weak in the tweak: August 2008

ok, here's some stuff that i've done in the last month or so. i caught a fish in greenlake! to date, it is the only fish that i've caught after buying my rod/reel/license. a good ol' worm & bobber helped me land this lunker.

i rode the YARR bike in the dead baby bike race. YARR bike is a bicycle that topher put together a few years back using parts from a pink little girls bike and some womans 10 speed. that's right it's a hybrid pink & silver girls bike with pink grips and pedals, 16" wheels, and best of all a COASTER BRAKE. according to sarah, the dead baby bike race was featured in an episode of gray's anatomy. i went to the start of the race at el chupacabra on phinney ridge to see what all the fuss was about and to see all the mutant bikes. when they fired off the starting gun i got stoked and decided to ride along. the race went down 65th st which is steep as hell.

SIDENOTE: a few years ago topher let me borrow his van to shuttle some WI friends that were in town for the annual baker snowboard trip and we all got stuffed at gorditos (probably my favorite burrito joint). anyways, after eating a ton we crammed about 7 people into a minivan that was missing a backseat and jetted down 65th. a few people almost lost their burritos when caught a little air when flying through one of the intersections. they weren't supposed to tell topher about the 'jumping of the van', but i guess they ratted me out 2 days later, jerks.

well, riding YARR bike down the hill was fun! skidding out sideways all the way down the hill while trying not to hit some lady on a unicycle. did i mention that this race isn't truly organized (i.e. this isn't some roped off parade course). the race starts and it's pretty much BIKE vs. CAR. this years race took place a week or so after some critical mass unpleasantness. most cars just sat idle and waited for all the weirdo bikers to ride by this time. however, i did see one dude run into a car and then fall down. i helped slow down an ice cream truck (see pic). went to the after-race party, drank some beer, saw some stuff, and went home.

other stuff: i'm now totally legit to volunteer at the seattle animal shelter! i had to go through a general orientation (sat morning), animal shelter 101 (sun morn), and dog handling 101 (another sun morn). technically i haven't volunteered yet, although the orientation hours count towards the 8hr a month volunteer quota. i hope to do the get fit with fido program where you take the shelter dogs on 4 mile jogs. the shelter can be kind of a sad place but so far all of the dogs seem awesome and just want to play. oh, get this, the preferred treat for the dogs is string cheese! i love string cheese.