sub zero temperatures, day 1.

my nose hair froze while riding today, seriously. it was between -2 and 1 degree today, unseasonably cold i'm told, figures. i met up with coyote for coffee at 1pm (yes. 1pm, weekends have been lazier than usual) and the inside of the door at swim cafe was frosted. we rode up to REI so i could purchase a full baklava and i was almost blown off my bike from the crosswinds. eek. this is some serious next level shit. just getting practice, really.

yesterday i spent more time at west town fixing up my bike. after friday, it was totally necessary. the worst is really the brown slush that is sprayed all over you when a car passes too fast and too close. ugh. i actually appreciated the "wait. you're riding your bike? today? in this?" question i got about six times. but i most appreciated the receptionist at 130 s jefferson who likes making me hot chocolate. matt mcdonald was right all along-the best part about winter is all the hot chocolate you suddenly have a right to drink, and a lot of it. while i had far too much stand by time, it was sort of well timed and i was able to chat with james about our valentine's day race. get ready!



during soccer tonight, i was hit square in the face with a soccer ball. that was bad enough, and then i realized the small cut i had on the right side was where the right arm had straight snapped off.



some of you may remember this stage of mine (and by stage, i may or may not be referring to a period that lasted around 5 months) a year or two ago where i accidentally stepped on my glasses and refused to get new ones until my insurance covered it again at the beginning of the year, instead opting to "fix" them with varying colors of electrical tape to reattach both arms.



i couldn't help be a little dramatic about it, so i think the girl who kicked it felt at fault. incidentally, by the amazing consideration of the other team, they did a small collection and gave me some money toward purchasing some new glasses. i felt really bad, but accepted at their insistence. hopefully i'll be able to have coyote make me some new ones, phew. i'm amazingly thankful for that gesture too, midwest hospitality i suppose.

we also attended augie's holiday sketch comedy act last night at an awesome little venue in pilsen. it was nothing i expected but a whole lot of fun. i need to continue to seek out different plans that vary from bars and hanging out, plus seeing augie do sketch comedy was hilarious.

it seems that more and more people are keeping blogs these days (which at times simply seems to be renaissance of high school livejournal with a more specific focus, and renamed to add more credibility, but who am i to be down on that...) still, i've been keeping up on a sporadic few. i caught this video tonight off hipster nascar:

VIMBY - Macaframa LA Premiere

c'mon dudes. bring it to chicago, i want to see this so bad. it'll probably make me cry seeing sf without seeing it there. still, i can't believe i haven't been able to catch it yet, sheesh.

and the best news of all, for four days next week, allison and i are the proud caretakers of scout, jason's most adorable dog while he is out of town. OPDs to the max, i can't wait.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

last week was quite the busy one--trying to get all the fun in before the holidays. and the many inches of snow. i also discovered the worst thing about cycling in chicago winters. it's not the freezing extremities, the rusty chain or the deep snow that doesn't get plowed. oh no, it's a little something weather.com likes to call "wintry mix"--when the temperature hovers around 30, you get a nice mix of everything you could possibly imagine: snow, sleet, rain, hail, all at once yes. yes. luckily we haven't gotten too many of those days, but there's more coming. wednesday we met up at the clipper for jason's birthday, which had quite a good turn out and i got to see some people i can't for a bit. also got to talk about some more reoccurring plans to get me through the winter months. i'm totally going to need it!

lately we've been complaining about our lack of new music, but chi-mix gear jumped in to save us! we met up at simon's on thursday night to exchange cd with some other kids, each choosing a track to play while we drank and lamented the fact we couldn't light simon's fireplace. everyone ended up leaving kind of early so coyote and chris convinced me to accompany them to bar deville (which was fairly simple, as they bought me drinks and it's about 8 blocks from my house) we all got a few more drinks and when i met up with coyote in the morning for coffee, we discussed our bizzare dreams from the night before. we checked out a few new zine/bookstores down in pilsen--i really like that area and need to get down there more.

FRYday. you heard me. we brought it. cait and jason fried it. kiwis, eggplant, melon, asparagus, bananas, wafer cookies. once we paired with cheap beer cait simply said "welcome to the midwest!" i couldn't have said it better. additionally, they also have two rats and the most amazing dog named scout who jumps on laps and spoons you. spoons you! so jealous. we left to check out the loft show jake and augie were at, but the fried food kicked in to full effect and we left shortly after to our warm beds.

so. the freezing temp and the snow isn't condusive to a lot, but it is good for one thing: holiday parties! i went to ira's annual holiday party on saturday night, including party-wide whiskey shots on the hour, decorations, holiday garb (ben wore a tie!) and a snack table. nate was spinning records and made me and ben really strong manhattans. everyone was super friendly and i even met a duo of acrobats. amazing.

sunday was more soccer--at which we lost again but got some new players, scored a few goals and still got our own private booth at the beer bistro. chris also told me he had crazy dreams after going to deville! we deduced the beer was to blame. crazy brooklyn ale. i'm going back for more.

monday dawned clear and sunny--which in my experience means good, warm days. here, no atmosphere means it's going to be bitterly cold and brutal. so i spent it drinking lots of coffee, cooking and buying more shoes, vhs and warm clothes from village discount. once christina got home, we headed out to goldstar for chris dlits photo exhibit. $2 pints and free popcorn along with stories of frozen eyelashes and nostrils freezing shut made for good times. shortly after, we headed over to sprints at the cobra. they tried to give augie a bucket anticipating his imminent vomiting--so naturally, he put it on his head.


tuesday was the real snow day--we got about 3 inches of snow and it was totally nuts out. we decided to stay in for vhs movies and dinner. all my co-workers think i'm totally nuts "you're from california and you're going to ride your bike in this?!?" i totally would have thought all chicagoans would be more accustomed to the weather, but each seems to deal with it totally differently--and are still freaked out by it just as much as i am. i do enjoy christmas carols much more this year though, with actual snow on the ground and christmas so imminent. we're still figuring out what we're doing to celebrate this year, so far from home. that's about it for now. hope everyone's happy, safe and warm!

winter is here to stay

saturday night was a windy city soul night up at heart of gold. i devirginized my chicago bus ridership, i hadn't even realized the stop was so close to my apartment. the djing was fun though and lots of good dancing with claire and molly. we stayed until they started turning lights on and not so discreetly encouraging people to exit. luckily, augie drove us home after. we tried to convince him that pizza was a good idea, but it seems most pizza places aren't still open at 3am. so it goes.

i also received many a phone call/text after the super market street sweep. ah, while i wish i could have been there, i definitely loved just hearing all about it. i fucking love the sf bike community, everyone's a winner with that race.

sunday was the last of the chi-cross series, and for once, was actually held in chicago proper. we headed out to montrose, but i some how ended up spending much more time in the cuttin' cruiser that outside. this 15 degree weather makes feet and fingers cold, real quick, especially when opening a cold-ish beverage on the bus and then venturing out. you find yourself quickly regretting that decision. anyhow, emily, matt, ruby, andrew, and many others showed up-a good time was had drinking cider, heckling, and cheering for all those way more hardcore than i. jake, chris and i wrapped it up before the end to get something warm at atomix before heading home.

my body has suddenly decided to revolt again me. last night i spent two hours at a clinic before i was finally diagnosed with tonsillitis, only after tests for strep and mono since the nurse initially said "oo honey. those are some of the biggest tonsils i've ever seen. how're you still breathing?" as for my knees, the doctor also told me the pain is most likely due to this, a really common issue in women involved in activities that rapidly build thigh muscles, ha. at least, although painful, no long term damage will be accrued by continuing to ride on it. ibprofen party. also, since the freezer isn't working, the peas have been going outside. outside, they more successfully make an ice pack than in my freezer, amazing.

today was some pretty fantastic weather. and by fantastic, i mean...rain on and off until 3pm-ish, when it got cold enough for the rain to turn into driving ice and then slowly into actual snow. brutal. i'm most scared of the pedestrians, i'm totally going to get an eye poked out from an umbrella.

time to get the dryer load and rest up, awesome.

i keep telling myself i'll be updating with some sort of regularity, but so it goes.

monday was the first day where snow really stuck to the ground. we only got a couple inches, but it was a total trip working in it. monday night was also gold IRO sprints at the cobra lounge, a lovely 10 minute walk from our house. it, of course began late giving the many, many attendees ample time to sufficiently get rowdy and take the sprints less than seriously. i had a lot of fun, an while the walk home on icy ground was a bit difficult, i'm certainly looking forward to the next two sessions on the 15th and the 22nd.
chris dilts took a ton of awesome photos that i'm going to co-opt:



(linked to his set from the night. good times)

tuesday, wednesday and thursday were busy busy at work, and i proceeded to totally overlook my slipping seatpost as a minor annoyance instead of realizing it was the reason my knees were beginning to hurt, real bad. so thursday i called it in early, and took friday off. friday, it was also 17 degrees out. sheesh. i'm a little worried, keep my healthy knee in your thoughts so i can work and provide for myself come monday.

tuesday night we traveled up north for another awesome dinner/watch the office party at andrew's house. that show simply rules. despite tempting invites for ice skating on wednesday night, i took it easy and fell asleep watching league of extraordinary gentleman. thursday night, jake drove (!my knee hurts, remember) me down to soul veg, an awesome all veggie place on the south side. afterwards, we checked out doc films, a small volunteer run theater on university of chicago campus. an older warhol film, imitation of christ was playing, and while it was super bizarre, it was still a lot of fun. i wish that theater wasn't so far south though, they have a really great schedule of movies and i've been falling off watching different/good movies without mike rec and mike a/video nasties keeping it interesting. netflix, i'll have to begin you again soon!
after napping through plans to meet at the handlebar, my knee kept me home. so jake, augie, claire came over as allison returned with simon, and ruby to all hang out for a while. it was a nice interruption to the hours of seinfeld i've been happily, but a little disgustingly been passing the time with.

we tried to take advantage of byob at flying saucer this morning and got admonished for bringing in orange juice with us, and additionally, there was a $1/person corkage fee, lame. awesomely tasty brunch though, yum.

a myriad of winter plans are in motion: chi-mixgear should be beginning on thursday in addition to tenative sunday brunch plans, some unscheduled idea of chili + 80s movies night, and hopefully a movie night. winter's coming on in full swing now, so hopefully i can stay occupied with good people to help it pass. more, but i think this comes with the irregularity of updates.

