I did the bike ride into downtown Evanston for lunch again today. This one went a little more smoothly (other than getting slightly lost, never so lost the grid plan eluded me). There were no invocations to deities this time, no "Just one more block, jesus, just one more block!" like when I did this a few days ago. I also remembered a bike lock, so I got to chill for longer in the Borders, browsing books and drinking a latte. What I forgot was my library card, which I needed to get set up to check out ebooks over the internet. Oh well, next trip. I'm hoping to make this bike ride at least twice a week, as a de-flabbing manuever. I'd like to get to where I can rip off a three mile ride in a short time without being completely winded, like I did back when I was riding to the train station in Portland.

Speaking of Portland, I bought one of the two new Chuck Palahniuk books while I was out, Fugitives and Refugees. If the guy is worried that coming out is going to hurt his sales, I figured I'd buy a copy of the book as a "Right on, brother" gesture. I wanted it anyway, but this seems like an apt gesture at what must be a tough time for him.