on my day off

let’s see…so…first of all i slept until a little past 11am. that’s always nice. i then got up and headed to the briar shoppe. i was specifically looking for a bag designed for carrying a pipe and all of the necessary pipe-related items. it’s kind of annoying trying to carry everything loose, and i figured as long as they make products especially for that, why not buy one of those instead of trying to make something else work? so that’s what i did. i’m pretty happy with my purchase. i also picked up a few more one-ounce bags of tobacco: blue note, mark twain, peaches and cream, and tropical storm. (note how this time i was all over the alphabet, not stuck on one letter.) i also looked at lighters and pipe stands, but i figure i’ll buy those online and probably save myself some money (and get a wider selection). the girl working the counter was cute and had the most beautiful eyes. and, as it turns out, was 21. *sigh* not that it would matter if it were otherwise. 🙂
after the briar shoppe, i headed over to the bike barn to look at mountain bikes. i’ve been thinking about getting a mountain bike for years, but i’ve never done it. and (like with the pipe) i figure if i’m going to buy one, i should buy a decent one so my experience isn’t hindered by a poor quality piece of equipment — that way if i don’t like it i can’t blame it on the bike. after talking to a sales rep for awhile, i ended up test riding a trek 4500 around rice village. i hadn’t been on a bike in a long time, so it was a weird experience. and since i ride my motorcycle so much, it all felt really awkward and i kept trying to look into rearview mirrors that weren’t there and going for the turn signals every time i came to an intersection and planned on turning. i had hoped to also test ride a gary fisher marlin, but it had started raining so i didn’t get to. the marlin design is more for actual off-roading, while the trek is sorta a hybrid for daily riding around town. we’ll see if i continue the quest and actually make a purchase.
after that, i headed off to check out the daily grind. it’s a coffee house on washington. it was pretty cool. it reminded me of what empire has become (meaning a restuarant and coffee house, and that i preferred the “corporate coffee sucks” empire of old better), although it seemed more balanced while empire seems to have become more restaurant. when i first came in, there was some old man in running shorts and some way younger hot blonde in tight clothes, both seeming to be rather intoxicated and causing a ruckus. (i guess if you’re old and rich it’s okay to be a lecher, eh?) anyway, i was checking out the daily grind because kaveh kanes (downtown on praire, behind the rice lofts) closed down, so the radio show i’m a part of is looking for a new place for our monthly gatherings. i guess i’ve not mentioned that on here, but since pretty much the only people who read this are my friends, they already know that i’m one of the co-hosts on the radio show “technology bytes” on 90.1 kpft. so now everyone else knows too. don’t you feel privileged?
going back to saturday night, i watched the other movie i’d rented: murderball. it’s a documentary centered around the u.s. paralympic rugby team. (the sport was started in canada and was originally called murderball, thus the title.) the documentary was really cool. it didn’t take any kind of pity angle or anything — in fact, rather the opposite. there was a lot of drama and conflict too. i definitely suggest giving this one a view.