OH YES. and i am planning to be back in sf the weekend of february 14th. plans are in motion for valentine's day alleycat round two. all you sf kids better come, race, and visit with me. this is far away, make plans now.

i have never seen so many rollie suitcases in the loop. today was absurd-rush hour began around 2:30pm with everyone leaving for the thanksgiving weekend. it's a bit unsettling to realize this is the first time i've not headed back to thousand oaks for this specific holiday weekend. i received a text from pudge saying the group was getting together tonight and that we should come by. oops, i'm totally over 3,000 miles away. weird. but, the weirdness is largely mitigated by a number of other friends still being around-morningish brunch plans + a potentially amazing orphan thanksgiving filled with vegan goodies at ruby's. yum.

and since we're in chicago, the weather talk is a necessity. it's still really nice-it's bizarre how you adapt and i have truly been thinking that sunny 40 degree weather is utterly fantastic. a few flurries, but not even many rain days. my seasonless childhood leaves me totally dumbfounded as to the fact that, yes! that is snow. and it is coming out of the sky, now. but i'm sure the novelty will wear off. but all in all, chicago has been doing a great job of easing us in.



this weekend was the cranksgiving race. it a fairly traditional alleycat where the riders visit grocery stores and purchase an item from a list at each one that will, in the end, be donated to a local organization involved in food drives, etc. in all, its a great cause and usually a whole lot of fun. this one was no exception. allison, lara, and i all rode together and just had a blast. had the inevitable "i'm stuck in this line and the woman in front just pulled out coupons, shit" experience, but it's all part of why this race is so great. the after party happened at adam's garage, home of the cuttin' cruiser, a big art/warehouse space. super awesome although i think i need to begin keeping chris and his whiskey wielding ways an arms distance away at these events. a lot of good people though, good hangouts.

ben vc was gracious enough to drive allison and i all over north chicago to garage sales, etc. so we could better furnish our apartment on saturday. we found some really nice chairs, bookshelves, lamps, at this cafe's going out of business sale. on monday, jake drove me to finally get a mattress too, it's like we have a real home. yes!

for our indoor league, we lost our second soccer game too, and i have the gnarliest bruise on my inner thigh from all the ridiculous shots the boys on the other team were taking, but it's just so damn fun to play soccer again. our team plays hard, but no one takes it too seriously, its kind of a great balance. we've been getting after-game drinks at a nearby bar who is sponsoring our team, so its a really awesomely tiring and complete sunday night outing.

my bikes are both in working order now too. i've been at west town a lot recently since i seem to be breaking everything. even though it's no bike church, it's really great. i was talking to alex (the guy who started it-west town isn't a co-op, it's really still alex's shop, which is a primary difference. but he's super knowledgable and friendly, so it works well) on tuesday night, and he said we would help me weld together trash parts to make a front rack. ah, i'm so excited to do more welding, not spend so much $$, AND just plop canon boxes on the rack instead of the awkward balance procedures. good winter project plans!

work has been really good too. i'm finally learning all the messenger centers and docks and feel like i can really get into the groove of it all. plus, i abuse the use of my nextel and really enjoy the random chitchat with casey and grey and who ever else will give me their dc. the other night, i got paged at 4:15 to do two car runs in under an hour, one of which was a round trip. i really hustled and got it done in 45 minutes (and got to play with the cutest pomeranian in the chase bank) and my dispatcher told me i was wonder woman. it ruled. i also interviewed the other day with intercept. while they had just hired one on, the dispatcher told me to call back in a week. he told me i was exactly what they were looking for and that one of their current riders might be leaving soon. we'll see--they're still an IC company, but have a smaller staff, little turn over, and seem to have a better grasp on what you as an employee expect out of the job. so this could be really nice-keep your fingers crossed for me!

but yeah, happy thanksgiving to all! if only i could be in 4 different places at once...

its really winter

it snowed tonight! so not completely, since it wasn't really sticking to the ground, but it was all over the cars and allison + jeff both concluded it was something like riding in a snow globe. indeed. still totally weirds me out. i honestly think these next five months are going to be incredibly bizarre, honestly behind some comprehension for me.

in other good news, we just got back from playing our first official indoor soccer league game. emily and jeff organized a team of cyclists for a long time co-ed league. 6 v 6 and 45 minute games, all real fast moving. we unfortunately lost, but for once my competitive nature didn't ruin that i had a total blast. i'm excited for an indoor exercise with the imminent frigidness and its really awesome just to play soccer again.

in other other news: our freezer isn't working, so we can't buy tater tots or keep ice cream solid. i keep breaking things on my bikes: who knew a campy cone could cost $16. i sure didn't, but WHO really cracks them in the first place? freehubs don't usually seize after rain. *sigh* i also got stuck in an elevator for an hour on thursday. for realz. the company i was delivering to, felt so bad one guy offered to buy me lunch. i insisted i had to leave since i had to "orientate" the new girl. he instead slipped $20 into my hand and told me to buy myself a nice lunch. ha, or cheap pizza and a couple beers that night. augie wanted to know which building this was so he could get himself stuck in the same elevator. i don't know if it would work the same for round two though.

does anyone actually read this thing? as soon as it really snows, i'll get some pictures up.

a note to chicago runners...

don't do it. i'm serious. alright, well if you're on the lakefront path, or something equally sanctioned for running, fine. if you're downtown, you are asking to be hit. i'm even more serious on this point. there is a flow to traffic. even if you're a fast walker at 8:30am or 4:30pm (when everyone turns into a total speedster), you can mesh. it's always the fucking runners that think they can slip across four lanes, four giant lanes on madison and wacker while only looking the opposite direction. yeah, traffic is traveling east buddy, so when i yell at you, don't give me that ugly look. and besides if you were walking, i could've slipped behind you, but when you halt dead mid-run, it's a tiny bit more difficult to predict your antelope reflexes.

thursday was the first day i messengered downtown when it began raining. it was sunny in the morning, so i think most people simply weren't prepared. when it began raining around 3pm, 25% more pedestrians began running. 25% times a 3x slower stopping ability on freshly wet, oily pavement=uh, bad. luckily there was no actual contact, but i can just see it coming. speaking of stopping power, i really need to build a winter bike as soon as i have any disposable income which might be feasible sans NICA. ugh, i have to figure that one out, and soon. still messengering has been a lot of fun and figuring out the downtown (i know, its an insanely straight forward grid, but it has its quirks) is super awesome. for a city with such inclement weather, there sure is A LOT of metal in the streets. plate, grates, pothole covers, you name it. i will be a pro sidewalk rider by the end of winter, mark my words.

in other news, the sadie hawkins race was last night. a bunch of out of towners showed up, making for 60 or so teams. although there was a lot more warm/rain gear rather than fancy costumes, it was great to see the people who took the spirit of the style race too. while it was quite cold (35 or so, with especially gnarly wind while coming south on the last bit on ogden) it never rained/snowed as predicted, which was a really welcome surprise. the routing was pretty straight forward (its also geared to be a great first race, which is awesome) so there wasn't too much planning involved. coyote and i rocked it (well coyote more than me, but i hung onto his wheel the best i could). we were super close to the first place team for the first 5 checkpoints, but misrouted to goose island and lost some time. we still ended up second (!) to an awesome loft space in little village. allison and ben had a flat mishap toward the end and had to *patiently* wait for a tube delivery, but still arrived at the part in style. there were iro sprints, dance party, lots of happily tired kids, prizes and cheep beer, OH!&walking proximity to burritos. genius. kids that lived there also dumpstered a gallon of odwalla oj for me, winning night, really.



alright, well i am off to try and play some soccer in this 30 weather. whew. and maybe some more thrifting for wool, need more wool...

election day!

it's the big day. the day the chicago police department has been intensively preparing for and the whole town has been discussing with fevor and excitment. lines of voters extending for blocks from schools, libraries and churches began early this morning and will continue on until 7pm tonight. there's an excitement in the air and i know we'll definitely be downtown tonight for the rally, crossing our finger none of the riots get too crazy... right? haha.

election day aside, the last week has been very pleasant, both in weather and activites. the wesley willis documentary last saturday ruled, as did the impromtu 'batman tour' we did with ben and coyote afterwards. we rode around lower wacker, checking out the underground mini-marts and parking garages, taking a short field trip to the swings and to the pier where it looked like 'family matters.' we did some bar hopping that night, met some new faces and went out for a bit in logan square.


