Stories on the run

I’ve been thinking a while about getting back into rowing. I really should get back into better shape, and — sorry, Lisa — I really don’t like running.

Luckily, Spokane has one — count ‘em, one — amateur rowing club, called the Spokane River Rowing Association. I looked into joining it when I moved to Spokane last May, but I quickly got that night-cops gig, which erased any possibility of making 6 p.m. practices Tuesday and Thursday.

Well, now I’m headed back, and I probably won’t have quite outrageous a work schedule. Perhaps I can actually make it to practices this time. Even in the SRRA practices in the morning, I should be able to make it (begrudgingly).

For nostalgia’s sake:

UPDATED 10 p.m.

Shoot! I should have updated while in Seattle, so I could use a Seattle dateline. Well, the trip was too fun to muddle up with blogging.

To make a long story short, Lisa and I drove to Seattle for the weekend. The motivation was two-fold: 1) to surprise my mom on Mother’s Day, and 2) to get away from Pullman for a change. We were successful on both accounts.

I have little to say here, because Lisa has all the photos, except that we went and we had fun. A little family time, a little time with friends, a little time exploring the city, a little time running (and falling), a little (a lot of?) time showing Lisa my old rowing waters.

That reminds me: I did take one picture, when we were out on the coach’s launch (my friend Bigelow coaches at our old rowing club) during crew practice Monday. The rigger on this Hudson double snapped (along a repair weld). This rarely happens; I’d never seen it before. Before it broke, this shell also flipped with two novice rowers in it. They got back in and ended up shivering the rest of practice.

Here is a sneak preview of the video I did on the WSU women’s rowing team. It will be up on the S-R website sometime this weekend, either Friday (because it’s done) or Sunday (because that’s when my article is running). But you, loyal readers, get to see it now.

I mentioned a few posts ago my original Spokane apartment fell through. Here’s what happened.

ACT 1: Last week, the landlord called me to find out what I was thinking. I told her I really liked the apartment, but I was wondering if I could split May rent with them, since I wouldn’t need to move in until about a week before June 1. She said she’d have to check with her husband, but if he said yes would I commit to the apartment? I said yes.

A few minutes later, she called back and said I could pay half May rent. Awesome. Done deal. Under the above agreement, the place was mine.

All I needed to do, she said, was fill out an application and send her a check. She said I could fax it, but when I told her I’d be up in Spokane for Bloomsday, she said that was great and I could drop it all by then. (more…)

Well, that was cooler than I thought it would be.

Forty-thousand people lined up to run or walk through the Bloomsday course looks like way more than you’d think. At the start-finish line, Spokane’s Riverside Avenue was a sea of human bodies. This picture does it no justice.

I covered the elite women’s race for the S-R, riding in the bed of a pickup truck through the 7.46 mile (12K meter) course that winds around what is probably the hilliest part of Spokane. The top runners were mostly skinny, 90 lb. Kenyan women, which made interviewing slightly tougher.

If you subscribe to S-R.com, you can read my article here.

But the coolest thing about Bloomsday, I thought, was that as you meander down the race course, you pass at least a dozen garage bands just jamming along the side of the street. In driveways! On street corners! On those little islands in large intersections!

Anyway, for some reason I didn’t take a picture of any bands. But they were there.

And I had to take this picture on my drive back home to Pullman. It was such a nice day.

In my second-to-last post, I promised I would post more about the new things that have happened. I didn’t — except for going to the graduation ceremony.

But let’s consider this a second teaser, considering I have more news. It’s been a few days, after all. Let’s see ….

I did end up getting a different and better apartment. I gave Lisa an awesome book (I think it’s awesome — she hasn’t taken it from my apartment) for graduation. I’ve been working my ass off. And random things like watching a giant oil tank slowly make its way through downtown Pullman.

Lisa, Brian, Lonnie, Allison, Jenna, Melanie, Emily and 800 other students packed Beasley Coliseum on Saturday for the 11:30 a.m. graduation ceremony. Victor also graduated, but he did not walk.

It was a little eerie for Jacob (who visited this weekend) and me, since we were in the same place one year ago donning our own caps and gowns. And though it was hot at the top of Beasley, and though the ceremony got a bit boring, it was great seeing everyone on the big screen, finally receiving their much-deserved fake diplomas.

Sorry, everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve written. I don’t even know where to start.

It was quite the busy weekend here in the Inland Northwest. Jacob came into town. Lisa’s family came into town. WSU seniors graduated. The Bloomsday Run was Sunday in Spokane. My no-longer-soon-to-be landlord rented my Spokane apartment out from under me.

Don’t worry. This is just a teaser. I’ll post more.

EDIT: I was just about to publish this post when I realized I was typing it in Jacob’s WordPress interface. I resisted the urge to post. Sign out, Jake!

I used to row and take piano lessons. This was, you know, half a decade ago when I was in high school.

Today I spent the day editing a video on WSU rowing and playing along to Ben Folds on the piano.

Ah, the memories.

Actually, I figured out how to play the entirety of “Kate” today — well, the piano part, obviously. The notes and whatnot aren’t hard, but it’s technically difficult and the rhythms take some time to get down pat.

Except for filling out the applications and whatnot, I have committed to the apartment I liked most (Option 2) in Spokane. I negotiated to pay just half of May rent, since I’ll still be living in Pullman for much of May.

To the left is the view from Outer Space, thanks to Google Earth.

That leaves this new month for yet another move. In the year since I graduated, I will have moved five times: Pullman to Seattle, Seattle to Spokane, Spokane (sublet) to Spokane (Browne’s Addition), Spokane to Pullman, and Pullman to Spokane.

Of course, this year has also seen a lot of change — not a bad thing.