Dec 21, 2016

I woke up after getting a good amount of sleep, but I was still running late. On my drive to work the sky was really nice and I shot some quick pictures out my window that was still covered in ice. I always want to get out and shoot sunrise, but it's so cold and the timing doesn't often work out when I start work so early.

The light was still nice when I got to Memorial so I wanted to take a shot of it. I was in for a health class and there was testing going on so the classes were longer than usual. I wrote a girl up 5 minutes into class, but then she was gone so that was good. The day wasn't so bad after all. I ended up not having to do my coverage last block which was nice since I didn't get my lunch break until 12:45 anyway.

I briefly considered a nap after work, but it wasn't in the cards. I went to Parvin since it had been nicer out during the day. Once I got there it had gotten a bit colder, but I hit the trail running anyway. After freezing my fingers off for a mile or so I had warmed up enough to be comfortable. I had a pretty decent run even though I felt slow. The lake looked really pretty frozen over. I feel like it's been a while since I've seen that.

I ran home and grabbed my change of clothes and met Becca for a second run in her parents' neighborhood. It was colder, we ran slower, and my iPod died along the way because of the cold. I'm over this shit. This never happened last year in Oregon.

It's Lance's birthday so we went bowling at Westbrook Lanes. It was much farther away than we thought, so it ended up being an all night thing. It was fun though. We bowled 3 games. I didn't do that well. Not sure if it was the ball or the shoes or the fact that I haven't played in a long time.

Lance (not pictured) seemed a little moody so it was a bit awkward sometimes and I felt like it was a challenge to make conversation at times. We had a good time anyway and fulfilled the bowling quote for this half of the year. We'll do it again in summer.

Jun 26, 2013

I picked up Joanna in the morning and we headed to Field of Dreams DGC. We had a fun round, remembering a lot of the holes as we went along. I had some good shots where I'd remember how I messed it up the last time. After our game we headed over to Mt. Tammany and got into the hike. The somewhat steep and rocky trail is always shorter than I think it is, but the boulder section is always fun.

And of course, the view is always worth it. I have a whole different perspective on this view now. I'm still in love with it, but after seeing so many sweeping views of huge mountains in the west it seems tame to me at this point. I remember thinking how amazing it was to be standing above the flying hawks, but now I don't get that feeling. There will always be a soft spot in my heart for the beautiful views of New Jersey, but it just feels a little different now.

We decided to do some geocaching on our trail back. We started in a somewhat overgrown area where blazing through the brush on the side of the mountain wasn't the easiest thing to do. We finally came upon the small cash after finding a rock lodged in a hollow tree that was concealing it. Then we stayed off the trail for a little longer before heading back.

On our way down we hiked on rocky, open trails that eventually met up with the White Blazes of the Appalachian Trail. We talked about hiking the trail and what it would be like once we left, not having a place to go home to for the night when we finished. It all seems so scary and exciting.

Of course I had to partake in some stream crossing shenanigans before we got done. I remember doing some of this stuff with Ryan when we came a few years ago, but I'm not sure I crossed like this.

Once we had our fill of messing around on the rocks and fallen trees near the waterfalls, we took some more photos and then made our way down the last bit of the trail to the car. It was a good day of hiking.

Next stop: New Brunswick. We went to Tata's Pizza, where they have some tasty vegan slices. I was almost hit by a car crossing the street because I wasn't paying attention. Good save, Joanna. We took our food and ate in the parking lot at Brunswick Zone before going in for a few games. I haven't been bowling in so long, but I still remember how it seems! I'm not better or worse than I ever was. After that we headed back to her house for the night.

Jul 15, 2011

I hadn't plan on joining everyone at the water park, but they insisted I join them so I obliged. We hung out in the cabana things for a while sitting in the shade and watching people go by in the lazy river. After a while, without saying anything, I convinced Alex to go on a slide.

After two rides that Alex described as "terrifying" we got in the lazy river for a few laps. We made a game out of it by rushing through the big groups of people until we got to the open spots where we could just float. It made it a little more fun. That's hard in three feet of water.

We walked around and stopped by the kids' area, which Alex enjoyed more than anything else. This was my favorite picture. We went back to the cabana and got some food and lemonade and hung out a while longer before I went back to get my car and headed home.

I went to Philly later with Christy for her birthday since I missed it. We went to the Abbaye and played darts while we waited for the food. I got a vegan meatball sandwich with cheese. The cheese was a bad idea.. but the rest was great.

We went over to North Bowl after eating and went to the upstairs bar. Christy got a Lebowski White Russian (or something like that) which is just a White Russian with chocolate vodka. It was great. I want one now. I had a couple beers and tried a whiskey and ginger beer. I liked.

We sat waiting for a pool table for a while, staring down the people playing and rushing to the table before someone else could get it. We played a few good games (though I'm not very good at pool) before our buzzer went off to bowl.

My bowling is so inconsistent. I usually get a strike or two, but the next frame I don't even get a spare. I guess that makes me mediocre. It was still fun. We only played one game, but we made it last a little while. Next time I go there I'm not eating first so I can get tots.

After our game, we got our shoes back and left for home. Northern Liberties is always a good time.