the second to last 'classics' race with the namesake of 'fakenger' took place the following day with crazy winds, fedex boxes and lots of tofu. we followed up the race with a large brunch at pick me up and it was then decided our malort virginity must be broken, with haste! the 3:00 tasting quickly turned into an all day endeavor at adam and megan's place. andrew somehow got dressed up like santa and coyote was wearing a belly jersey. yeah.


weeks have been interesting with christina working during the day (she'll have to fill in that update for you) i've been entertaining myself with lots of al burian, computer time and a few cooking experiments. we went to see 'the shining' play at the clipper on tuesday, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite bars in chicago, and visited myopic on wednesday so christina could read more of the ender series :)

halloween dawned, sunny and 70 degrees outside, with crunchy leaves on the ground and a dry breeze in the air. sometimes i still feel as if i'm in a movie, experiencing seasons i've only ever viewed from afar. i never found a real costume and chose to simply settle on a ridiculous halloween sweater i discovered at the village discount outlet, giving christina the tiny teenage mutant ninja turtles costume. the final race of the series began at adam and megan's house again, consisting of check points such as the rosehill cemetery, searching through "the forest" to find the girls with sippy cups of malort or vodka (surprise!) and riding through the insanity of the halsted street fair to get to 666 w roscoe. the "suprise" ended up being forced to do goldsprints once reaching the finish. at least i didn't feel like vomiting after. the party that ensued has some interesting results: coyote with a second nose piercing courtesy of rudy, chris bought even more bottles of knob creek at jewel with me in my bare feet (man, i got so much shit for that, all aimed at me being from california) and andrew got a broken arms from the dog pile started at kessler's instigation. phew.


saturday i had to work while christina and coyote watched a movie about st. bernards. we ended up going to a party out on california with the most insane decorations i've ever seen, a dj in his underwear that played the smiths and rocked out really hard and lots of silly conversations. we were the only ones not in costume and felt like super lame party poopers, especially in comparison to the oompa loompas and christmas fairies.

the next morning i dragged myself to whole foods by 9 while christina got to go out to the cross race with ben, jeff and adrian. i totally missed out on getting lost in the 'burbs and donuts in the gravel! adam and megan had us over for dinner: vegan stirfry and pumpkin pie! yum! then we threw glowsticks and seal pelts at the fan. easily amused? check yes. (we were sober, too!) haha.

yeah. so i hope some people are still reading this? maybe that'll bring you up to speed. sadie's is coming up this weekend which should be awesome (even though the weather says rain/snow... ugh) and you know what else is awesome? real mail!! do it!!

wordplay, gotta love it.

about a month ago when we were still in san francisco, riding into the sunset to arezmendi to eat mint chocolate cookies and coffee, we happened to pass a businesses with one of those names; you know, one of those really painful ones like 'the crepevine' someone thought to be real cute when they created it. which sparked a discussion about how these people probably start businesses purely on the basis of the 'ingenious' name they thought up, a name so amazing it would just reel the customers in as soon as they saw the hilarity of the word play.

totally ridiculous but i feel as if i've been noticing them more and more since the onset of this conversation and have begun document the good ones i've seen in chicago (which so far is largely dominated by the pet industry... what that says about dog owners i'm not sure yet) i'm hoping to build on this collection so if anyone has any other good ones (i know there's gotta be some amazingly awful food ones) let me know!

here are some i have so far:
BARK avenue


anything is PAWsible


SPOTland yard


WOW & ZEN


i wasn't sure if this was actually a word play on "just great" but thought i'd include it anyhow


okay, this one's just funny.


other than that, chicago's been good. last night we went to the hideout, this weird little house-like venue in a semi-industrial area, braving the elements the whole way (which means it was kind of raining. and it took about 15 miunutes. baby steps, right?) to see tim kinsella dj. kind of. it ended up being more of an arty jam session ordeal, but was still nice to go out and see new places. i need to actually start taking pictures of the stuff we're doing instead of stupid businesses.... working on it. tonight is caitlin's birthday get together and we're going to see the wesley willis documentary on saturday! oh, happy weekend.
in other news, christina's off working while i'm at home, eating some kettle corn and paying the bills, trying to work on some crafty projects. some people may be getting mail soon. who knows? whole foods should start on thursday for me, which means 20% off and free samples! i love living off samples...

that's it for know. hopefully everyone's getting their halloween costumes ready! it's coming up quick.

chicago is for haters, apparently.

so i keep feeling as if i should more habitually update this as to not have some unfortunate melange of events/ideas when i finally do. with so much free time (read: unemployment) you would imagine this to be quite feasible...yeah.

on sunday we explored the south side for the third of the teem beer'd series. an interesting concept (calculating math problems to get the next address) although i'm not a fan of predetermined checkpoint orders. sort of altogether frustrating, although i think this is more predicated on not being able to take alley cats seriously lately (or probably as much, being a wiener about waking up before 9am and still not being altogether familiar with the area), but still a lot of fun and a great way to spend a morning. grabbed breakfast down there before heading back north.





last night we went to see mount eerie at the av aerie. the space is awesome despite being overly lit, but there was an amazing parachute covering the whole ceiling which created this crazy cave effect. julie dorian accompanied him and i arguably enjoyed their trio (them plus one other man touring with julie) set better than his solo performance. the new cd is just so darn good, and he's such a character-real quick with onstage banter. definitely worth the 10 block trip from our house.



the chicago film festival started this week. students with id (even non-valid ids, apparently) can gain free entrance to films beginning before 5pm, perfect for my current budget. we saw a series of shorts this afternoon that were really good. tonight, there was also a free screening of the mark of cain, a documentary on russian prisioners and more specifically, the once symbolic tattooing done while serving sentences. really interesting, especially to hear the filmmaker discuss actually being in the prisons, etc. afterwards. we went out to grab a drink with a few chifg kids after before heading home.

the weather's still been great-a couple days of rain, but nothing really inhibiting. the temperature has been in the 50s, so i've invested in gloves, wool base layers, and arm warmers, but until i actually begin work, i really don't have any investment capital, so to speak. allison and i both have job leads though, (finally!) cross your fingers for us. i keep hearing/reading of the perils of winter-i'm sort of excited. i think i have to write that down now and i remember a couple months down the line that it's suppose to at least be fun in novelty.



in less exciting other news, been listing to a lot of jawbreaker, rites of spring, piebald, mountain goats, and weakerthans. basically, everything i've always listened to. give me new suggestions! or send me mix tapes/cds, etc.


(it looks like this just in case you needed a visual reminder...)

really. i've also finally had time to read. i read the second book in the ender trilogy in two days. so much love for myopic in being able to find all those books for $3. i'm trying to finish crying lot of 49 after beginning it on three separate occasions, pynchon, i got you this time.

that's it for now. i'll try for the frequency thing.

chicago, for realz.

alright, alright, i haven't been taking any pictures so i've been hesitant to do any updates. yet, here i am, a week in, looking outside into rain and feeling it's as good a time as any.

this is the first day of rain, the whole first week has been awesome "halloween type" weather, where its still all dry and warm out. even now, it's raining, but not too chilly. it seems that the first thing anyone brings up when talking about chicago is the weather, so it seemed only right that i do the same.

our flight left at 8am, october 1st. we took as much as possible, per the size requirement. nevertheless, the xray lady was shocked to see me carrying the main console to my stereo in my frieght backpack. mneh, i knew i would want music most of all when moving in.



after our flight, we were faced with transporting all our known belongings-each with two "carry-on-size" bags, a large suitcase AND our bike boxes-to our new apt. moving all of this through the airport, onto the actual el train proved strenuous, to say the least. once in downtown, we caved and flagged down a taxi van, which was only $10 &totally worth it. phew. yet, moving in up three flights of stairs has proved somewhat difficult, especially due to the nature of them (extremely wind-y) but particularly since the last two days they've been painting them. yesterday, every TWO were taped off and you were supposed to step over those. yet, with bikes (and ahem, a couch) its hard to abide by this. so after we mucked up the new paint and then had to call mark (the property owner) to come and fix our leaky faucet, i don't know if we're on his favorites list. but our apt still rules (despite the noisy overhead neighbor)-and there is even a nice big basement to store our bike(s!)



yes, multiple bikes. we went to pick up our road bikes from union station yesterday and proceeded to piece them back together on the sidewalk so we could ride home rather than take the L again with large boxes. yet, i am slowly coming to the realization that everything i have been doing and will continue to do until i am actually settled here, has been warranting copious stares and multiple unencouraged comments about the nature of our actions. yes, i know rolling a table with a tv, baking pan, bowls and vcr for a mile isn't the smartest idea, but i don't have a car, so bear with me. (&stop staring?) anyhow, our bikes are almost complete, and i realize i didn't include my road bike pedals in this box. so allison nicely loans me one of her pedals and we proceed to ride the mile and a half back home, each sans one pedal. yep, more stares, amid much laughter (is this really happening?).

our apt is finally beginning to look a little more whole. we found a matress and couch in nearby alleys and found a lot of kitchen stuff, etc at saturday garage sales and thrift stores. not having a car makes taking advantage of free craigslist a little more difficult, but its been helpful as well.





