errands « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

errands

errands / Thursday — Comments Off
18
May 17

Send sleep

Do you know that feeling where you have things to do and then you try to measure it all out? You know, so you don’t have to do everything at one time?

I’m pretty decent, I think, at pacing these things out. So my week has been fairly successful. I have one, or maybe two, little chores to get through tomorrow, but have gotten the house cleaned, blinds installed, laundry done, and more or less eaten food from time to time.

I could sleep more, but I’m an artist, and sleep deprivation is my canvas this week. I could have ridden my bike a bit more, but I’ve managed to talk myself out of it a few times. One day I learn the biggest lesson about the bike: You only regret the rides you don’t take.

Like, for instance, today. I was going to ride, but I had to work a bit late. And then it rained, and I had to get back to my errands and chores and that was the night. So skipping a ride on Tuesday and Wednesday caught up to me, and so I can only regret those I missed out on.

But I watched a bike race tonight, so there’s that.

Tomorrow, I am getting a new phone. So there’s that.

errands / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
16
May 17

Thorn to be wild

Well I’m having a lovely week so far. How about you?

I’d like to sleep a bit more, but that’s a problem for another day, it seems. Otherwise, the days are pretty rosy. Take this bush out front, for example:

Rose bush, rosy, get it? (I have another one of these jokes for tomorrow.)

Anyway. There’s the day’s work, of course. And all day long I have felt fairly fatigued. I think it is a lack of good sleep and my ride yesterday. So I took today off from the bike and got some evening shopping in. I picked up a few lights for a photo project and got some groceries and went home for dinner, a bit of house cleaning and to watch the day’s bike race.

That’s the pace of things this week — an easy, one thing at a time, few things a day, one day at a time pace. That’s my pace of things.

adventures / errands / food / Tuesday — Comments Off
8
Mar 16

Those are Virginias, not Valencias

Took a carload, and I do mean a car full, of stuff to Goodwill today. A nice lady came out with two giant bins and helped me pull stuff out of the car and then into their storefront. She told me stories of things she has found in the donations they receive. You wouldn’t want to believe them, really. But then she also noticed a pair of cufflinks that she was pretty sure I didn’t want to donate. And she was correct.

She thanked me and told me to bring the rest — because there’s more to donate — and then gave me the tax forms that I tried to avoid and then literature:

That trip thinned out two closets and some stuff from the attic and garage.

Later there was baseball, which has become an event more about people and friends than the game itself. And, also, peanuts:

You don’t see as many three-kernel peanuts as you used to, you think. But then you remember, oh that’s about varieties. And when you get the three-kernel prize out of a giant bag of Virginia peanuts. Or maybe runners. Hard to tell.

Auburn / baseball / errands / friends / photo / weekend — Comments Off
9
May 15

Brown shoes in my size, the second hardest thing to buy

This morning it was laundry. This afternoon it was errands. I had to buy shoes. Buying a specific kind of shoe in my size — and at a price I want to pay — is sometimes very difficult. This is one of those times. But, on the third store, I picked up some nice brown casual shoes that might feel comfortable.

Since we’ve started doing triathlons I’ve come to think of the comfort of my feet as a very important thing.

I also bought some new running shoes this week. I just eclipsed 400 miles in the old shoes and they were letting me know. Three times in a row I went for a jog that turned into an aching-calf shuffle. Well, you don’t have to tell me a fourth time. So that’s two new pairs of shoes in one week.

Didn’t get all of my errands done. The loafers took too long. So we’ll push that on to next week. Today there’s baseball. And then dinner, with friends. And we met our friend Sally Ann and her niece.

We all dined with our friends Jennie and Jeremy, who we bumped into by chance:

Oh yes, I bought a selfie stick today. You’ll soon see why.

Auburn / books / cycling / errands / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
19
Mar 15

Got any AP Style?

I was looking for a book, a new Associated Press Stylebook, but one place didn’t have it. A second store was closed.

Going to a third place I had your standard “Don’t see that every day” moment. A bicycle-mounted police officer pulled over a car. The officer turned on a little blue light and the car pulled over.

You can almost imagine the mental calculus going on in the car. But that was a good move, stopping. Oh you’ll get away from the guy on the mountain bike with the fat tires. But he has friends just down the street. And those people aren’t riding bikes.

I believe that’s the first traffic stop I’ve seen by a cycling officer. Now I want to see the officers on the ruggedized Segway-trike get someone making an improper turn.

I rode 22 miles on my bike this afternoon and I didn’t see anyone that would stop for me. But I don’t have a badge or a blue light. I just have the lycra.

Anyway, the third bookstore didn’t have the book. I can try another place tomorrow. I hit Walmart. I was looking for two things, but I only found one. I got a watch battery for an old watch. (Still works! Now I have three watches that might, from time-to-time, help me out. I’ll be late somewhere tomorrow.) So I only found the one thing at the retailer, that let me make a withdrawal at the cash register. These are the details of my day.

I needed the cash because as I was going from one place to the next I got a message from an e-bay seller. We’ve been negotiating the sale of two Gloms. A deal had been reached. He’s in town and so we set up a meet.

So I find myself watching the sun go down from the Kroger parking lot, waiting on this guy to show up. He brought two books. I paid cash. He felt like he got a good deal. I felt like I got a good deal. We were both happy.

Turns out the guy’s a picker. He’s telling me stories about how he used to go dumpster diving, how it is different now. Once, he said, people would come up to him and strike up a conversation. Now he’s afraid they’ll just call the police.

But is it the times or his age? You can probably get away with more in your 20s than 40s, I’d guess.

He feels like he covered the entire area, going through old abandoned buildings, salvaging and scavenging. I wonder how many of those roads I know because of my bike and how many I have no idea about.

The newest condos being built are going up on a large tract that previously had several old, decrepit houses. He says he got the call to go into those houses, that he was the only guy, and that he got to pick them clean for leftover property, repurposed fixtures and, of course, the copper.

The stories of all of the local stuff he finds sounds like a lot of fun.

We probably talked for an hour, mostly with me just trying to get him to show me his collection. Never know what else he might be willing to sell.

Probably should have asked him if he had a Stylebook.