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Thursday
April 30, 2009

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craig and i get off work at roughly the same time on thursdays. he works at six arms,
which is right down the street from where i've been hanging plywood for as long as i can remember, so i walk or pedal down the melrose connector (a combination street/bike path paralleling I-5 north) and meet him for beer. it's not prearranged, so it's always something of a surprise. (for now, at least, unless it becomes routine.) after some debate, we decided to walk from capitol hill to fremont. i predicted it would take about an hour (not counting stops). $1 pbr happy hour at faire was our first stop, where an r&b combo was just starting up. keyboard, congas, bongos, trumpet and chanteuse. 12 oz and 1 song later we were out of there, then a long leg to the zoo, one of seattle's last old school bars--cash only, no booze. a short hop to east lake grill, which i call "reagan's america" because it seems somehow stuck in 1984, when yuppies were a brave new breed. nice decks, though, and i watched a pair of herons fly in at sunset, growing from specks as they approached from the mountains. al's was next, double jamesons, joined by hoyt and heidi who we'd chanced into on the sidewalk. babalu was quiet; we were the only ones there (plus one couple). the bartender said it would pick up later when the dj started. "calm before the storm!" i said and we quickly drained our beers. we got to craig's at 10:30, 4 hours after we started. a new (establishing) record! it's one we hope to break next time by taking even longer.