we met some cool kids off the chifg board by going to their version of goldsprints on saturday night and hanging out. despite it being a small party, and me being quite afraid it was going to be incredibly awkward walking into some random's house, everyone was super friendly. we did an alleycat with the same kids the following morning at 9am, not many kids showed up (about 15) but it was a lot of fun and nice to meet more bike kids. allison and i went to a free show at the empty bottle last night (chinese stars +local bands) and ran into some of the same kids there again, randomly. some really sweet people though, we ended up grabbing a drink after with one guy at this weird bar called club foot with lots of dolls in cases and memorabilia on the walls. there are quite a few mellow, small bars within some blocks from our house, we lucked out on location i think. its funny that even though chicago is so much bigger than sf, most people still hang out in a smaller conglomeration of neighborhoods and it still manages to have the a small-ish community feel. i was sitting outside trader joes today waiting for allison to finish applying and augie randomly rode by and stopped to chat. man, that guy rules. but exactly, its definitely feeling smaller (in the good and managable way though), i really like it so far.

speaking of applying-we've both been on the job search and for some reason, i imagined it would be so easy here. i know the state of the economy is no boon, but its been more of a search than i imagined. i'm only 4 applications in, but i was really hoping to score something before the real bad weather hit. we'll see.

anyhow, this is feeling long enough. as always, i'll work on taking more (and better) pictures soon. and hopefully this rain lets up a bit tomorrow so the job search can continue with vigilance.

travel guide

So this is a little late, but I’ve been attempting to compile a list of the interesting/neat fun things we saw/did in different towns. And hopefully, it could be used by anyone else traveling to similar places. Peck Travel Guide, or something like that.

TUSCON
Eats/Bars
Shot in the Dark Cafe
121 E Broadway
Cute coffee shop, lots of seating, snacks too.

The Grill
100 E Congress St
Sort of expensive for diner food but with a bar attached and it has a photo booth!

Bikes
BICAS
44 W 6th St
Awesome, huge space. Everyone was super friendly and they had a lot of used everything. Akin to many other bike co-ops, but really awesome all the same.

Other
Public Pools
Quincie Douglas Pool
1563 E. 36th
It was insanely hot when we were there, so the public pools were a saving grace. I think this one was one $1 and there were plenty more to choose from.

Mount Lemmon
We heard this was beautiful but a totally killer ride. Apparently you can also drive up there and there is a pie shop at the top! All this in 107 degree heat sounded marginally less appealing though.

Dry River Collective
740 N Main Ave (& University)
We saw a movie screening and show the first night we came in. Cool, multi-use space that hosts a variety of functions.

AUSTIN
Bikes
Mellow Johnny's
400 Nueces (@ 4th)
bike shop started by lance armstrong. somewhat bougie but really nice dudes and the best iced coffee I had on the entire trip.

Clown Dog Bikes
2821 San Jancinto Blvd
really small. nice dudes. bought a lock here. that's all i got on this one.

COFFEE/BARS
Bouldin Creek
1501 1st street
kind of far south. we went to this place after our car broke down and this was the closest place, but actually has really good vegan food (beans, rice, pastries, etc.) and really mellow patio, hippy vibe.

Spider House
2908 Fruth St.
We didn't go here but heard good things. Cheap lonestar pitchers and a patio? check it out if you're up in the UT area.

Tiny Cities
Congress between 9th and 10th
small coffee shop, bike messenger hangout downtown.

The Long Branch
1133 E 11th
Really mellow bar, jukebox. nothing terribly special but comfortable. i think they do some DJing here later on in the night? We didn't stick around for that though...

Epoch Cafe
221 W North Loop Blvd
just down the street from monkey wrench. really good coffee, comfortable chairs, big porch, free wi-fi.

The Peacock
Perdanales @ E 6th Street
Went on a tuesday night for metal night? everyone was dressed up and seemed to know each other, nice neighborhood bar. drinks were pretty cheap, good vibe.

Emo's.
603 Red River St
venue. we didn't get a chance to go here but there's always good shows here. i've heard about it since high school and i'm kind of bummed we never went. austin mainstay.

Sidebar
602 E 7th St
this is just one bar on this block--it gets pretty crazy during the weekend (aka kind of overwhelming/gross) but seemed mellow enough during the week. back patio and pool tables. beauty bar is right across the street if you want some hipster dancing and the creekside is next store for a slight change... haha.

FOOD
Homeslice Pizza
1415 S Congress Ave
decent pizza place. kind of crowded but nice back porch and a friend of a friend named sarah works here who's super awesome and hooked us up nice. chill place to go for pizza and beer.

Wheatsville Co-op
3101 Guadalupe St (UT area)
your standard co-op, outdoor eating area. i heard you can dumpster this place? nice enough, deli inside.

Hut's Hamburgers
807 W 6th St
Small little resturant, 2 for 1 veggie burgers on tuesday night. we fucked up and went too early but seemed nice, diner feel.

OTHER:
Barton Springs
Super packed when we went there. really nice sectioned off area of the town lake, costs about $3 to go in. can go in on the other side of the wall which is a little dirtier and has a lot of dogs, but totally free! worth it if it's hot out.

Monkey Wrench Books
110 E North Loop Blvd
This is an anarcho bookstore/coffee shop located in a col-de-sac area that also has a bar, bike shop and some venue that bands played during south by south west. really nice, pretty decent zine selection, has free movie/documentary screenings sometimes.

Congress Ave Bridge
supposedly has tons of bats fly out from under it at dusk. we didn't check it out but i heard it's pretty cool. kind of touristy but lots of nice grass near the river/town lake.

Austin Museum of Art
823 Congress Ave # 100
It was small but totally free and pretty cool. worth checking out and using the air conditioning.

Alamo Draft House
320 E 6th Street (although there are multiple locations)
Movie theatre showing old, awesome movies that is also super cheap and sells beer. Totally awesome.

Henry Ransom Center
Guadalupe @ 21st
On the campus. Only had one exhibit, but it was free and nice to wander around.

Waterloo
600 N Lamar Blvd
record store. nothing special but had some free in-stores with beer? right around the corner from whole foods (on 6th) and across the street from a really huge bookstore (but the name's totally escaping me now, but it was pretty nice)

Also: just walking/riding along the townlake (that looks like a river!) there is also a cool hot sauce store on 6th, a bar called Lovejoy’s we never went to on 6th and Neches that we kept hearing about.

NEW ORLEANS
Eats/Bars
Column Hotel Bar
3811 St. Charles Ave
Super fancy, in a real upscale area. We felt out of place (aka sweaty and gross when everyone else was dressy) but they were still real nice and served us drinks on the huge, beautiful patio and listened to some silly band. Good for one drink to enjoy the sights.

Café Du Monde
800 Decatur St
24-hour coffee shop with beinets, lots of them. Most families order way too many and you can clean up after them. Right in the brunt of the tourist French Quarter, but really cool. And you can take your coffee down to the water front and see all the big ships.

Snowballs
1300 Burdette St
We kept hearing about snowballs. I think its just like a snocone. It wasn’t terribly hot, so we never got them, but apparently, you should.

Blue Plate
1330 Prytania St
A nice breakfast place. Pretty fancy and a little expensive, but tasty and really friendly staff.

Royal Café
700 Royal St.
In the French Quarter and one of the few places that had free wifi and decent seating and didn’t care if you sat there for a long time without buying much of anything. Decent coffee although it all took a while cause there was only one girl working the whole shebang.

13
519 Frenchman
Bar and really tasty vegetarian/vegan food. A little pricey, but really good. Interesting locale too.

OTHER
Cemetaries
Seriously, there are so many rad, old cemeteries here. St. Louis #1 was recommended to us, so we visited that and #2. Real interesting. They supposedly close by 5pm I think, but we definitely just moved the chain and walked in later than that.

ASHEVILLE
Eats/Bars
Firestorm Café
48 Commerce St.
Little anarcho-café with tons of books and zines to read and games (read: scrabble) to play. Really tasty coffee and all vegan treats and sandwiches. We hung out here a fair amount.

French Broad Food Co-op
Biltmore/Broadway
Food co-op, awesome bulk bin section. Typical health food store with nice outside seating.

Rosetta’s
111 Broadway @ Merimon
Big airy restaurant, all vegan food with nice patio outside. Big portions, a little expensive, but totally worth it. Also, you can go after hours and help to clean up in exchange for left overs.

Bikes
The Recyclrey
Under the French Broad Food Co-op
We never went because people in town seemed to have not heard about it and it had weird hours. I think they’re mostly open later in the day. But I was told this is the most awesome of bike co-ops.

Asheville Mellowdrome
In Carrier Park on Amboy Rd.
We rode out here one night, its not too far from downtown. Its not banked at all, but its still a lot of fun to ride around and they have a bunch of other stuff-parks, bball courts, etc-in the infield.

Other
SWIM SPOTS!
Pisgah National Park
Is amazing. It’s west of Asheville, maybe off the 1114? Anyhow, once you get there, you must must must visit: Looking Glass Falls which is beautiful and you can swim in, but definitely Sliding Rock. You can, as it sounds, slide down this huge amazing rock and then meander down the cold, mountain river and slide down more, smaller and less crowded rocks. Even though you slip a lot, its still so much fun.

Amazing Saving Dumpster
121 Sweeten Creek Rd
No, we never went inside, but found lots of good stuff in their dumpster, as apparently, there often is.

