Category: bikes

09/22/15 02:45 - ID#60233

Sunday ride

We rode up to North Tonawanda via the Riverwalk for lunch. The total length of the ride was 25 miles. It was perfect weather for a long ride.

First we went down to Canalside - I saw this QR code from Dug's Dive in the ground. I never encounter QR codes in real life so I didn't have an app to see where it led to.

On the way up the Riverwalk you pass this old dock and crumbling shack. Is this part of the old Erie Canal? If so I think they should build historical replicas down in Canalside ;)

The Army Corps closed the bridge over the 190. It seems kind of ridiculous to close anoverpass to the other side of the path. Instead you're forced to ride up Niagara Street all the way up to Ontario Street.

Asphalt dog park at Black Rock Park.

Once you get into Tonawanda, they have a marker advertising a historical site off in the woods. It's a cruisey clearing where part of the original canal went through. You can see a small hill along the side which I think was the towpath, and a few rocks from the canal wall sticking through the dirt.

The Tonawanda bike path is still very industrial and smelly, but a lot less so without Tonawanda Coke and Huntley. Thanks Clean Air Coalition!

Once we got up to the end of Riverwalk, we were hungry, so we ate at Yummy Thai in North Tonawanda. The food and prices were terrible but the waiter was super cute. They did have a sweet Thai iced tea though.

In North Tonawanda there's the start of the Erie Canal trail. Ride to go visit (e:uchina), anyone?

On the way home, I almost got into a fight with another freaking car. At Sheridan Drive and Delaware Road, a giant tank of an SUV starts honking at us, yelling at us to get off the road. I start yelling back, they start flipping us off, and this guy in the back of the car starts hanging out the window saying he was going to kill us. I pulled off on the sidewalk to ride back and yell at them after they pulled off - but I called the police first since we were right near the Tonawanda station. (e:paul) talked to them, and said they said they were afraid they were going to hit and kill us. Seriously? They saw us - how hard is it to not run into cyclists and kill them? I couldn't freaking believe it. If you haven't heard, I fucking hate cars.

Permalink: Sunday_ride.html
Words: 452
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/23/15 10:52

Category: clothes

09/19/15 04:07 - ID#60232

Unexpected twins

(e:mike) came over to get his car. I think these outfits were planned.

Permalink: Unexpected_twins.html
Words: 15
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/19/15 04:07

Category: food

09/18/15 08:51 - ID#60227

Paul's sushi

I'll let (e:Paul) post more about it but he made us a delicious vegetable sushi.

Apparently in another time he wanted to drop out of everything and go to sushi school. If he ever does that I expect full on Hello Kitty bento boxes.

Permalink: Paul_s_sushi.html
Words: 54
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/18/15 08:51

Category: weather

09/12/15 09:24 - 55.ºF - ID#60223

Rainy day and professional warcraft

It felt so much like fall this weekend - pumpkin spice weather - we were rained out of tour de farms and music is art.
(e:terry) and I took a walk for coffee and this small crowd of large pink suburban ladies were on some sort of charity walk down Franklin. We cut down on a little of the sadness by walking along them. Two were debating:

"I would love to live down here! The houses are so beautiful!"

"I wouldn't! The parking is a nightmare! And what about the crime?! It's too dangerous!" (on a street that's half empty parking lot)

"You're such a scaredy cat!"

(e:paul) can probably tell you I went stir crazy inside already. I'm not ready!

(e:terry) spent part of the weekend watching professional warcraft. They had uniforms, color commentators and everything. I looked up what the events looked like and it's what you would expect. I think I would be into it if I like video games more because it looks like a complete nerdfest.

I used to go to school with a guy named Sean Snack

- he was a professional gamer. Weirdly enough one of his biggest wins during college was playing Yahoo pool - he won a few thousand dollars if I remember right.

Permalink: Rainy_day_and_professional_warcraft.html
Words: 225
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/14/15 09:19

Category: birthday

09/12/15 09:23 - 55.ºF - ID#60222

Happy birthday dad

Happy birthday dad. I hope it was a good one.

