Training Wheels, Tide, and Trainees

Townsends First Bike Ride: Headed down to Meadville to pick up Townsend for the afternoon today; Amanda couldn't keep him overnight due to her big ol' training class in the morning. So I got dressed for work real early (details later) and rode with her down there like we usually do. We get to her ex-husbands place and Townsend is out in the yard beating around a birdie with a badminton racket (I debated on which sounded worse: him beating a birdie or a shuttlecock. Either way, I think you folks get the point.) I turn on "Green Onions" on the mp3 player, as I always do, and Amanda gets out and talks to John in the front yard for a bit. Sure enough I hear "oh my god!!" and I turn and see Townsend, who only last week was grinding away on training wheels, riding his bike around the yard!! The kid's only five years old!! I don't think I learned that early. And he's got complete mastery of it too; can slow down, speed up, all that. I have video proof on my cell phone, but i don't think I can upload it. Maybe I'll send it over at the enhanced blog site. Completely stunned though.

Has anyone else ever heard of catching on the bike at such a young age?


Subway and Shirts: Today, as I mentioned earlier, I got "work ready" around noonish so I could head down to Meadville with Amanda. I did this same thing a week ago and when I got to work, there was a huge crease across my chest where the seatbelt had sat. If anyone knows me from work, I like to be "date ready" when I go to work at night...so making sure my clothes are pressed and clean is pretty much top priority.

So today, we head down to Mudville and pick up the boy. On the way back, I was hungry for lunch so we stopped by Subway for a quick bite. I decided to go somewhat healthy and get a tuna sub. Amanda suggested (as I was thinking it) to get double meat so at least I was getting filled up. After being charged an extra $2.50 for the double meat on a $5 sub (never do that again!!), we sat down to eat. I ate about half.

Amanda then says "what did you get on your shirt!" Sure enough, I must have leaned into a little row of the oil from the tuna on the sub wrapper. (ever notice that when you eat at subway they wrap it up in that huge paper? and you have to smack your friends in their faces with it just to peel your meal open?)

Anyways, Amanda pulls out her "super" Tide pen and decides to rub out the little stain. I'm sitting there like a little boy having his shirt buttoned, and this nine year old girl is staring at me across the way, almost drooling in her awkwardness. I kept looking away from her but I couldn't help the fact she was mesmerized by this pen process.

Russians Are Coming!: So the hotel is contracting out housekeeping work to a local business that works with young Russian immigrants. Yes, they're legal, and yes, they're paid. Outside of how that works, I don't know. But it was a little funny when they were introducing themselves to my general manager this afternoon. "Whats your name" "Natanial" "Nice to meet you Neetanal. Your name?" "Sergey" "Pleasure is mine, sergee". I read an op-ed piece on CNN.com the other day by Glenn Beck about corporations still using "slave labor". I don't think this is exactly the same sort of thing. I hope not, anyways. But this is coming from the same company that I just found out is being sold in August and I have to be "re-hired" for my job, pending background checks and drug tests. Not that you couldn't eat a cherry pie off my background checks, but still. I don't like it.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: "Criticism is nothing more than other people's opinion." Clint Eastwood

The Next Three: "What'd I Say" by Ray Charles, "I'm A Little Kitty" by The Backward Mirror, and "Handshake Drugs" by Wilco