Yesterday was my dad's birthday. We celebrated day 1, before my sister got home today, with some ice cream cake and some small food gifts.


Midnight is an ice cream addict- when we bring out ice cream cake and start singing happy birthday, he goes insane and starts barking along until he gets some.

HBD dad! Both he and my mom have done so much for me and my siblings, it's hard to even comprehend. It's always nice to see him so happy.

I haven't been running in a week or two, and decided to force myself to go for an easy one last night. The temperature was near perfect and it was a great way to end the day. Running in Kenmore at (and Kenilworth, my true hood (e:mike)) at night is weird. There are thousands of people in such a small area and yet I have the street to myself.




Sometimes I feel like I'm using every free second I have outside of work. Don't get me wrong, I love it - but it's nice to be going nowhere at all.

Beer Club at Goodbar was awesome, thanks to (e:terry) for the invite! Definitely some interesting beers to try. Getting there late and catching so fast was dangerous though because I was pretty hammered for a work night! Maybe I shouldn't go up for extras next time?





Beer inspired selfies

Camping this weekend down in Landrus, PA was absolutely awesome. Great time all around with (e:YesThatCasey), (e:paul), (e:terry), (e:heidi), (e:dianne), and some scroty Pennsylvanians.

Went to Marco's deli in Kenmore with my brother, and got to the campsite Friday night. Heidi and Dianne were super awesome since the tents and camp were already set up, so all that was left to do was drink around the fire.



Winoooo

The next day we went on a hike to try and find a trail to some ruins. Apparently it was a company coal town way back when, but all that is left now is some foundation ruins and some unmaintained roads.


Some sort of masonry


Snakes hiding out


Das Wasser ist scrotzig! - it smelled so sulfury



It was a pretty beautiful place.


Casey lumberjacking out



Selfieees

Saturday night was great, even though I was an early victim to day drinking. Huge fire, drunk German lessons, and a freezing late night swim. Definitely slept well that night.

Before heading out, we hiked to go swim in Sand Run Falls. We got lost-ish and almost fell victim to the mountain people (saved by 4G), it was a pretty nice hike. I thought it was crazy enough to go in the water the night before, but Paul, Terry and I forced ourselves to go in again.

On the way home, we stopped at Yorkholo Brewing Company in Mansfield, which was kind of reminded me of Geneseo. Paul and I found a creepy decrepit phone booth.



The goat cheese pierogi and black bean burger were pretty good, despite some mishaps (I may have accidentally eaten bacon, oops).



It's sad that this is one of the last few weekends of the summer. I really wish there was a time to go camping longer - can't wait until next summer.

Windy day on the beach today. I saw these guys parasail surfing (what google called it). It looked pretty awesome, although the water was pretty awful smelling and looking today.

Yesterday I began my first day of bike commuting to work. I've been biking and taking public transportation everywhere since the beginning of high school, so this summer when I had to get a car for work was the first time I've really been driving in my life.

Less than two months in of driving to work, I realized more than ever how much I hate driving. It's so wasteful for me to push my 170lb self around with a 3000lb car at 28mpg for an hour a day. I hate the aggression everyone gets in with each other, how isolated you are from other people and how easy it is to speed by and not even see what's going on around you. I hate how much space they take up and how much noise and pollution they generate. I wish Buffalo had a real 24x7 transit system, and hope that the bike culture keeps growing like it is.

Since I dislike it so much, I figured why not do something about it? It seemed hypocritical not to try just because the ride seemed long. So now that I can shower at work, I rode down. It was really nice to get out when few other people were. It took about 1hr for 16 miles and was without incident, besides yelling at a lady to pick up her dog's poop.


Love/hate.

On the way home was a little bit different. It took 1hr 03min for 16 miles, but felt so much tougher. There was a headwind off the lake, a lot more traffic downtown, and even a minor road rage incident. This woman was upset after she tried to left turn at a stop sign while texting her lap, where apparently I surprised her coming from the opposite direction with the right of way. She caught up to me at a light, and I started yelling back at her for texting and not paying attention to the road. Of course while she is doing this, she has the nerve to look down in her lap to text and tell me it's not illegal while she's stopped. We parted with a few choice words before it escalated. I seriously need to watch my road rage but she deserved it.

I was pretty wiped after all that, but I am going to try to bike at least every other day. I can probably drop the hammer a little more as I get used to it so it'll get better. Finished the day with some 90 cent cones from Anderson's with Emily and Carrie. (4 of them to be exact)

Day one: 32 miles, 1080 calories, 2 hr ride time

Lessons learned:
Eat more, I felt so sluggish on the ride home
Watch out for crazy middle aged ladies
Leave earlier for home


Getting into work


Poorly tagged inspirational quote on the Rt. 5 overpass


Riding through Larkinville