Feb 7, 2010

We slept in again today and eventually got around to going outside to clean off the car. The snow wasn't so bad and it didn't take that long to clear.

We went to the Deptford Mall to get some clothes and then went to Brunswick Zone for super bowling. Get it?

I did really well on the first game with a 196. That's pretty close to my best game ever. I've only ever gotten slightly over 200.

The next games I got progressively worse by 35 pins. My average was pretty good but I lost the next two games. I have no consistency at sports. Or bowling.

We came back and watched the Super Bowl while eating pizza. The game was a pretty good one; the Saints won. I don't really care, though.

We watched some tv while figuring out what we had to do for the week since school isn't canceled.. dammit. Now, more tv and time for bed.

Jan 8, 2010

After having a bagel in the morning and hanging out for a while, I headed home. I had some food when I got home and got on the internets.

Chuck picked me up and we met Jeff, Sam, Blake and Ali at the North Bowl in Philly. It was pretty sweet little bowling alley with a nice atmosphere.

We did our best to bowl like normal despite the abundance of hipsters bowling next to us focusing on their awesome approach rather than how many pins they were hitting. I did pretty well the first game. About my usual. The second game I waited until the end to start doing well. I would definitely go back for more, even just to hang out in the lounge.

When I came home, I looked for Battleship on Facebook and there it was! We played a few matches and it turns out I win more when we play online.

Online scrabble, packing for skiing weekend and a run punctuated my day. I never get to bed early enough.

Dec 5, 2009

In the morning, Joanna and I headed up the Turnpike to her house in Avenel. We were going to go into New York but it was raining and didn't seem to be getting any better so we looked for something else to do.

We drove west, where the rain turned into snow, to Allentown, eventually finding Jordan Creek disc golf course after stopping at a church craft show to use the bathroom and ended up buying a little thing of pumpkin spice jam. It was really good.

The course looked pretty nice in the snow. The snow makes everything look better. It was actually pretty muddy so it's a good thing the scenery made up for it.

There were some good holes; Joanna was doing really well throwing with her gloves on.

I had no gloves and our new disc golf towel was only doing so much to make the discs less slippery in my hand. I lost one disc to the creek. Shouldn't have taken that mulligan...

The layout of the course was really nice, there are bridges all over to get over the creek. It looked nice but it would definitely be nice on a dry day.

For some reason, I had to try this hole, which would definitely be really fun on a day I can actually get a grip on my disc but maybe not so much on a day like this. I tried it anyway and, as you probably guessed, I threw my disc right into the water. Well.. not right in, but it definitely didn't get very close to the other side. That's two.

The best was yet to come as there was a really great uphill hole shortly after. The snow was getting heavier and it was getting pretty dark by hole 14 though so we called it a day. I ended by missing an easy putt and Joanna ended by nailing one from a considerable distance.

It was so cold after the game. We were soaked and the car takes forever to warm up. We went to an Applebee's that wasn't too far away and changed our clothes. It felt much better. We ordered veggie burgers. They messed mine up twice, once adding bacon and the next time giving me a different burger altogether. The second one was good though, especially since it was free.

We drove back to Jersey from there, as the snow slowly turned back to rain by the time we were in Philly. We dried our shoes and socks on the ride home and followed through with our earlier plan to go bowling. We bowled three games and I did much better on the first than I expected to.

I only won one of the games, which is more than I expected to win so I'm cool with that. I was pretty happy with my scores since it was fairly consistent.

We hung out for a while after the game, watching Adult Swim and got brownies from Rowan After Hours. The usual. Healthy midnight snacks and educational tv.

Aug 17, 2009

I went in search of a bicycle repair shop in the morning to get my flat tire taken care of. There aren't many bike shops nor are there many people in those shops that actually care to help you with a bike (or make any money I guess.) I found this place in Bridgeton called Randy's General Store. They were great. He took my bike and started on it right away.

To kill some time while he was working I went down to the zoo.

This was mostly what I saw there. Ducks, geese and chickens just wandering around the walkways and cages. Granted, it was pretty hot but I didn't really see any animals at all that I couldn't see in my own yard.

I finally stumbled upon this bear lounging in a giant Tupperware container. He looks happy.

These guys were looking for some attention, which I gave them for a little while until I got bored of them and headed to the exit. I went to the lake for a few minutes and walked around before I went back to the shop to see how it was coming. I got there just in time for them to finish it.

I decided to do a long ride on my new tired so I got prepared and headed east.

A couple of hours later I ended up in Ocean City.

I had to go to the beach, of course. I stopped and had something to eat and drink before turning around to head back.

I rode back down 49, slightly exhausted into the sunset. In the end, it was 56 miles there and back. I got back in time to take a shower before Jeff, Sam and Katie came over to go bowling.

We had a beer in the bar before putting in our names: KD, Swarley, Samn and Jeff.

Dollar games, shoes and beers is a good incentive to go bowling in Deptford.

Sam got this interesting split and she almost managed to get the spare.

Jeff and I both won one of the first two games and Katie and Sam each won a game as well so we played a third tiebreaker game. I lost to Jeff. Katie won her contest. I got a 175 the first game which is the best score I can recall getting in a long time.

It was a long day but I was surprisingly not overly tired when I got home at night. I watched some Dead Like Me before passing out.