1:49 PM, May 11, 2007
At Large
In what was supposed to be the sixth week of the kickball season, we played our third game last night, and lost by two runs. We celebrated with various runs around town. Before the game, I found that I would have to drive myself there, despite having secured a fantastic parking spot right in front of my place. It was 6:15pm, and the traffic over on Broadway was still horrendous. Are these people completely unaware that there are other streets in downtown that are perfectly free to use? Anyway, I took Wyandotte to 16th to Main, and never had any trouble or significant holdups, covering two miles in the same amount of time it took people on Broadway to cover fifty feet. Move out of the sticks, people! Life improves when you live where everything is.
This morning, I called in to work, not really feeling motivated enough to make the commute, and slept until 10. I woke up delightfully refreshed and ready to go and do something. I contacted Chris over IM, and we determined that we'd get lunch at the Thai Paradise over on the 1500 block of Grand. He said to meet him at 13th and Grand, and we'd walk down, through the Arena/P&L construction. This being over a mile away, on basically the opposite side of downtown, and what with the temperature being about 80 degrees, it made for a wonderful walk across the heart of Kansas City.
On the way I saw people taking pictures, walking dogs, jogging, going to lunch with coworkers, and just going about their daily lives. Some were casting looks of disdain in my direction, presumably because I was at large in shorts and shirtsleeves, with headphones in my ears, hands in pockets, and eyes pointing in no direction in particular. I reached 13th and Grand a couple minutes earlier than we'd agreed, but Chris was standing there waiting for me. We enjoyed some red curry after almost an hour wait. I think they were shorthanded and very busy.
On the way back, we passed a newly erected camp of people operating jackhammers only feet away from where we walked. It was so loud that I screamed, Cameron Frye style, at the ridiculous tumult, still not to be heard at all any more than five feet away. We shook hands good bye, and I walked down Grand, 12th, Walnut, 11th, and Main without any hurry. I stopped at some little corner market and picked up an orange soda. When I reached 10th and Main, I decided I'd pay Kelly a visit, and so we talked and caroused for perhaps a half an hour before I continued my leisurely walk home.
I got home and found that the maintenance people had fixed the door to Jeff's bedroom. I'm spending this afternoon relaxing, doing some laundry, and reloading the tracking status for my new mp3 player. Hopefully, I'll be getting my deposit refund from Quality Hill today, so I can go for another walk to deposit it. It's a lovely day.