Seaddle!

"Jesus...when you come back, will you save me?" One of three homeless kids sitting together asked me that yesterday as I was biking by them. I had some headphones in an couldn't hear them. Stopped at the light I take the ear bud out and ask what he said. He repeated, "Jesus...when you come back, will you save me?" Also got Forrest Gump last week in Bellingham. My beard and hair are growing at a rapid pace. As I biked off I smiled and said, "sure I will." Didn't know how to respond to that. It was the last thing I expected to hear.

This was on my way to the Apple Store yesterday. Decided to take a different way back. Had to cross a river so it was a diversion to another bridge. It's more fun to take different routes anyways. So it's getting dark and I'm getting hungry and tired. When I get to the bridge I see a ton of cops. They had traffic stopped in one direction. But they were still letting pedestrians walk across and traffic on one side. As I pull up on the scene the lady cops asked me to please use the path. She also says, "don't stop on the bridge at anytime...just keep moving." I could see a few vehicles parked facing the wrong direction in the mid of the bridge. Traffic is moving slow just like most rubbernecks. More and more cops as I approach the middle of the bridge. Trying to bike by people that are retarded. There is three feet of space. You are walking directly at me. There are two walls on either side of us. I'm on a bike coming directly at you. Instead of walking side by side, fall behind the person your walking with and don't wait to the last minute. The cop said keep moving!

Pass by a few more people that are walking their dogs. Come on, get your dog to one side folks. Finally I get to the middle of the bridge and see what's going on. The cars facing the wrong way are cop cars undercover. There is a woman standing on the outside ledge of the bridge. There is a man that appears to be a police officer standing about ten feet from her. Then another cop standing in the middle of the traffic lane directly in line with the jumper. Then on the path on the other side is what appears to be the woman's boyfriend. He's sitting there on his bike with his arms folded over the handle bars while sitting on the top tube. Don't want to say, JUMP! That may not go over well. Don't want to stop and take a picture although I want to. So I just say a quick prayer for that poor woman and the situation and keep on keeping on! They appeared to possibly be homeless or junkies. Maybe homeless junkies!

Get over the bridge and don't talk to a soul. There are a lot of cops on the other side of the bridge as well. I'm surprised they let anyone over at that point. It's weird, the cops had no looks on their faces. It was all part of a days work. Does this happen everyday on this bridge? I did trying looking it up online last night. Only thing I found was a bridge they raised the fences on because of the amount of suicides here in Seattle off of it. It was a strange and eery feeling to witness this type of event. Was she serious? Is she high? What is going on in her mind?

Didn't see anything in the news about it. Maybe she lived. Below the bridge it was water. At least for about 100 feet across from what I could make out. But it was about 150' drop. Thought about going to other side and trying to get a view of the situation. Then I was like, I don't want to see that. So my prayer was all I gave. Strange though, how everyone around the scene was. Things were in slow motion but it didn't really seem to phase anyone. Maybe people just don't know how to act in that situation. It was back to the hostel to meet up with Casey. There was so much traffic from that event too. For about 2 miles from the bridge all the way to the Space Needle, traffic was jammed.

We ended up going to the movies. Saw that Scott Pilgrim movie. Like a video game turned into a movie. Pretty good, well casted and edited. Still want to see dinner for schmucks, just hasn't been showing near to where we are. I'm a movie buff, what can I say. Also hear that the Jersey Shore is off the hook this season. May have to imbibe in that on my IPhone, MTV.com. Maybe they have an app. They do, a shit ton of them! They have one called, jersey shore yourself. Maybe I can get DJ Pauly's Hair don't.

Got to say it was a great day in Seattle! Casey is ready to get a move on. Me, I could stay the whole weekend. Time to compromise and get on the ferry tomorrow back to the Peninsula. Today just kind of chilled out in this area for most of the day. Cruised around the market which is great. Tons of great vendors and people watching. Kind of reminded me of walking around SoHo on the weekends. Just slow moving! Then stopped by the Hastens showroom to say hello to Kirsten and Lina. The showroom is really nice here. It was nice to meet Lina and see Kirsten again. Lina was in the middle of selling a bed while I was there, good job!

Also had to take care of my own bed. My Neo Air by Thermarest, $180 camping air mattress. It's been maybe a few months since it's developed what we could call a slow leak. It started happening in the mountains. Thought it might have something to do with the altitude. After a few hours I would have to blow the mattress up again. Not that big of a deal, but annoying. Was in Bellingham about 5 weeks ago and stopped at an outfitter. There I spoke to the sales girl and told her my problem. She contacted the manufacturer for me. She told me I could send it in for repair or replacement. Not really an option since I'm using it all the time and don't have a mailing address. Figured I would take care of it when I got to Seattle where they are located.

But along the way I have been a bit suspicious. It happened to Rich before it happened to me. I weigh a lot more than him too. So it probably wasn't a weight thing. This happens to be a new product design. Forget where we were, but some other shop worker kind of hinted that there may be a problem with the design. Like the guy who helped me at the warehouse today. Another 5 mile bike ride out of town. Into an industrial area filled with factories and warehouses. Asked him if he wanted me to blow it up for him. Ya know, trying to be nice. Don't want him to have to or want him to blow up my air mattress. That's kind of personal, putting my air nozzle in his mouth.(ok, there's a set up for a bad joke) He informed me they have a machine that can do that. So I wait in the foyer and he disappears for bit. He comes back wielding a brand new mattress.

He's like, here you go. Great! Asked him what the problem was and he mumbles, "a hole near the seem." Then he says, "it had a big hole in it." Then he says, "it doesn't matter though because there was a problem with the nozzle" or something. He just gave me a brand new one. Should have asked him to show me the big hole. Also to show me the hole in the seem. Didn't bother, just took the mattress out of the box and gave that back to him. Was a "happy camper" and hit the road. He also mentioned that mine was the first generation. Looks like they did have problems with the product. They are just trying to hide that fact from the public. A big cover up. Just do a recall. You guys sell a great product at a high price. Back your shit up!

Then as I was biking back I said to myself. Should have kept the box and sold it on eBay. Who cares! Just use it and enjoy it. Your gonna be dead soon anyways. Ya know what I mean? Why do I care about a box or trying to resell something on eBay. Going to be using it for how ever much longer anyways.

That's enough out of me for now. I'm tired! Have a great weekend! Stay tuned and thanks for following along.