On Monday Julie had Callum to watch the Olympics with so I snuck off with my movie pass to see “Whistle”. It was a better movie than it had any right to be. I didn’t know it was written by Owen Eggerton before seeing it. And there was definitely some talk of “vinyls” and how good an inherited record collection that I would have clocked as his work from a mile away. Seeing horror movies alone in a mostly empty theater is still my second favorite way to see them.

On Wednesday I took Junie back into the vet. She had a growth that had grown multiple inches in a couple days. She had to get it sampled and the vet made slides and checked it out. Junie got to go into the back to get her blood drawn which she loves. She’s such a social dog. The vet techs always bring her back beaming because she’s made friends with everyone in the office. Turns out it was just an abcess and she’s on antibiotics and it’s shrinking. But that dog is getting expensive. I’m taking her in for surgery tomorrow. Think good thoughts for her!

I thought about seeing another movie on Wednesday while Julie was at band practice. But could not get enthused. I get so stressed out trying to get to movies that start around 6pm after making dinner.

On Thursday Julie and I had one of our super-nerdy dates. We went to see Jeff Speck the author of “Walkable Cities” at the episcopal church downtown. It was wild. Like rock concert levels of clapping and woo-ing. Here are my notes from that talk:

1. One-way streets are bad for business, but they’re good for crime. If you think about it they create blind spots at every corner where drivers (including the police) never look. Having 2-way traffic on dirty sixth could potentially make it safer. This blew my mind.
2. For all but the busiest intersections traffic lights slow traffic down and should be converted to 4 way stops. Stop signs are both safer and faster. Which is counterintuitive, but probably how Google Maps knows how long your trip will take. It’s basically just the time you’ll be waiting at stop lights. The speed you drive probably changes that by at most 30 seconds.
3. street parking is good for walkable areas as it creates a physical barrier between the cars and people. So we want to keep parking to shield pedestrians and cyclists.

After that we went to True Foods Kitchen at the old power plant. We decided to eat outside in the wonderful weather, but forgot about the train. We got two trains turning the corner during dinnner. Julie did not dig it.

On Friday Julie was not feeling well and so we just hung at home.

On Saturday we had dinner with friends we’ve known since Stella was in Baptist pre-school. It was a very fancy Valentine’s dinner party with short ribs and a beautiful table setting. It’s amazing having friends for so long. I managed to take home some beef ribs and I’m currently making beef ramen which smells insanely good.

On Sunday Stella came home after much drama because the buses were on detour due to the marathon. We ended up walking the new wishbone bridge, picking up groceries, and having our traditional valentines pizzas.