RICHMOND
Eats/Bars
Panda Veg
948 W Grace St at Harrison
All you can eat vegan Chinese food. They even had vegan donuts, honest.

Ipanema Café
917 W. Grace St.
Super good food and always have a vegan option. ½ off drafts on Monday and $2 wine on Wednesdays I think? Probably the most expensive place we ate on the trip, but easily the best. Really good vegan deserts. Also a below ground establishment, but real good atmosphere.

821 Bakery Café
821 W Cary St
Less of a café, more a sit down and eat good food. They had really good vegan chili and a decent beer selection. Open breakfast through dinner, punkish atmosphere, decent prices.

Harrison St Coffee Shop
402 N Harrison
Awesome little coffee shop. Two stories, all wood paneling. Also a good book selection and some good vegan morning treats.

Wonderland
1727 E Main St
Didn’t go here, but heard it was an awesome little dive bar.

Empire
N. Laurel @ W. Broad
We didn’t really go out while we were here, but heard this one was a good one too.

Bikes
Bunny Hop Bikes
918 W Grace St
Shop is under another establishment, but super nice guys that work there.

Richmond Recycles
2611 W. Cary
Small, in an old Victorian. Not a bike co-op, as we had assumed but let us use their tools anyhow, and let us know about upcoming rides. Offer used parts although not too big of a selection and hook up local youth with free bikes.

Others
Diversity Thrift
1407 Sherwood Ave
Huge, really cool thrift store.

Best Friends Day
If you happen to be in DC in August, check and see if Best Friends Day is going on. A bizarre weekend of shows (both organized and house shows), water parks, and tons of other fun.

The James River
Belle Isle Section. You cross this awesome, long bridge over the tracks and can explore for miles. Trails and awesome greenery. We spent a while here in the river and exploring the woods.

Hollywood Cemetary
412 S Cherry St. Oregon Hill Area
Huge, old cemetery with lots of big gravestones. A little hilly and I’m not sure if we were suppose to be riding our bikes in there, but probably the easiest way to actually see most of it. Definitely worth an hour or so.

DC
Eats/Bars
Ben’s Chili Bowl
1213 U Street
So they couldn’t believe when we both wanted veggie chili over fries, but they did it anyhow. Cheap and pretty tasty (although it also sort of wrecks stomaches), but more of a visit due to the atmosphere and all the articles on the walls.

Brickskellar
1523 22nd St NW
Underground beer paradise, apparently.

Asylum
2471 18th St NW
We heard a lot about this place, but its apparently a biker in the motorcycle sense bar. We were told we went on a bad night (bands setting up, crazy busy and too loud) so maybe give it a shot anyhow since it seemed to get so many other rave reviews. I’d probably stay as far away from Adam’s Morgan on a weekend anyhow.

The Pharmacy Bar
2337 18th St NW
This was one of the few mellower bars in Adams-Morgan. Phew, although I am still not into this, “Sit down and we will serve you” thing in bars, this one was nice enough until they dimmed the lights and turned up the music around 10pm. I can only imagine what it turns into.

The Black Cat
1811 14th St. N
Cool venue and bar. Its awesome because the bar and show space are separate so you can be at one or the other or mix them, but you don’t have to pay a cover and be deafened if you just want to sit have a drink. Plus, it’s a comfy bar with big booths.

Bikes
Bike Polo!
Monday and Thursday nights in SW

Others
Melody Record Shop
1623 Connecticut

Building Museum
401 F St NW
The architecture worth just walking in the building and then seeing it from the 2nd floor. The exhibits were neat too, but the actual building was probably the best part.

Smithsonian Museums
All free, in the same area. We only went to a couple because they were so damn busy and hard to navigate. Make sure you have nothing in your pockets that could be remotely threatening (even a tiny adjustable wrench). Try and go whenever it might be that hectic though.

Spitehouse
1230 30th St
Narrowest house, built in spite. Sort of funny.

NEW YORK
Eats/Bars
Atlas Café
73 2nd Ave (@ E 4th)
Really fucking good vegan food. New York prices, but not bad at that. Outside patio area for good people watching.

Kate’s Joint
248 Berry St.
Tried to find it one night but it was already closed. Heard it was had yummy vegetarian food though, although I think moderately expensive.

Foodswings
295 Grand St
More expensive than I would have imagined, vegan fast food. Pretty good, but you will feel really heavy from all the greasy fried-ness to it.

Babycakes
248 Broome St @ Ludlow
All vegan bakery in SoHo. Sort of expensive but good for a quick visit and a small treat.

Sparky’s
333 Lafayette @ Bleeker
Family owned, fast, “healthy” food.

East River Bar
97 S. 6th St
Bar with outdoor seating almost under the Williamsburg Bridge. Big with pool table, but we sat outside because of the DJ. Best though: free PBR on Wednesday nights from 6-7pm. Random, but awesome.

The Levee
212 Berry St.
Apparently this place is “so last year” but I still liked it-big back room with a couple pool tables and good food.

Red Bamboo
140 W 4th St #1 @ Broadway
Vegan Chinese food. I didn’t go, but Allison can’t more highly recommend it.

Radegast Hall & Biergarten
113 N. 3rd
Awesome outdoor, but covered seating, large beer selection and lots of good food.

Happy Endings
302 Broome St
Creepy bar in Chinatown. Awesome if you’re into weird, dance clubs. Otherwise, I would not recommend it.

Bikes
Bike Polo
Norfolk and E. Houston St.

Peel Sessions
Thursday night trick time, Meeker and Jackson under bridge.

Others
Film Forum
209 W. Houston (How-stun)
Sort of expensive, but show a lot of awesome indie movies. Cool spot outside of Washington Square Park too.

Strand Books
12th @ Broadway
Outside, super cheap book sales and inside, its awesome organized with 3 or 4 floors. I spent so long in here looking at all sorts of books.

Prospect Park
In Park Slope area
Huge, great to bike through with closed streets and bike lanes. Plus, lots of grass to take naps in.

Blue Stockings
172 Allen St.
Definitely would recommend stopping by the anarcho book café. Clean and nice inside with an adjoined seating area. Lots of zines and really good literature at good prices.

PHILADELPHIA
Eats/Bars
Satellite Café
50th @ Baltimore
Under Firehouse. Awesome café with good prices and lots of vegan treats.

Standard Tap
901 N 2nd St
Good jukebox, lots on tap. Upstairs, outdoor seating. Real mellow and more of a sit down restaurant, but just sitting outside with a beer was real nice.

Green Line
4239 Baltimore
On edge of Clark Park. They were suppose to have vegan baked good which they were disappointingly lacking, but a nice spot to get some coffee and be able to go sit at the park with.

Govinda’s
1408 South St.
Vegan cheesesteaks. And all sorts of other vegan sandwiches and wraps. Insanely good, I would be eating here all the time if I lived there.

Gianna’s Grille
507 S. 6th St
Also vegan cheesesteaks and vegan pizza although someone said there had been some drama that it wasn’t “really vegan” (i think casein, etc), but greasy and tasty? Yes. Apparently they were supposed to also have a case of vegan baked goods, but there was a sign that the company they got them from wouldn’t have them around for a while. Lots of funny band posters on the wall too.

Harmony’s
135 N 9th St (in Chinatown)
Did not get a chance to go here either, but apparently this is THE vegetarian place in Philly. Nicer and sit down (read: more expensive) but is supposed to be real good.

Last Drop Coffee Shop
1300 Pine St
Good coffee with lots of indoor seating and big windows and a small selection of vegan treats.

Pretzel Factory
816 Washington Ave
There is a ride that goes from the art museum to here on Thursday nights. We just ended up there around midnight instead and ate lots of fresh, warm pretzels. They’re super cheap (4 for $1!) but make sure and get lots of mustard.

Reading Terminal Farmer’s Market
12th and Arch
Indoor farmers market with tons of good food and produce.

Bikes
Firehouse Bikes
50th @ Baltimore
Under Satellite Café. Lots of old parts and nice bikes. They fix up a lot of older bikes for resale, but still have new stuff. Really friendly and helpful.

Reload Bags
608 N 2nd @ Fairmount
Small shop, weird hours.

Ride North along the Schuykill River. There is a few miles of bike path that are really nice and fun to just roll around.

Philly Bike Church
End of Locust St on Locust Walk-Under Church on Penn St Campus
Walk around the back, you sort of have to search it out.
Weird hours and policies. They didn’t have enough mechanics the day we were able to stop by so we had to sneak in to take a look because they didn’t want to let everyone in through the front desk of the building they’re housed in. Nice and big with a set up that uses the space really well.

Other
Mutter Museum
19 S. 22nd St.
I’ll save you the trouble, its pronounced Mute-er. Not mutter. People think its really funny when you pronounce it wrong. Despite that, its worth the $9 (with student ID) or $12. It’s a museum dedicated to medical oddities and while its real small, there is a ton of weird stuff packed in there.

Rittenhouse Square
Walnut and S. 19th St
Small park in the middle of downtown with lots of benches, etc.

The Trocadero
1003 Arch St
Monday night $3 movies at 8pm, which gets you a $3 credit towards the bar/snacks, happy hour starts at 7pm.

Philly AIDs Thrift
514 Bainbridge (@ Passyunk)
Small-ish, but don’t miss the second floor. We bought so many awesome tapes from here and I found some sweet clothes here. Super friendly staff too.

