What's The Difference Between Michael Phelps & Hitler?
I went out and visited my brother in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago. Good times were had. It's a pretty neat city actually. Neater than I had realized. The University of New Mexico is there, so it's got a college town vibe to it, but there's also a pretty serious art scene, which makes for an interesting combination. It's also an actual city, instead of a bunch of suburbs that run into each other like out here in Arizona. I'd almost forgotten what that's like.
There's also a ton of interesting antique stores. I was surprised, being used to lame-ass antique stores on the East coast, where there's like old wagon wheels or paintings or weak crap like that. These stores have some pretty cool stuff in them. There was one that was the entire top floor of a converted warehouse and it was just filled with old arcade game cabinets, faceplates and other retro video game stuff. They actually had an Odyssey there. I was tempted to buy it, before my good sense kicked in. Though it would be cool/geeky to say I've got one of the first home video game console ever made, it would just take up room. And it's probably not going anywhere, so if I really want one in the future now I know where to get one.
We went to see the polar bears at the Abq. zoo. I've never seen polar bears in real life and damned if those aren't some scary animals. They have a really cool exhibit. They're pretty much at eye level about 20 feet away, so you can get a good look at them. They are no joke. I certainly wouldn't want to encounter them in any other circumstance.
Albuquerque is also home to one of the top five coolest bars I've ever been to. The Albuquerque Press Club is this old cabin built on top of a hill. It kind of looks like the cabin from Evil Dead actually. It's built down into the hill and has a ground floor and then two basement level. It's a private club too, which is always a perk. But it's just a very chilled out environment. It's the sort of place I could see myself racking up quite the tab in. And the bartender recognized and complimented my Threadless t-shirt and we ended up having a conversation about Neil Stephenson's book Snow Crash, wherein he agreed with me that it's one of if not THE best openings in all of literature, which is always a huge plus when it comes to drinking establishments.
The trip reminded me that I need to get out more. I go out fairly often, but I usually go out and do the same things. So I've been trying to go out and try new stuff of late. As part of that mindset I went out to the local rowing club's open house event on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. We got to learn how to row and about the boats they use. Then we got to go out on the lake rowing and that was a blast. It's a pretty neat feeling. For the most part, only two people were rowing at a time, but when all eight people in the boat were pulling together, it was impressive. I was surprised at how many women were in attendance. There were around 25 or so heads there and the group was probably 2/3 women. I'm not sure why I was surprised, I guess I was just expecting it to be more men. I really enjoyed the experience. I just thought it would be a cool way to spend a couple of hours, but I'm thinking about taking one of their introduction to rowing classes. It might be a good excuse to get out and do something interesting. Just goes to show that the world is full of cool stuff if you make the time to go check it out, I suppose.
I think my computer is dying off. I'm going to need to start shopping for a new one soon, I believe.
There's also a ton of interesting antique stores. I was surprised, being used to lame-ass antique stores on the East coast, where there's like old wagon wheels or paintings or weak crap like that. These stores have some pretty cool stuff in them. There was one that was the entire top floor of a converted warehouse and it was just filled with old arcade game cabinets, faceplates and other retro video game stuff. They actually had an Odyssey there. I was tempted to buy it, before my good sense kicked in. Though it would be cool/geeky to say I've got one of the first home video game console ever made, it would just take up room. And it's probably not going anywhere, so if I really want one in the future now I know where to get one.
We went to see the polar bears at the Abq. zoo. I've never seen polar bears in real life and damned if those aren't some scary animals. They have a really cool exhibit. They're pretty much at eye level about 20 feet away, so you can get a good look at them. They are no joke. I certainly wouldn't want to encounter them in any other circumstance.
Albuquerque is also home to one of the top five coolest bars I've ever been to. The Albuquerque Press Club is this old cabin built on top of a hill. It kind of looks like the cabin from Evil Dead actually. It's built down into the hill and has a ground floor and then two basement level. It's a private club too, which is always a perk. But it's just a very chilled out environment. It's the sort of place I could see myself racking up quite the tab in. And the bartender recognized and complimented my Threadless t-shirt and we ended up having a conversation about Neil Stephenson's book Snow Crash, wherein he agreed with me that it's one of if not THE best openings in all of literature, which is always a huge plus when it comes to drinking establishments.
The trip reminded me that I need to get out more. I go out fairly often, but I usually go out and do the same things. So I've been trying to go out and try new stuff of late. As part of that mindset I went out to the local rowing club's open house event on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. We got to learn how to row and about the boats they use. Then we got to go out on the lake rowing and that was a blast. It's a pretty neat feeling. For the most part, only two people were rowing at a time, but when all eight people in the boat were pulling together, it was impressive. I was surprised at how many women were in attendance. There were around 25 or so heads there and the group was probably 2/3 women. I'm not sure why I was surprised, I guess I was just expecting it to be more men. I really enjoyed the experience. I just thought it would be a cool way to spend a couple of hours, but I'm thinking about taking one of their introduction to rowing classes. It might be a good excuse to get out and do something interesting. Just goes to show that the world is full of cool stuff if you make the time to go check it out, I suppose.
I think my computer is dying off. I'm going to need to start shopping for a new one soon, I believe.