ZeeGeezer

Weekend Date - 200 words

Will's been here since Friday evening. I made lasagna for dinner.

Have I mentioned Will yet?

Yesterday we got up late. I made French toast. Then we went out. I had the car washed, for the first time in at least seven months. It's nice and shiny now. Then we went to Ikea. All I needed were some butchers' hooks. But you can't go to Ikea and spend only two dollars. So shopping was indulged in. I bought: new dishes, red and white wine glasses, very big beer glasses, because he was complaining about how small my glasses were. And a little pan to boil eggs in. Then we went for a little walk on the Stanford campus and took pictures of the gay statue And went to see the Rodin sculputure court. Then to Target to buy him a belt.

While we were in PaloAlto we went into the bicycle store to get me some new handlebar tape. My money was taken by the cutest guy I have ever seen. Guess I'll have to go back there. I could buy a bike and then he can show me how it works. Maybe he'd like to correct my golf swing.

Dumb

I went for a 20-mile bike ride in yesterday's 100° heat. It was our ALC training group reunion ride. Only 7 people showed up, out of 40 who had RSVPed. But my crush, Doug, was there. So I guess it was all worthwhile. Hot though. And not in a good way.

Did I mention that I've signed up to do The Ride again next year?

200 Words: What I Did on My Vacation

I went to Canada for my vacation. I spent a week in the bosom of my family. It was too hot to do much of anything. I went there to celebrate the twins' birthday; they turned 26. I grilled steaks on the barbecue and we had an ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen. I put up new light fixtures in my wife's house. My daughter's boyfriend helped me.
My sister turned 60 on Bastille Day, but I didn't see her. She was in San Antonio.
It was a crowded, rather rushed week. There were six of us staying in a three-bedroom townhouse. We had five notebook computers. Three digital cameras, two iPods. One cat.
I went to Costco three times: I was the only one who had a membership. I bought a new cycling jersey. It was on sale, but they only had one and it was a size too small for me. I bought it anyway. So I had better start that diet. And get back on the bike.
On Monday my daughter told us that she is getting married. On the coming Monday. She wanted it to be a secret. But the cat is out of the bag now.

200 Words

Bob, of bob's yer uncle, has started a little writing exercise: every Tuesday he's going to post a piece that's exactly 200 words long. He posted his first piece today. It's not a challenge or anything, but it seemed like an interesting thing to do, especially when you are sitting at work with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO. So I thought I'd try my hand:

200 Words

I rode my bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It was hard, but not as hard as you might think. After all, I had been training for almost a year.
I didn't ride alone. 1,839 other people rode with me. We had each raised at least $2,500 for AIDS treatment and research. Riding our bikes to Los Angeles was our reward.
The ride took seven days. We set off from the Cow Palace on Sunday and arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The Cow Palace is not in fact in San Francisco: it is in Daly City. But it is right at the city limit; as soon as we cycled out of the Cow Palace we were in San Francisco. So we did ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
At night we camped.
On the sixth day of the ride, Friday, I spent much of the day crying. The physical effort had left me emotionally naked. I cried because I felt unbearably alone in the midst of a couple of thousand people. I hadn't expected that. I had been expecting a miracle to occur and change my life. There was no miracle.
But my life may have changed.

My Wish List

• a Waterford RST-22 sport touring bike. If I'm going to do the AIDS/Lifecycle ride again next year, I want a bike that fits me. I don't need a bike for loaded touring (apparently a "randonneur" bike) since any touring I might do will involve sleeping in Motel 6 and eating at McDonalds. Apart from camping my way down to LA next June, that is. This bike is explicitly designed for centuries, supported tours and credit card touring. Just my speed.
• a Nikon D200 digital SLR camera. Because I dropped the one I've got on the floor at the Cow Palace and it's held together with rubber bands from bunches of broccoli. Still works, but ... I need an SLR because I can't see the LCD display on point-and-shoot camera in daylight. The Nikon is a great camera!
• and this lens to go with it. It will be the only lens I'll ever need.
• a new car! I think this one. Yes, I'm a Volvo-driving, brie-eating liberal. With options and accessories the one I want comes to $36,304.
• someone special. Someone like him:

Despicable

Justices Robert Smith,Susan Read and George Smith of the New York State Court of Appeals all agree that the primary purpose of marriage is to create a stable environment in which to rear children. Justice Read is 59, well past menopause. I trust she is not married, since her child-rearing days are over. Justices Smith and Smith are 62 and 69 respectively. They are both married; I assume that they have put aside the now barren women they married in their youths and have found themselves fertile young women in order to raise a second brood.