A-Space
4722 Baltimore
Didn’t go here, but rode by a couple times and check out the free box outside. They supposedly have lunches on Thursdays from 12-3 with a $4-5 recommended donation.

Clark Park
Baltimore @ 43rd
Good hang out spot, lots of dogs and grass.

SALT LAKE CITY
Vertical Diner
We didn’t do much of anything in SLC, but I am glad this was one of them. Cheaper than its sister, nicer version in downtown, but one of the best vegan breakfasts I had on the whole trip.

SEATTLE
Food/Bars
Eliot Bay
Main St @ 2nd
Café from Fraiser. They have tons of vegan sandwiches and while they’re quite overpriced, they’re pretty good. Mighty-O Donuts and some other vegan baked goods. The best part is being able to take your coffee into the extensive bookstore upstairs.

Wayward Café
901 NE 55th St.
Really good, vegan sandwiches in the U District.

Quickies
324 15th Ave E
4106 Brooklyn Ave.
Jamacian spot. Vegan sandwiches, much bigger than you would expect with filling sides, quinoa, etc. Also one in Tacoma that’s better, but how often are you in Tacoma?

Mighty-O
2110 N. 55th St.
Vegan donuts, best I’ve ever had.

Others
Volunteer Park
1247 15th Ave E
Fun park to hang out at during the day, has huge chess boards, but only if you brings your own huge chess pieces.

PORTLAND
Eats/Bars
Taqueria Los Gorditos
SE 50th Ave @ SE Division
Random taco truck but with lots of vegan options of tacos and burritos at cheap prices. And good too.

Junior’s
1742 SE 12th Ave
Breakfast, good coffee and tons of vegan options.

Coffee Plant
724 SW Washington St
Cute, downtown café that serves stumptown without the overwhelming, sterile feeling of stumptown proper.

Bye and Bye
1011 NE Alberta
Airy bar with really, really good vegan food. I’m not talking just bar food, but kale and brown rice, good vegan food. They have some crazy mixed drink concoction in a mason jar too, get that.

Voodoo Donuts
22 SW 3rd Ave. (24/7!)
1501 NE Davis (New location, only closed from 3am-6am)
Quirky, awesome donut shop. Sell vegan donuts too, and day old donuts by the dozen for super cheap.

Food Fight
1209 SE Stark
All vegan grocery store. Pretty expensive, but worth the visit.

Sweet Pea Baking Co.
1205 SE Stark
All vegan bakery. Really yummy muffins.

Food Carts!
SW 5th Ave between Oak and Stark
So many awesome food carts, all with lunches for around $5 and probably more than you can eat in one sitting.

The Alibi
4024 N. Interstate Ave.
Awesome tiki bar, karoyke with an rad DJ, generally ridiculous and awesome.

The Tube
NW 2nd St.
Really bad, overly hip bar that is some how entertaining.

Bella Faccia
2934 NE Alberta
Vegan pizza and lots of other good pizza and salads and beer on tap.

Bikes
Community Cycles
1700 NE Alberta

Recyclery
1417 SE 9th and Madison

Bike Central
220 SW 1st Ave
Small shop, but very track oriented and friendly. Always lots of awesome bike porn.

Alpenrose
6149 SW Shattuck
Portland’s velodrome. Crazy banked walls, but you can ride on it at will during the day.

Bike Polo
Sunday afternoon: Killingsworth and 22nd at Alberta Park

Other
Mt. Taber
Hawthorne past 50th
Cool park, pretty mellow climb, with great views.

The Cliffs
Overlook Park: N Overlook Blvd and N Beech St.
See trains join and watch the sunset.

Powell’s Books
1005 W Burnside
Endless selections of books, amazing.


I am going to hold off on Chicago. It seems weird now that we are living here, instead, just give us a call if you’re ever here, and then you’ll know exactly what to do.
And I suppose I could do one for San Francisco, but that seems even weirder.

new actual chicago address allison and i will be receiving all your mail at:

1628 w. ohio st. apt #3R
chicago, IL. 60624


since being back in san francisco felt so much like coming home, the blog was quickly forgotten, catching up with friends, tons of time in dolores, (two) bday celebrations, and all the rest.
upon arrival, allison bought a new bike, we visited east bay bike polo before it happened, and caught the end of neil's potluck.
saturday was hectic: we headed out to golden gate park after some unfortunate mechanical mishaps to watch the cross race, fixing further mechanical mishaps at the bike kitchen, we caught bart to east bay for the final EBM race beginning at eli stoner time: 3:30pm.

we mis-routed at the offset into piedmont cemetary and promptly spent the remainder of the race goofing off, taking pictures, tasting the watermelon beer mansur had procured for me that morning and, stopping to chat with friends we ran into on the street. we finally finished for some serious hanging out and bbq-ing in mosswood park.

more people trickled in and out. damien, casey, chas and travis finally arrived up 4 hours late from the bar up the street. we finally headed back to sf around 7pm, ate dinner at golden era and headed over to the dovre while people stopped in to help celebrate our bday. i had a ton of fun seeing so many good people: augie was still in town and helped get everyone else all rowdy. lots of good chats and playing soccer in the street at 1am (by playing, i mean chasing it after james kicked it as far as he could). headed out a bit before bar close down. apparently the awesome bartender thanked james as she was so confused why there were so many younger people actually there on a saturday night. honestly, the bar was super awesome though. good times.

sunday we slept in an went out to bugaloos to breakfast with neil. rode out to fort mason to see the box dog riders off and rode back into the haight to get coffee at tori's work and play a serious scrabble game.

hung out in dolores park and got falafel with oliver before heading over to thieves while the riders returned. hung out until after prizes and as the tired racers began to disappear. james and i went to sparkys for some late night coffee and then over to the rite spot to see a friend of his play. headed back to neil's early to get some real sleep.

tons more hanging out throughout the week: actual bday celebration at cassanova on monday night after a day of maggie mudd treats, watching weird science at jenn's, followed by dinner and visiting sf bike polo (it actually happens, i saw it!). a much mellower night that i thoroughly enjoyed, martini mondays blown up.

tuesday night we went and saw noah's furniture show with lots of tasty snacks and met up to ride to tiburon. it felt so great to get an actual ride in and was a lot of fun to actually get to ride with evan, chas and cristos. ended up at bender's after with dave + rob and matt and fried vegan wings. i slept real well that night.

wednesday, i headed back to santa cruz to pay my red light ticket and pick up some things i left at rigg st. got to visit with sam and hiram for coffee, ate asian rose, stole music from seth, hung out at the ocean st house and mike had me stay so he could cook me super yummy indian food. i drove back to oakland to meet up with allison and mike. mike's fork had broke, so i drove us all out to rudy's to for sweet potato fries and have some food with max. stayed in east bay and met up with ilya for vegan french toast and kittens in the morning.

thursday! phew. south park for an "extended" (read: 3 hour) lunch as people trickled in. visited the freight shop and stopped by the bike kitchen to figure out the bike!bike! schedule. bernard met up with us to deliver some goods! (less expensive, warm, awesome north face jackets) so i could sit in dp with shorts and a big waterproof jacket. ha. met up with mike for coffee at atlas before heading over for fancy dinner at millennium for one last bday celebration (monday bdays=you are entitled to stretch it out all week long) with diego, dave, and ray. sheesh, such amazing food, i was really impressed. dave, allison, and i headed over to cassettes after but could only stand the scene for an hour or so and headed over to damien's to sleep.

friday i woke up and attended bike!bike! workshops and then met up with allison and james and mike for late lunch. i rode out to fort mason to go to the huge booksale and meet up with ilya and rosie. the book sale with a huge room and seriously so awesome: i wish i wasn't planning on moving and traveling or i would have bought way more. more DP time for the cyclocide bbq and beginning of the poker run. i wish i had a picture of casey in the hotdog costume: amazing. headed over to a show on valencia that got started super late. hung out on the sidewalk, met up with steveb and heard stories about interbike. dave, neil and i split only to be shut out of a closing papolote and have to seek out burritos else where. found a spot on 24th, to then hear that people were being kicked out of the show, so we re-met up at the parkside, which apparently had a $7 cover and too much drama. finished up the night with a couple drinks at the uptown and headed back to neil's to sleep.

saturday morning, i headed out early for more workshops. met up at piccino to visit tori and heckle her while she learned the "proper" way to pull blue bottle shots.

finally got a papolote burrito after the previous nights fiasco and ate in the park. i headed out to one more workshop while allison grabbed coffee with alex and spence. more serious park hang outs before grabbing amenities for jessica's game night at whole foods to visit tara and meet up with grey for my round of coffee. finally headed over to jessica's where a less than genuine attempt was made to play balderdash. 3 hours later, we had played 5 rounds and had a lot of fun being super rowdy. played catch phrase, and i made fox come deliver me a streets and maps guide despite my departure from sf. around 1am after casey had been encouraging us to go make last call, we left and headed to the uptown to meet up with travis and co. reluctant to end the night, we headed over to the precita house and hung out for a while longer. i eventually began trailing off when i began doing a people magazine crossword, i knew the night was over.

sunday morning, tara, derek, james, noah, allison, and kelly! actually all woke up to go get breakfast at saint frances before derek had to head out to work and we could head back south. despite much confusion and an unhappy waitress, i got to catch up with kelly and have last good byes with everyone. made a stop in slo for a couple hours so allison could chat with some friends. finally made it back into thousand oaks around 8pm. real end to the trip.