We took my dad for his birthday to Seabar, where he got to enjoy fish with someone for once ((e:paul))

Later we had some cake (an orange cake, his favorite) that I made. And somehow we ended up spending a half hour talking about the purple McDonald's hamburglar. Not sure why. Anyways my brother is hilarious. I wish he would write on here.

The future's so bright, he's wearing shades.

Permalink: Happy_birthday_dad.html
Words: 87
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/14/15 09:21

Category: church of the ascension

09/12/15 09:22 - 55.ºF - ID#60221

Hoarders: church edition

The church next door had their closeout firesale. (e:paul), (e:terry) and I took a stroll over to see what "treasures" were available.

Of course it wouldn't be a church event without parking over the whole lawn.

They sold a lot of junk and religious trinkets, big metal crosses and what not. The coolest thing available were probably the two priest thrones, but they were a cool $3800 for the pair. Most of the furniture seemed to be going fast.

Buffalo rising wrote about the sale as if it were some sort of pillaging of Buffalo's history to out of towners. Really, a lot of it was church junk that was probably out of a catalog, a few nice pieces of wood furniture, and a bunch of old ladies looking to cram a few more things in their house.

Permalink: Hoarders_church_edition.html
Words: 149
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/14/15 09:25

Category: spiders

09/12/15 09:21 - 55.ºF - ID#60219

Giant spiders

This is the biggest spider I've ever seen at our house. (e:mike), what do you think? It's probably an inch an a half and it's been living on the window for a month now.

Permalink: Giant_spiders.html
Words: 38
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/14/15 09:26

Category: adirondacks

09/12/15 09:20 - 55.ºF - ID#60217

e:uchina's trip

I never finished writing about Jabe Pond. (e:uchina) came up to visit us and it was a lovely trip. She wrapped us in a magical tarp while we layed in the sun, all the way until night, when we watched the stars and listened to the bros across the pond.

Said tarp

Giving (e:yesthatcasey) a piece of her mind

Head first into networking

Head first into crazy

What an amazing day. I loved how the light looked so tropical when the sun started heading down.

Permalink: e_uchina_s_trip.html
Words: 103
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/14/15 09:31

Category: adirondacks

09/07/15 04:37 - 84.ºF - ID#60213

Frog Castle on Jabe Pond

On the last full day, (e:paul) and I hung out on the beach. I decided to use the $60,000 I spent on a civil engineering degree and build a reinforced sand castle, to one up my old minnow resort (e:joe,59355)

Before we started, there was so much soap foam on the beach. How do people not realize that soap doesn't just disappear, especially in a pond like this?

I started by taking some moist sand and forming the first layer, with sticks for reinforcement. Then I took pine needles and laid them on top of the first wall. (I only remember this technique because my old professor Gasparini was obsessed with it - a French engineer came up with a lot of theories building sand castles

)

Then I put the second layer on, doubling the height. I realized I should have put a door in, so I tried to carve one out and reinforce a header with some sticks. It's not the greatest, so next time I'll build doors and windows right into it.

Nearby was an abandoned minnow condo project. It's full of dead caterpillars, it really put a damper on the sales.

The last step was decking it out - I asked MFA (e:paul) to decorate it eyetalian style, but the sun was too intense for him.
So I tried my best. You can see the result in his post (e:paul,60206). The castle was named "Schloss Frosch am Meer" or the Frog Castle on the Lake.

Then I took a frog and let him loose in his new castle. He wasn't too happy about it, but at least he was able to escape alive. That's the least an engineer can ask for.

Permalink: Frog_Castle_on_Jabe_Pond.html
Words: 303
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/08/15 01:34

Category: adirondacks

09/07/15 04:35 - 84.ºF - ID#60212

Loon Landing, the big island

Loon Landing is by far the best island in all of Jabe Pond. It's the biggest, it has lots of diving rocks, a mini forest with trees in all stages of development and much more. Unfortunately you can't legally camp on it due to overuse (although pretty sure (e:paul) and (e:terry) used to), but it's nice to visit.

I took a kayak ride over by myself. From the island you can look out and spy on almost every other pond hangout. I watched (e:uchina) and (e:paul) play on the beach. I saw the bros fishing and drinking at theirs, and I saw people just paddling around the pond. I drank my beer, danced to John Denver and got naked deep in the woods. It was amazing.