8:38 AM, Jun 24, 2006
Grinders and Donut Sandwiches
Jeff and I took the long way to Grinders, last night, taking pictures as we went. We stepped into the H&R Block headquarters construction zone, along with the new Power and Light district area. It's all coming along very nicely. We could descry aisles of stairways in the new arena, and began to get a feel for how the neighborhood is going to be when all the crazy construction is finished.
We walked into Grinders about ten minutes late, after a leisurely mile and a half walk across the east Crossroads, and met Ryan and Jennifer at a picnic table out back. As the service is in a rebuild status there, we had to take it upon ourselves to get drinks, and Heather behind the bar was happy to help. Shortly afterward, Chris arrived. From there, we all took it in turns making fun of the terrible band playing at some fundraiser next door, and savored the moments that band chose to take a break. New wood chips had been lain under the picnic tables, and I was getting eaten alive by ravenous biting flies, principally via impressive bites through my socks.
Chris went home to continue studying for the upcoming bar exam, and we that remained started dropping names of old Nintendo games we used to play. The beer, interestingly, had stopped flowing at our table. Soon after we ran out of Megaman villains to compare, we said good night to Ryan and Jennifer, and headed back north, where we wound around the streets for a while, until we found the Red Front. There, we drank low-priced beers, and talked with locals and NV overflow patrons. We met Wes, a future downtown resident who was doing a dive-bar pubcrawl from west to east, and needed to find another place to go. I directed him to the Caddyshack in Columbus Park.
Jeff and I finished our drinks and walked over to 12Baltimore, where some awesome band was playing 70s funk music, and out-of-town patrons were dancing emphatically. I ate a club sandwich that had a glazed donut for a bun, and Jeff had some chips that cost one fifth of what my sandwich was. I need to be more savvy. We were home by 1am, and I was asleep soon after that.
Today, I have a pair of parties to make: a pool party at which I will exhibit my no-swimming policy, and a beer-tasting party right up the street from the pool party. It's shaping up to be a very nice Saturday. First, I need to get my annual haircut.