Mr Pinata

Pretty good weekend:

Friday night I walked down to Which Brew, hung out with Stu & Kathy, then other regulars as the evening progressed. Guy was playing solo guitar & singing, went by the name of "Just Plain Don"... Cheesesteak chili, some milk stout, then I went across the street where some other solo singer/guitarist was playing. It was OK too, but I left early.

Saturday was my friend Pete's surprise 50th birthday party, held at Blue Mountain Vineyards. Very cool, I guess that kind of panache comes with being older & wiser... plenty of food, wine (of course), which got into the usual "what are are you a wine snob" kind of thing. Like cat people vs dog people, I land on the beer side of that fence -- besides, beer-bloat makes for good "checks and balances;" I don't know how to drink wine, have to be very careful not to guzzle it and get trashed. Very tasty stuff though, I found a merlot I liked and stuck with it, except when my buddy Dick S, who's not a wine snob but made a living importing and writing about wine, would recommend something. The party itself (quite apart from the wine) was very good. Pete's in the Chain Gang and also in the Wheelmen so there were a lot of bikers around, people I sort of know, got a chance to catch up.

Sunday (aka today) I went on a bike ride. I rode down the towpath with Brian; he turned around at Sand Island but I crossed the river and climbed up to South Mountain, where I rode with Doug, Eric, and Joe & Cindy. We did a shakedown ride for Cindy's new bike, which Joe got her for Valentine's Day. Great ride, but I put in 34 offroad miles by the time I got home... usually the towpath doesn't really count as "offroad," but today, especially in the afternoon when it thawed, it was a soft, energy-sucking mess. Took a nap, walked down to Porters for dinner, and when I'm done here it's early bedtime for me.