A bit of excitement

My uncle and I rode road the street of Santa Monica after Dark a few Days ago. By 'road' I mean upon our bicycles. It is an interesting habit of his. The road are clear and it is nice and cool. Not a bad idea really. We loaded up the bikes with flashing lights and hit the streets.

The real story begins when we got back. We were hanging out in the office (me on the couch feeling sick, don't ride hard before warming up.) My uncle heard a noise from the front of the building.
"That does not sound right" he said or something like it and got up to go check out what was going on. In the mean time someone tried several times to start a car. A couple unsuccessful times. The engine turned over but would not start.

A man climbed out of a car directly in front of the apartment and started walking away. My uncle asked him if he needed a jump. The man did not answer and just kept walking. Immediately five police cars turned on their lights and swarmed into the intersection. The jumped out of their vehicles with guns drawn. A police dog was barking viciously.

At this point my uncle slowly backed up the side walk and came back inside. He had been behind the suspect and in the line of fire. Enough to make anyone nervous.

This all happened slightly after midnight. Needless to say we were up all hours peeking out doors and windows trying to figure out what was happening. The forensics unit even showed up to lift finger prints and tow the getaway car off.

Twice policemen came to the apartment to take statements from my uncle, a valuable witness to we are not sure what.

We may never know what really happened. It looked like a failed car theft, but how did the cops know to be there? Well that's all I have for now.

Sam's Summary

• Someone tried to steal the car in front of mine.
• It would have certainly made pulling out easier if he had succeeded.
• The cops swarmed him like he was in a movie.
• There were gun drawn.
• I stayed up half the night peeking out my window.
• I got to do flips in a padded gym for the first time in ages (thanks to my cousin who is not really my cousin)
  

St. Louis Wins

My uncle and I went to a merging cars contest this evening. While everyone was stuck there in the parking lot trying to jockey their way to a chance to get stuck on the freeway, the Cards and Dodgers showed up and decided to play a little pick up game.

The game was a pleasant diversion from the sounding car alarms and ladies screaming at parking attendants. They played 4 and a half solid innings (we may have showed up late). I forgot to take my camera. My apologies on the lack of physical or digital evidence of this highly true, if hyperbolized story.

All in all a nice evening. Good seats too. Upper deck on the rail, down the third baseline. To top it off someone up top made a terrific paper airplane that made it almost to the field. Great game.

Sam's Summary

• Baseball
• Parking lot
• aggressive maneuvering (is this word too big for dyslexics?)
• The Saint Louis Cardinals won (as may be deduced from the title of this post)
  

The extended stays

I have been visiting folks at length out here on the left coast. That is the main reason for my long hiatus from this mode of communication. I spent over a month with my good friend in Washington, then it was two weeks with my sister in So cal (I went back to visit my brother who was also visiting), and now I am holed up in Santa Monica with my aunt and uncle.

I have been hopelessly applying for engineering jobs. So far no takers. There are lots of cool things going on out this way, they just don't seem to be able to pick a good resume when they see one. There are rocket companies and electric car companies and everything in between. Back home there are Applebees and Walmarts.

Time is running out though. I should be back on the road soon. I have a wedding to make. A good friend is getting herself all hitched up back in Roanoke, VA. Remember Roanoke? Great bike rides. I have about 40 days to make it there. I will probably leave this weekend, swing a bit north and then head to my sister's in VA.

While this is the same sister I visited in VA before, it is not at the same location. I have been gone long enough to miss the effort of moving. Nice of me. I may have a bit of babysitting to do in order to make up for my laziness. The madness should be over by mid october. I will have been on the road for two thirds of a year by then. I will also be leaving my carefree twenties behind and entering my carefree thirties.

Thanks for read to all you wonderful people who still seem to check this site even though I am MIA most of the time.

Peace