no longer flat
Well, so much for going to a movie last night! That got precluded by my bike getting a flat tire -- which I pretty much should have expected since it was flat as soon as I went down to get it to ride to my doctor appointment in the morning. The thing is, I pumped the tire -- the back tire -- back up, and it seemed to stay full. So, I rode it to Virginia Mason Medical Center just fine. It wasn't quite flat after the appointment either, and although I did pump it some more, I rode it the rest of the way to work.
But, when it was flat yet again after I left work yesterday at 4:30, I pumped it up yet one more time, and was basically riding on the rim within about a block. I tried pumping it again, and didn't make it but a few feet. I then just walked the bike the entire 2.4 miles home. I thought about taking the bus and putting the bike on a rack, but a) I then would not have gotten any exercise; and b) even though I considered splitting the difference and hopping on a #11 once I made it halfway home and to Pine St, the next #11 was so far off that I was still able to walk home more quickly.
I stopped at home only briefly, checking for any coupons I might have. The best on offer was 10% off at a place nearly three miles away -- not worth it. I walked my bike the rest of the way to what has been my local bike shop for a few years now, 20/20 Cycle on 18th and Union, and had them replace my tire, as I tend to have to do there at least once a year.
The guy told me there were two holes in the tire and it was probably from hitting a pothole -- which, as it happens, I do remember happening late last week. Damn it. Fucking potholes!
So that totaled $16.52 for both the part and the labor; I basically spend eight bucks just so I can avoid getting my hands greasy and/or breaking my nails. There were three guys in the shop when I got in there, and two of them were definitely shop employees; the third, a young black guy, I could not tell if he was a customer, another employee, or maybe a friend who was just hanging out with them for a while. He did not appear to be either shopping or working. What he did do, was tell me, "I like your nails."
I thanked him, and he said he thought I might have been a flamenco player. I said, as I often do in these scenarios, "Nope, I'm just girly." He chuckled sort of nervously at that.
Then I was able to ride back home with very nicely pumped tires, but with no time to make it to the showing of the movie I wanted to see. It was just a documentary that can wait until I see it streaming one day, though; it wasn't a huge priority -- more than anything, just a movie for the sake of seeing a movie, because I haven't had as many chances lately as usual to go to movies. Tonight I'm going to see Godzilla, King of the Monsters even though I know it won't be very good. It will be a big spectacle, though.
Shobhit had made rice and lentils for dinner. We watched the last two episodes of the semi-recently released third season of Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix. Netflix has so many damned shows that I can't even keep up on, but this one has relatively big stars in Timothy Olyphant and Drew Barrymore. I wonder how much they're getting paid? It must be enough to be sufficient, otherwise I guess they wouldn't keep coming back to do more seasons.
Then we watched this week's episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. And then, a few episodes of season six of Cheers. Or is it season seven? Somewhere in the middle of its run, there. We hadn't watched that show in several weeks, and the last time we did, Shobhit remarked on how dumb the episodes had gotten. Last night, though, he actually remarked on how good they were. So all hope is not lost, I guess.
That about sums up my evening.
Should I talk briefly about the weather now? It sucks! Okay okay, it doesn't quite suck, at least not yet -- we're just on our way to it. I just ate my lunch out on the patio in the 74° sunshine and I will admit that was rather pleasant. I may not feel so much that way riding my bike home from work this afternoon when it's 81°, or particularly tomorrow when it's going to be fucking 86°. I think I may actually wear shorts tomorrow. I bet anything someone will comment on it because they never see me in shorts, even though I do consistently every year on days when it is too hot.
Anyway. Although today is Tuesday, it's basically qualifying as the Wednesday of my rather truncated week -- tomorrow will be my Friday, and then I'm off work again Thursday and Friday for Shobhit's and my anniversary trip to Portland. This comes after only one full work week last week after my week off for the travels to Ontario and New York with Danielle, which itself came after only three full work weeks after my Birth Week vacation. That's about two and a half weeks' worth of vacation time in the space of about a month and a half. I'm not sure I've ever taken so much vacation in so little time before. No more extended number of days off after this, though, until what will hopefully be our two-week (minimum) trip to Australia in late February. I need to finalize travel plans for weekends in both Denver and Las Vegas before his year runs out, though.
Back to Portland. It's been half a decade since I've gone: last visit was with Karen for a Birth Week trip in 2014; I went with Danielle barely more than a year before that; last time I went there with Shobhit was in 2010, literally days before he left to move to New York. I took one other trip there in 2001, that time with Danielle, Barbara and her friend Barb. 2001 was just a day trip.
For every single one of those four visits to Portland, though, I went there via Amtrak. This will be my first time driving to visit Portland, which is really going to open up my options for things to do and see -- even though Shobhit still wants to take the MAX light rail into downtown from our hotel room, so we can drink and not have to worry about driving. Nevertheless, driving will allow for, for instance, driving straight to Multnomah Falls first, which is about a forty minute drive east of Portland. Shobhit has talked about driving from Portland back over to Cannon Beach as a day trip on Friday, but we'll see what of Portland we can fit into our day on Thursday. Probably a lot, actually.
[posted 12:32 pm]