Alleycat Results

Where's H?

More photos here

More bikes

I accidentally on purpose won a new bike on Ebay. Check out those chrome lugs and that sweet fork! Hopefully I can make a bunch of the money back selling the components. Or else I will just save them for a rainy day when I want to turn the bike back into a lean mean racing machine.

I also claimed a blue Peugeot UO-8 at Velocipede, for free. It looks like this:

I will probably fix it and sell it.

Walking to work

I always prefer to ride my bike, but my fixie died and it is raining today anyway, so today I took the shuttle and walked from Mt. Vernon. It is always great to have the iPod in, listening to my new (and old) favorite songs with the Baltimore soundscape in the background. Ambulance sirens dopplering into sight and then into the distance, the mobile Shred-It trucks munching up paper near the hospital, construction trucks beepbeepbeeping as they reverse into a narrow delivery zone. The sights are nice too, like the crew of three Latino guys down in a hole working on a gas line, while their supervisor leans up against the backhoe chatting on his cellphone with his chica, smiling broadly and glancing down occasionally at his men. Or watching the broad back of the maintenance guy walking ahead of me in a grey tshirt, thinking, man, that guy looks just like a meathead. And I bet if he hit you, you would fall down.

I love Baltimore.

28ish Calvert "Bi-level"

This place is only $1350 with a bedroom and kitchen on the first floor, and two bedrooms and living room on the second floor. A little awkward, and the pictures show it after the two college boys were evicted, but it will have all new windows, all doors replaced, the floors will be sanded and polyurethaned, the closets all fixed up with their rods and doors, and a professional cleaning (all trash including icky carpets will be tossed). An interesting layout with two staircases!


1st floor bedroom

2nd floor bedroom (back)

One of two (!) full baths

2nd floor living room

Master bedroom

27-ish Calvert "Architects"

Just a few doors down another couple is moving away. They are architects and their house is very similarly gorgeous. But the basement will be quite small after they wall it off to protect tenants from the lead paint. They are also willing to rent for 1700.

27-ish Calvert "Memphis"

The owners of this house are moving to Memphis and are seriously, the cutest, best-looking, nicest couple I have ever met. I can't get over how chill and sweet they are. Anyway, they want to rent their place for 1700 and here are the pictures:

Boy, they suck you dry in public health don't they?

So I'm on the phone with a real estate agent a friend used to buy her house, a woman up in the really-huge-house area of town who I've been assured is 'nice despite the inch-thick foundation and raccoon mascara'. She asks my salary and I tell her and this is her response: "Boy they really suck you dry in public health don't they? I mean you got starving artists, starving musicians, and starving malaria people!"

I've been recommended for a promotion but still have no hope of buying a cute place in a nice neighborhood until I attach myself to another wage earner. Stupid housing bubble.