Hump day stories

Wow, sometimes this job is the most boring thing I've ever done. So today I'm going to tell some stories that I meant to post on here and haven't gotten around to doing yet.

Story the First
Last night Irene and I went on a bike ride down the bike trail along the Hudson River. The path is pretty nice, but parts of it make you wonder if the person who designed it had ever ridden a bike in his or her life. It runs along the West Side Highway, often separated from the cars by only a little guardrail fence. This is fine most of the time, but then the sun goes down. It was getting dark last night as we rode back uptown and the headlights were absolutely blinding, especially on the sections of the path that had no lighting. Yes, there are parts of the path that have no lighting at all, including the part that runs underneath the highway, where it is really really dark!

At another point the path divides into two parts: the part near the water for the pedestrians and the upper part through a park for the cyclists. I don't have a problem with this, as generally the pedestrians on the path are more annoying than anything else. The issue I have with it is that the short hills going up to the path both end in sharp curves. Sharp as in shoot-off-the-curve-and-into-traffic on the one and sharp as in run-into-a-cement-wall on the other. Not exactly great places for a curve and a wall as one picks up speed coming downhill. Sheesh.

So that's my bit about the path. The ride was actually lovely...in the setting sun on a cool day. Don't get me wrong...after 250 blocks I was ready to die. My knees hurt, my shoulders hurt, my butt hurt. I'd do it again though. Once I get a gel seat of course.

Story the Second
The great weekends continue their tour-de-force in New York City. Last weekend was actually pretty average, but there was nothing unpleasant about it. But the weekend before that was phenomenal. I spent the entire weekend outdoors, speaking German or frolicking in the ocean waves, which to me consitutes a wonderful weekend. I kicked off the morning with a brunch for the members of the German Language Meet-up Group that I joined a few weeks ago. Around noon the entire brunch group traipsed to the start of the Steuben Parade, which goes up 5th Avenue on the Saturday during German-American Friendship Week. Cheesy, I know. So I walked up Fifth with the other parade people, waving at the crowd. After that the fun really began when some friends and I went down to the Oktoberfest in Central Park. The whole thing was so authentic that my Austrian friends said they could have easily forgotten they were in NYC for a few hours. After that we went to a German bar on the Lower East Side and mingled with the crowd until late. Sunday morning I went to Far Rockaway with my Austrian friends and jumped around in the waves like a fool. The whole weekend was perfect. Feel free to visit and experience one of these weekend with me!

Story the Third
I chose that heading color because it most closely resembles the color of the remainder of the bruise I still have left from when I attempted to give blood two weeks ago! Can you even believe that the bruise from the needle is still there? They must have really wreaked havoc on that poor little vein...