17 October 1998: Indian Summer

Saturday, 17 October 1998:

Indian Summer

I woke up feeling a little crummy yesterday. I was up past midnight on Thursday for the first time in quite a while. Bad Michael, bad, bad. And I didn't sleep well, but when I woke up I realized this was because I had been really hot, and that was because it had gotten up in the 60s and my apartment had gotten stuffy! I stumbled around the apartment, saw that the sun was coming out, and thought to myself, "Self, it's too nice a day not to bike in." So I did, and it was a good ride. I didn't even wear my sweatshirt, and probably could have worn shorts. Nice!

Today, of course, it's still warm, but it got humid and then started raining all day. Ick.

But, at least I got my sister's birthday presents in the mail before it rained. My Mom's went out on Tuesday, and she sent me mail today that she's already received them. This is the first time in, like, four years that I've sent them their presents before their birthdays. I'm feeling pretty happy about that.

(Oh, and I seem to be, like, using the word "like" a lot more lately. Strange.)

I've just about finished the Spider-Man Marvel Masterworks that I mentioned a couple of days ago. It's pretty neat seeing how Stan Lee and company tied all their titles together into a fairly coherent universe. Sure, the stories tend to the cheesy side, but it's good, basic entertainment. I hope I can finally pick up the last two Spidey volumes (which go through issue #50 of the title); they are getting quite expensive, and I will not be able to afford them this month.

A friend at work lent me a booklet published by Land's End, of all places, on basic weight training. Essentially, it describes some simple exercises involving hand weights, and sometimes a bench. For what it is, it was fairly informative (well, for someone like me, who basically knows nothing).

I went for a quick bike ride to run an errand today, and I'm having real trouble with my left pedal. It's like it's sticking to the shaft which attaches it to the bike. Probably a simple thing to fix, but maybe next year I will consider buying a new bike. The one I have now is 7 years old and was cheap to begin with. It's served me well ~~young Skywalker~~, but something a little more sophisticated (or at least sturdier) might be better.

As I write this, the San Diego Padres have a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the 7th inning over the New York Yankees in the World Series, and they're playing in New York. Okay, the first game doesn't really mean that much, but it would be terrific if the Padres could pull it off!

Whoops, I spoke too soon; the Yankees have tied it up in the bottom of the 7th, on a Chuck Knoblauch 3-run homer! Dang it all!

Someone on the Red Sox Mailing List recently said he's rooting for the Yankees out of loyalty to the American League over the National League. I say: "Huh?" What loyalty to the American League? I don't care about the leagues (except that I like the DH) I care about teams, and as a Red Sox fan I'm bound to root against the Yankees! Yeesh!

Well, let's hope the Padres can pull this one out.

Didn't really do much else today. A lot of laundry. I seem to do a lot more laundry due to my biking, I go through a lot more clothes. Good thing my laundry machine is in my apartment and I don't have to go running around carrying the clothes around.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)