April 24
After dark on a Satuday night, as we were driving back from the grocery store, we passed chazz and renee’s package goods. It’s a small corner bar with a small red door with a small diamond shaped window near the top. Outside were two small children maybe 9 or 10 years old. One was standing on her tip-toes trying to peer through the window while the other one was behind her jumping up and down. They were both clearly trying to look in the bar window, we could only assume to see if their parents were inside.
3:30 am last night I awoke suddenly. I don’t know why. Not soon afterwards I heard POP! POP! POP! This sound was followed by a very loud car alarm and a guy screaming for help. Apparently he was shot, I think in the leg.
When I looked out the window I saw a guy limping up the street knocking on doors. I called 911 and the resumed looking out the window and waiting. For a brief moment, I thought I should let him in our place since he was hurt and then I realized that this was incredibly stupid because I had no idea what was going on. We also thought about whether or not we should go out, but then I figured calling 911 was really about all the help we could hope to give and going outside when shots were just fired might not be the best move either. I thought I would freak out in a situation like this, but I feel like we were both unusually calm. I don’t suppose that the guy is hurt too bad (I mean for having been shot) because they took the guy out of the ambulance and pushed him around on the gurney looking for something.
In the end, I think we did the right thing, but I really don’t know the “somebody got shot outside your house” etiquette. They need to put that up on the now that you’re here section of livebaltimore.com along with the recycling dates.
Is not entirely unlike the impact that the brick had on jen’s car window during an incident of crime last night. It hits hard, it breaks barriers, and (insert another cheesy DJ music review statement here).
But the song “impact” didn’t leave a mess of broken glass all over the street by our house. I got a call around 10 last night on my cell phone from the Police who wanted to get in touch with jen (I have no idea how they got a hold of my cell #). It seems some teenagers threw a brick through jen’s window, rifled through the stuff, didn’t find anything valuable, and the left. The neighbor that called the police, also yelled at them. Something to this effect:
“Hey! At least close the door! If you’re going to break their window and take their stuff, at least have the decency to close the door so EVERYONE doesn’t go through their stuff!”
He does have a point. It happened the same day that the baltimore guide came out.
One of jen’s great joys is reading the crime blotter in the Baltimore guide while sipping a glass of wine. This is because they often include incredibly random details that are mildly hilarious i.e. “It is not known what became of the cake.” Jen has always said that if she is the victim of a crime, she will make sure to add some crazy detail in the report so it gets in the baltimore guide. Well, at the time of the report, it didn’t seem like anything was stolen. But after the fact, we realized that roughly $4.72 in canadian coins were taken. I don’t know if that’s good enough for the baltimore guide, but I guess we will find out.
Last night we went to go see HAMILTON. It was filmed in Baltimore in teh neighborhood of the same name. It’s good. You should go see it. It is showing this week at the Rotunda. I think it closes this week also, but I’m not sure.
last year when I bought the surly I said “well, I have a cross bike so I might as well do a cross race.” I never did. This year I gave it a go.
The day began on a bad note with my having forgot to bring cash for my one day race license, 30 minutes before the race I was driving around North Baltimore looking for an ATM. I managed to get one and made it back just in time. I knew that I wouldn’t have time to do a pre-ride so i figured should just embrace the nervousness. I get a little weird before triathlons, but it’s not that bad, because by and large, most people in triathlons are competing against themselves and their old times. Bike racing is a different animal. It is more socially intimidating (to me anyway). Even though you’re just there for fun, you’re still trying to do well, and it seems like that has a lot more to do with beating other people. For a “just in it for the t-shirt” kinda guy like me, that’s intimidating. A lot of people in full race kit on tricked out cross bikes didn’t help. I kept telling myself that doing it on a single speed was a built in excuse. Read the rest of this entry »
yesterday I had to be in baltimore for work so I parked at our house and then rode to work. Because we are totally obsessed, I took pictures. I also met some of our neighbors. They seemed nice. As I was skulking around in the back alley like a burgalar, an older woman gave me a funny look and seemed really distressed when I said “good morning”. She was too far away to be able to explain the whole moving in thing.
It’s going to be a month and a half before we move in, so I expect to obsess about it every day until then.
found this on bikeforums.net
Bubbles and his bike.
so I have been training for the dewey beach tri since may or so, mostly in baltimore. Sadly the harbor is less than swim friendly, so that part ive done on the way to work in bethesda, but otherwise the bikes and runs ive done almost entirely in baltimore city. Ive come to really enjoy different parts of it , weather it be running by drunks in fells point, to the glorious smell from h&s bakery on alicana, to the stentch of the harbor, to the constant hum of the dieing industry of locust point, to the sunday rides in druid hill park smelling the bbq and keeping up w/ pocket rockets, to the tourists at the harbor, to the small stretchs of cobel stone that rattle my handel bars, and everything in between. Tonight though I had one of the best fringe benefits. I went for a quick ride to fort mchenry and around locust point / ottobien etc, and stoped by the whole foods downtown to pick up a gift certificate for some old friends who have a new “edition”… anyways that is besides the point. While looking around at all the goodness of whole paycheck… I notice some people I recognize.
Kima and omar from the wire… ok not the charectors, but the actors who play them. .. The funniest thing about it all was that I saw omar standing outside by a suv, kind of dancing next to it, as bmore club/house pumped out of it… I didnt think much of it, because afterall this is baltimore… I didnt even realize it was him untill he was inside. I was very much star struck, so I tried to act all unasumming as I watched them pick out vitatmins… I wanted to say something like…. “um, you guys are cool and stuff..” but I also wanted them to feel comfortable, and not have another geek gawking over them. As I got back on my bike to head home I got up the courage to just roll buy and say “keep up the good work”, omar thanked me, I tried to clip in and roll off, and missed my pedals , come on I was star struck, at which point omar said …
“be carefull out there”
I like to think he meant “this is baltimore baby, be carefull on these streets, the game is ever where”, but I think he meant… “dude dont fall over your own legs” … to celebrate I came home and put on some rod lee.
The Kinetic Sculpture Race is over but the physical and psychological effects of being waste deep in Baltimore Harbor will last forever. We arrived at the AVAM at 7AM. Mike, Jason and Allison arrived with Ninja outfits compliments of Enter the Ninja. The rain was coming down but we rigged a tarp underneath the dragon so we avoided most of it. Jason and Allison got hit with the brunt of it as the pit crew. When the race began we benefited from strategic positioning and took the lead straight off, The beaver was using his race experience and beaver wisdom to try and pass us, but we held on to the lead until we looped back down around the AVAM. From there, the ship and the beaver blasted past us like we were 2 punk kids dressed as ninjas riding a heavy 4-wheeled dragon…well, we were. Read the rest of this entry »
