Waffle Makers, Bikes, and How I Spent My Saturday...

Mark LaRocco and I decided to go for a bike ride on Saturday. The chance of rain was 30%. Despite the fact that it had rained about every day for like a month we decided 30% was a safe number.

I slept poorly the night before, worrying about whether I made a poor decision in purchasing a waffle iron. It's an ongoing saga. I started out buying this one at Walmart. It was twice as much as the Durabrand one, but I'm a huge waffle fan, so I thought it would be worth it. It required a 3 prong plug, which I found I didn't have at counter level in my kitchen (actually I don't have any plugs at counter level, and use an extension cord,) so I cooked them on the ground. What I failed to realize is that the outside of the waffle maker is heated too. I can't figure out what possible function they have for that. People make waffles with little kids. Why would they make an appliance that burns you unless you handle it just with the little tiny handles? So I burned my arm when I reached over it for something. It burned the waffles even though you can supposedly adjust the heat, which I did to the lowest setting, and the waffles are square, which has always been a second-best waffle shape to me. Circles are tops. Anyway, it went back.

So rather than get the crappy Walmart brand which I'd done once before, and liked so much that I left it at my parents house when I moved to Salt Lake, I decided to search around. I went to a couple places before finding this one at Smith's Marketplace, (formerly Fred Meyer's), that I decided would be adequate. But I found to my horror when I opened it that the waffle patterna made a lot of little tiny divots rather than fewer deeper ones. That was totally unacceptable, so back it went.

In exasperation I bought the only other option at Smiths. This one. I was nervous about the stainless steel surface again, but it was round, and it says it has extra deep grids. So, even though it was $30, I bought it. I was so worried about the purchase that I got up at 4:00AM after tossing and turning, and started looking at it. It advertises "Cool-Touch" handles, which I think turns out meaning "extra-burning-hot other exterior surfaces". Not only that but the design makes it so that when you over fill it it leakes over at the lower handle, where there is an in-explicable opening in the plastic were the batter goes down into the interior and shorts out the controls. So, it's going back. Anyway, it's a big headache and I don't think the product I'm looking for is actually on the market right now. I've bought three other waffle irons in my life, for other people, and used two of those and the experience and product were great. I guess times have moved on.

So much for waffle makers.

I was awake anyway, so I took the early train down to Sandy to get the bus to Provo to go ride bikes with Mark, but to my chagrin, when I arrived at the bus both bike spaces were taken, and I had to wait an hour for the next bus. So I rode around and looked at houses that I'd mapped for possible purchase. But then I get lost and barely made it back in time to get the bus. This is the route I took. It rained the whole time I was riding around.

When I got to Provo I got off the bus and rode to Mark's place, and we decided to ride the Provo River Parkway from Utah Lake to Vivian Park in Provo Canyon. We read about it on a website by a guy who calls himself the Mad Scientist. He mentioned that there would be "BYU students and other young hardbodies," so we thought it was a pretty good choice. This is a picture of the guy that he put on the site. We smiled.

The sky was relatively cloudy in the north but we were trusting in the 30% from the weather service. Mark went out with his bike before me and I turned back into the apartment to get something. By the time I turned around it was a pelting downpour and Mark was instantly soaked. So that was fun. It rained off and on all day.

The website said that the trail was 14 miles long. We failed to include the ride out to Utah Lake in our estimation of the ride, and we definitely failed to take into account all the times that we'd get lost. Also, I don't really think I thought about the fact that the 14 miles was one way.

We arrived in a downpour at Vivian Park. We sat under a pavilian and talked about things like pedophilia, desert reclamation, and Daisyworld for about half an hour until the rain let up a little and started back.

At one point on 9th east we went through an intersection where a woman was stuck in the left hand turn lane in a huge stalled camper. Mark and I started trying to push her, but it was too big for us. Everyone was honking and angry, but then a father and son got out of their truck and helped us get her to the side of the road.

After we got back Mark's girlfriend, Holly, came over and Mark made some breaded fish that he'd caught on a fishing trip to Cabo San Lucas the week before. I don't like fish, and only remember enjoying eating once before, when Mark's dad Rich made it. Mark's was the second best fish I've ever had, but just not quite un-fishy tasting to enjoy. He gets an A for effort though.

Eventually they drove me to the bus stop, because I was worried I was too late to ride, (and I was pretty tired of riding anyway), and after two more hours on public transit I rode from the Trax to my apartment building just as night was falling. In the end I think my tally for the day was about 46 miles. Not bad.

That wasn't even a very interesting story to me. Oh well.