as i write this, i keep remembering more and more hilarious, weird, random things that occured this week, but i already feel as if i'm rambling and exhausting. really: sf always rules and i always am reminded how many amazing people there are there that somehow want to hang out with me, you guys are all fucking incredible. come visit us in chicago.

chicago, i will see you on wednesday afternoon.

how the time does fly. we're in portland right now after some fun adventures with fischer up in seattle and boise. the rest of omaha ended up being really fun. we went to brother's, a neighborhood bar a few blocks away from laura and finished off the night by going back to her place for some youtube classics: tim and eric, george washington, dan deacon lizard and sang some third eye blind. dietz knew every word. man after my heart. haha.


driving all the way across western nebraska AND wyoming proved to be quite the arduous drive but saw some of the craziest landscape i've ever seen in my life: enourmous skies, vast expanses of flat, barren land and gorgeous clouds. we stopped in SLC and met up with one of steve b's friends, justin, and watched tons of arrested development. so good. followed only by one of the best vegan breakfasts i've had all trip at vertical diner. yum.


next stop was boise for some basement show action. all the kids were super nice and there was some awesome pop-punk happening and trampoline action. jason and ilya played hella video games and we got entertained by a wizard. i went to sleep on the couch early, amidst burrito making and linux chatter. indeed.


onto seattle the next morning where we met up with justin and jason clackley at their nice apartments and watched saved by the bell episodes (jessie singing "i'm so excited"? check yes!) the next day was their tacoma show, so after hanging out at jason's work, elliott bay (rad coffee shop/book store in pioneer square) we left to eat sandwiches at quickies (seitan awesomeness served by a man with the most incredible dreads ever) and then went to the viaduct for the show. it was kind of a shithole but there was a drawing of jason clackely in the bathroom (which trelayna freaked out about so we had to take a picture) and it was still a lot of fun to see every one and hang out on the couches.


after being harassed by jason's cat, revolver throughout the night, in the morning we all made breakfast and watched can't hardly wait (which continued to be referenced throughout the day. most amazing 90's soundtrack. hands down) after much dawdling and some more coffee, we headed down to the re-opening of the zine library and ate tons of free food (mighty o!!) there was a park across the street so we proceeded to watch the crazy gymnastics and huge chess board (why can't they use their hands?) in the perfect weather. shortly after we headed down to their show at the holy mountain which was a far cooler space and got to hang out with noam and giel on the porch of the bar next store and talk about (compare, swap stories) about all our travels. got some good chat time in with mambo (did you know they make pbr lite?) and the dudes from zann and everyone seemed to be in far better spirits. we heard a lot about the bainbridge show the following day and the promises of the pool party but had to regretfully decline.


we left the next morning after having vegan cinnamon rolls at cafe flore and met up with crossett at his house in portland. after some switching and wrenching, i borrowed his cross bike and we headed up north to polo. it was nice to see casey and damian again (even though it'd really only been a few weeks since they left chicago... haha) and see everyone kill each other on the court. we rode down to the bluffs to watch the "trains humping" and then to the bye and bye for tasty vegan bar food. after a dirt section and a wrong turn, we made it back to crossetts and got through half of willow before i totally conked out.


the next morning we headed back to hawthorne for breakfast at cup and saucer and met up with damian downtown for some whole foods and park action. after checking out bike central, we began our trek to alpenrose to meet up with crossett and ride the incredibly banked track. it was totally deserted so it was fun just to mess around on it and take some pictures. after we were all
tired of riding, we went to albertsons for some bbq supplies and the longest line ever because of a new cashier. once we got back to the house, we listened to nick's new tapes from the bins (oakland soul, anyone?) on the boom box and bbqed on the tiny grill. charlie made us watch a christian rock video followed by some other terrible VHS at which we decided to head up north to meet up with casey for birthday 2.0 at the karakoe bar, alibi. Augie was back in town and
got serenaded complete with a lap dance from some dude singing tina turner. quite a few people made it out, crazy pictures were taken, me and christina butchered the shit out of paul simon's "you can call me al" (to which todd told us we did a terrible job at convincing him of paul simon's amazingness) and sang the entire "teenage dirtbag" song even though i wasn't up there. i thought the waitress was going to cut us off at some point as the pitchers didn't stop coming for 4 hours, but she humored us well in the face of all the rowdiness.


two more days left in portland and then BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO. east bay race. after party. the dovre saturday night. box dog race. theives. so much going on!! i can't wait.

birthdays

so many birthdays coming up, but one should be most important to you: ours. mine and allison's birthday is on september 22nd, that's right. it's a monday, so we will be celebrating early for all you people who aren't functioning on what i've been calling "playtime". saturday the 20th is the east bay alley cat eli is throwing. hopefully we will do some hard hanging out (bbq? in east bay?) after this most awesome event and then later on, we would like to go out back in san francisco. serious thought has been afforded to karaoke since we were so unsuccessful in chicago. recommend us some good, cheap, out of the way (aka: not overly crowded and obnoxious on a saturday night) and we will be stoked to see each and everyone of your shining faces back in sf.

our last days in chicago were stressful, but ultimately awesome. we crashed at rex's in andersonville for a couple nights, went and saw a double feature of forgetting sarah marshall and sex in the city(!) and it rained a lot. a lot. we finally signed the lease on an adorable 2 bedroom on ohio and paulina street in south ukranian village/west town. jason and ilya made it into town. and we did a lot of walking, ate amazing food at earwax, and went to the lawrence arms bar up north. ilya finally got in touch with the kid we were staying with--we arrived at his house and promptly squeezed allison, jason and i into the most comfortable bed and passed out. we all grabbed coffee in the morning at atomix and parted ways until boise. the driving's getting too normal, 8 hours seemed like nothing. when we stopped at burger king, the woman asked allison if she wanted "onion ring sauce" with her onion rings. allison asked, "what is onion ring sauce?" to which her only reply was: "zesty." so it goes.

we're in omaha right now, living out my high school dreams of saddle creek. saddle creek is, as eric said, just one big, major boring street that runs through the middle of omaha, but i've still been fascinated, picking up references all over. i lost my shit driving in from chicago when i realized nebraska's slogan is the good life, and i saw this while listening to the good life just as tim kasher wailed about council bluffs and we drove over the river from iowa, whew.
omaha is how i imagined: small town, indie amazingness full of kids in tight jeans, big glasses and sweaters. it became insanely colder since we arrived which is all so fitting. we ate at mcfosters last night, pierced ears, cut hair, and walked the 3 blocks to a house show. today was an overcast lazy day with coffee and exploring the downtown, watching brazil and making sweet potato tacos. we went out to slowdown, the saddle creek bar and saw dan deacon and forever flowers for free, and some how scored free ice cream (they even had fruit popsicles!). we tagged along with laura to her hilarious friend's house where we drank whiskey on their fine ass porch and listened to some elton john and rolling stones. oh nebraska.

naccc weekend

was absolutely ridiculous. i can't even began to describe how much fun it was. but i'll try..

thursday we rode to the gold star to meet up with some kids that were in town early and just happened to run into chas, will and sharkey who had just gotten into town from portland, dirty as shit and amped on life. it was amazing. we left after a bit to get food and ate the worst mexican food ever. do not eat at flash taco if you like real burritos.

friday came and we looked at a few more places and finally met mario's friend caitlin at critical mass and then headed over to mother hubbards for registration. total craziness--bikes locked everywhere and no one who worked at the bar had any idea why there were 300+ dirty messenger kids mingling in a downtown sports bar. some of us headed out to garfield park to check out the course but it was dark and pretty sketchy and we couldn't find polo, so we headed back to the Av-arie, a loft party where they were giving out tons of free beer, some prizes from the alleycat. i finally got to meet augie and talked to the seagull bag guys who said they would replace my sternum-cracker of a buckle for free. yes!

headed out to breakfast with some of the portland kids saturday morning and then to garfield park for the qualifiers. people were everywhere and of course start time ended up being two hours late. i ended up not working a check point and just wandering from checkpoint to checkpoint heckling people along the way and laughing at ridiculous antics people were pulling on the racers. stuffing boxes full of tree branches, writing lewd notes on packages, fireworks, banana suits, the usual. san francisco did really well and it was awesome to see every get out and just kill it, even though the course was real bizzare and people were flatting all over. freight's checkpoint was right next to this pool in the park and after the race, a bunch of the boys jumped in and were running around in their chamois. amazing.

everyone left dirty and sweaty and some managed to make it back to messenger prom looking suprisingly respectable. me christina and caitlin went out to dinner beforehand and ended up getting a free bottle of wine from the people next to us who loved the idea of messenger prom and wanted to ask us a bunch of questions. we headed over to the bottom lounge $2 tall cans, prom pictures and a really awesome back deck that was later used to scale up and sneak in when they stopped letting people in. it got that crowded! talked to a bunch of random people, caitlin did the worm on the exceedingly disgusting floor.


main race came on sunday and only about 50 or so people made it, so it was much more mellow and i ended up working a check point this time. so rad to see everyone out and the tricks and skids after were a blast to watch. we ended up back at the bottom lounge for prizes, where we took over the tables, casey lost his voice from booing augie so much and we witnessed fergus playing the air guitar on his new frame. everyone was in top form, so much fun.

