much more impressive sight. Some Elephants!! Being paraded along Taylor! This was adequately impressive, that we were forced to stop for some photos.




So, after our unplanned adventure, we eventually made our way downtown, it was beautiful. We looked at City hall, the Christ Church Cathedral, the Central Library, and the WWI memorial. They were cool. It was the perfect moment of late afternoon, where everything is golden.
I think that the City Hall is Really cool. All third empire looking and ornate. They don't build buildings that cool anymore.
Something I noticed in downtown, there are lofts, and there are people, but there are no shops that sell what people need. We saw nary a grocery store, or general store, or pharmacy. Maybe those will follow the people. Right now, that seems to me to be the biggest obstacle to living downtown.

We saw the Christ Church Cathedral. I remember years ago, Anne and I went to an SCA event there. I remember how cool it was, and how sketchy I thought the neighborhood was. Huh. How our ideas change. What made us think that? Sure, there are homeless people around there, but they're mostly harmless. It seems like a fine area to me, now.




There is so much cool old stuff. I love the WW memorial. It looks so art Deco, it's just fantastic. Doesn't this guy look like something out of "Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow"?


More to come, as always, my Flickr page has many more pictures.

Something I finally got around to

There is an abanodoned church in (slightly) North City, which I have driven and ridden by many times. I kept saying I should go and take some pictures of it. I kept meaning to, but never got around to it until yesterday.
well, I finally rode up to get some photos. It's at once very cool, and not as neat as I had imagined. Some work has gone on there, so there was less cool old debris, and more construction debris than I had hoped. On the other hand, it was a pretty decent building, and it looks like it might be something again one day.
And, without further ado, here are some pictures.

Fuck them!

I should keep this cartoon in mind. I'm too much of a homebody.


Also, check out XKCD!

Bubble Tea!

I had bubble tea yesterday for the first time ever!
It's good, except that you have to be careful because the boba will shoot up into your mouth. Shocking! I got tired of chewing before I was done, but it was good. I'm going to look for some boba so I can make my own. The only place in St. Louis that sells bubble tea is far away. :( also it's expensive.
On the other hand, I could totally make some milky iced tea. Which, except for the boba, that's what it is.

Also, I got to visit with my friends Shaun and Miranda who had many stories and presents from their trip to Toronto. (They brought Anne and I some Miranda cheese :) )