Am I the only one?

01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter and why you still love it.

I didn't "get into" Harry Potter and there are far more loveable things out there to my mind.

My initial encounter was on my first visit to California to see Rich and decide whether it made sense for me to move out here. I was thrust amidst a group of alleged adults who donned crappy plastic glasses, fake lightning scar tattoos, HP tee shirts and wands to attend the first run of the first HP movie. It was cute. I liked it enough to eventually borrow a copy of the book from Rich and read it.  Having started reading at high school reading levels around the age HP is geared to, I thought, "OK, it's a decent kids' book." I stopped at the third book because it was just more-of-same. If the movies come on cable, I check them out because they do have occasional flashes of fun amid the slog through Way Too Much Narrative Filler, and I did think "Half Blood Prince" takes it to the next level. 

 

Is it OK if I reserve "love" for Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series instead?

Short jaunt downtown accomplished with no fatalities.

Mission accomplished: I figured out a way to get to Alameda Bicycle without getting run over by someone's Mom. Headed straight down Willow to Central Avenue - mostly stop signs and one traffic light. Trying to get across Santa Clara sucks in the truck, and it sucked by bicycle, but the four way stop at Central was just fine. Left turns on busy streets are fraught with peril, and are, in fact, illegal at most Park Street intersections during certain hours. Basically, I ride across to the far side, wait at the cross walk, then ride parallel to the crosswalk or walk the bike, depending on what the intersection is like. Central Avenue has a bike lane. I crossed Park Street there, cut left on Park Street and through a parking lot onto Webb, which brought me back out on the corner where the bike shop is - and a burger joint that smelled awfully tempting.

The folks at the shop oohed and ahhed over the vintage, two-tone hotness that is Mimi, while I grabbed a waterproof cover and the last aluminum  rat-trap style bike rack they had. Stephanie topped up the air in my tires while we were at it.

Tomorrow I'm riding down to Pagano's Hardware for some longer screws because, of course, two of them are two short to attach the rack to the posts beneath the seat, and it was too late to try to get to the store by the time I discovered this.