monday we got breakfast with philly eric and steve at chicago diner, complete with in depth conversations about what roast beef looks like and locust swarms, and then headed over the the top of the cock (hancock tower!) for some drinks, running into will and sharkey on the way. after some great views and some dirty looks from the waitresses, we headed over to the bbq for casey's birthday. and then the madness ensued. i think we went through 6 30 packs, people were being attacked with caution tape, damian got his porkchops stolen by the dog and chas almost got a cooler dropped on top of him. we really wanted to do karaoyke after, but labor day weekend prevented it so we settled on the rainbo room, where we got major 'tude from the bartender for being "too cool" squished way too many people into tables, took photobooth pictures, watched the will arnett sex video on damian's iphone (to which i thought augie was going to die laughing) and basically just took over the bar until 2am, to which we realized we really needed to take advanage of the 4am bars here and headed to the continental. steve decided arm wrestling would be a great idea and the dj told us on no accord would he play paul simon or journey. everyone was just ridiculously rowdy and made for a great last night for most people.


phew. there's some more chicago that happened, but that'll have to come later. way too much right now. hope everyone is well, we miss the shit out of you. and california weather.

i'm missing san francisco a lot.
the rest of new york was a lot of fun: after exploring more of manhattan, we met up with nate and anne later in the day and visited a great beer garden and talked too much about how great san francisco really is. exploring. new experiences, i need them. so it goes.
oh yes. we all headed into lower east side for a show at the mercury lounge followed by an excursion to some creepy/hilarious bar called happy endings in smelly chinatown. oh man. allison and i rode to south brooklyn to yummy brunch the next morning with chris and jack, they were awesome at showing us around. we then met up with zack and brigham one last time and went out separate ways, weird.

philly was a non-stop surprise for me. i thought it was going to be way dirtier, scarier, and smellier (according to what most everyone had been telling us). we stayed with mia the first two nights at her classy apt west of city center. we walked a lot, ran into more familar people than expected and had a night out in downtown. over the next four days we: rode a lot (all though everything is extremely flat, so its so different) visited west philly (where i constantly had the fresh prince theme song stuck in my head) to see clark park and satellite cafe/fire house bikes, saw the philly bike church. ate amazing vegan philly cheese steaks at gianna's and govindas, added to our growing tape collection from many impressive thrift stores, visited the insanely bizarre mutter museum (filled with medical oddities) and made super good dinner with garrett and shea who were also in town with produce from the downtown market.
stayed with donovan the next two nights, a fabulous blur of bill and ted's excellent adventure on the big screen, skitching skateboards, magnum 40s, pretzel factory at midnight, surprisingly unsketchy bars, rittenhouse square, rites of spring on record, and lots of friendly, rad people. philly was a lot of fun.

after the longest, most arduous drive (ok, i'm lying. but it was long. and boring-ohio is all cornfields and i hate toll roads). we're in chicago now staying with brian, who happens to be moving in two days. we rode around last night and the skyline from lakeshore drive is incredible. today we looked at two apts in pilsen and humbolt park, rode all over chicago, scored (free!) chicago bike maps, fixed broken bikes and went out to some bar recommended by nacccs? a bunch of san francisco faces are in town and i can't wait to see more. it's humid hot here and i hope it lets up a little.

i've seemingly stopped taking pictures. i'll work on it.

huzzah, new york, new york. i haven't been here in years and had no idea what to expect. it has been crazy, crazy, crazy.

by the graciousness of a friend from santa cruz, we've been staying in williamsburg (brooklyn) in em's amazing loft space right off bedford ave while she is back in california. we arrived wednesday evening after an awesome breakfast by shea back in DC followed by a day of stressful, trafficked driving. we went out to free pbr hour (yes, it exists!) at a bar on s 6th and moved on to matches. pretty awesome to come into a town cold and meet so many new people.

yesterday we explored manhattan: amazing vegan food, strand books, central park, bleeker st, seinfeld restaurant facade, 5th ave at 5pm and cupcakes at babycakes. riding in traffic here is ultimately death-defying though. while exhilarating and skillful, also requires so much just to manuver one end of the city to another. a total trip though. after arriving back in brooklyn, chris led us out to queens for (cheap!) beer on jake's roof with a hammock (and fireworks?) and much talk of current rap and crystal-ly people.

today, the explorations took us farther south into brooklyn. sheesh, even brookyln is 4379348x larger than san francisco. &i had no idea it got so posh. prospect park was beautiful though, perfect for riding and reading and napping. finally made it over to food swings for disgustingly tasty vegan fast food. headed into manhattan to meet up with some kids at old towne bar. despite being insanely worried re: locking bikes in thief-ridden downtown, our bikes made it out whole. i just had a lot of fun riding with people who know the city well after too much map staring. we all rode back over the williamsburg bridge to visit the "peel sessions," (trick time under the bridge!) and then went along to finally visit the levvy, a much disputed bar. quite busy and loud, but still super laid back and had good vibe. chatted with even more new people, including one dude who ultra-reminded me of crossett. good times.

two more days in nyc, hopefully we'll see nate before heading out on saturday!

dc and richmond

time has been passing in bizarre patterns these last few days. we spent friday checking out a few museums down at the 'mall' in dc, riding our bikes around the city (it's so fun to ride in traffic again!) and then coincidently ran into colie, who neither of us have seen in about three years but were just talking about that morning. the world works in strange ways. we ended up going out with him and jill later on that night in adams-morgan (which was a total scene--i felt like i was back on higuera in san luis. weird) and talked until 2:30am about high school people i haven't thought about in ages.


the next morning we left bright and early to head back to richmond for best friends day--getting stuck in traffic reminiscent of la but still getting in time to meet up for the 8 mile ride out to havad lake. it was a blast to be riding through such beautiful countryside with a couple hundred kids, only to get to the water park and ultimately feel like it was punk rock spring break '08. rope swings, water slides, bands, beer and vegan tacos. way to be richmond, way to be.


we rode back into town around 8 and tried to go to a house show where ceremony and paint it black were playing, but ended up only watching part of the show as the house was so small i could only watch through the window. it was eriely like watching tv and we decided it would be better to leave for panda veg--chinese vegan food with a buffet (donuts) and had silly conversations about atom and his package and comparisons between duck sauce and dogshit (thanks garret :)

after thanking alison for putting us up for one more night, we began our trip back to dc and recuperated a bit before christina and i decided to ride down to arlington to meet up with rich for a thai dinner. it was nice to get out and ride across the bridge (even though seeing parts of georgetown reminded me a lot of the marina) and it was entertaining to hang out with rich and hear extensive stories from his running camp. ultimate lesson of the night: it's only awkward if you make it. but i kind of liked "no fronting" too.

we left arlington to go to the black cat and met up with garret for the port o'brien show. it was awesome to see all the san luis kids and they played a really fun set, too, bringing out the pots and pans for 'i woke up today' and bring some ridiculously excited girl up on stage for 'treebones' we stayed to watch bodies of water and then came back to garret's for the ultimate slumber party--they showed up at the house with a bottle of patron in hand (van citing marah carey as his inspiration) and it was just silly catching up, sharing travel stories and talking about people from back home. There were 18 people in the house last night and once we realized 10 of us were from california, it made me feel like i wasn't 3000 miles away from home.


today has just been breakfast, lots of coffee and a mini welding lesson. new york tomorrow! i'm excited.

so the swimming hole in asheville instead was a half hour drive into the most amazing forest, pisgah to sliding rock, which as it sounds, was a huge natural rock slide. we spent most of the day in the forest, exploring the river and catapulting down natural slides and looking glass falls, a huge, beautiful waterfall.





we returned to asheville with an appetite and hit up rosetta's, asheville's prime veggie restaurant which was super tasty. we finally were able to meet up with chris after, woohoo! chris and a friend of his, escorted allison and i on a short bike ride out to west asheville and then to visit their local velodrome. after some sprints and playing around, we headed back into asheville proper to check out the contra dance and hang out in town square with chris. zach, brigham and us took a trip to peruse the amazing savings dumpster and returned with our share of goodies. asheville treated us well, and co-op house had the most amazing, hospitable porch imaginable. we headed out to richmond the next morning after one last coffee at firestorms.

richmond: awesome cafes, flat and awesomely bikeable, an abundance of bikes where ever you go, and surprisingly beautiful. allison's friend mikey hooked us up with his friend alison. she lives at a combination live space/lending library called the flying brick. we spent yesterday exploring belle isle, eating amazing food at ipanema, browsing diversity thirft, chilling hard on their porch, and "finding" far too many blueberries and pluots to possibly consume. yesterday morning we also visited hollywood cemetary, this huge, epic cemetary right near alison's. allison and i headed out without brigham and zack to DC last night to meet up with garrett, with plans to return to richmond on saturday for best friends day: an epicly impressive festival of music, or so we've been told.







garrett lives in this huge co-op house with seven other people, an abundant, impressive collection of (freak) bikes, two beautiful dogs, and a feral kitten, and a huge kitchen. amazing. we cooked a huge pesto pasta dinner and then rode out to SW for DC bike polo. we met tons of: interesting/nice/bizarre/fun people and upon much encouragement, actually played a game. sheesh, i need to try my hand at polo way more often.




more more more...too much writing, not enough exploring. today: the national mall?