Biker food for pedestrians

It has been a while since I blogged last, at least here on iTripped. I haven't had much to say here, in part because I have been blogging quite a bit over on Heavy Breathing. Until Louise's condition improves, I don't really see that changing much.

Of course, things are still happening around here despite the drama with my dog. Earlier this week I took my team out for lunch at some fancy place called Campagnolo. Being a bike enthusiast, the name of the place appealed to me and other people at work said it was good, so that was enough to decide where to go. It turns out that the name has nothing at all to do with bikes, but rather a reference to simple, home style cooking. Which is odd, because it seemed kind of fancy schmancy to me, like it was designed for lawyers and bankers and the like. Still, we were comfortable and the food was really good. About the only bad thing we could say about it was that it is located in a sketchy part of town - but that also meant it was close enough to the office that we could walk there. Yes, we work in that same part of town.

But at least we can see the Olympic Village? That's gotta be a plus, right? No?

Sigh.

Car Coop Adventures #2

We booked another car through the coop yesterday primarily so we could go to IKEA, and then on to a variety of other stores. One of the nice things about the coop is that when we arrive there, we don't have to search for parking - they have two spots reserved for us coop members.

Look closely at the photo - in it you will see my coop car parked NEXT to the two reserved spots - that were unusable because someone at IKEA decided to pile the snow there. The car is actually parked in the hybrid vehicle section while I took the picture. By the time I was done with that, another, normal spot opened up so I took it.

Why are spots reserved for hybrid vehicles plowed but not the car coop ones? By pushing all the snow into that corner, it will remain for months now, rendering those spots unusable for a long time.

Hazards

Going back and forth to the office this past week has been filled with hazards I don't normally have to deal with. For one, we have had a lot of snow lately, much more than is typical for this time of year. The temperatures have been fluctuating to something above melting during the day, and something below at night. The magic recipie for black ice! I do notice a big difference in how much traction I have depending on which shoes or boots I am wearing.

Another hazard, or obstacle course, would be the exit stairwell in our building. There is a florist on the bottom floor and they have this habit of filling up the space at the bottom with extra stuff. I'm sure this violates all sorts of fire safety restrictions. According to the person we had to squeeze past, it will all be cleared out in a 'few days or so'. We use this exit quite a bit since our desks are close to the door, but in case of fire, we would all HAVE to use it as the elevator would no longer be working. Unlike the florist, we wouldn't have other exit options aside from the two stairwells.

Then we saw this contraption on the roof of a nearby building while out for lunch. Our best guess is that it is a camera but dang, that looks like some sort of automated gun. Maybe I have been playing too many video games. Hallways filled with boxes and junk and automated turrets are in too many games. At least they haven't thought about making a shooter game with black ice.