Flutterby™! : Notes from the morning 2001-10-27 20:39:56+00

Notes from the morning

2001-10-27 20:39:56+00 by Dan Lyke 7 comments

I needed a good shake-out this morning, and there were a few things that I thought I might find at the mall, a place I try to go as little as possible. My right wrist has been aching a bit recently, so rather than take the bike I slapped on my skates, which I hadn't been on in several years, and kicked out towards Sleepy Hollow, up over the Terra Linda divide (the fire road there is steep enough that they paved it), and down to the Northgate mall.

What is it with "Northgate Mall"? Why is there one everywhere? Does CBL just not have any better ideas for names? Just checked, it's not a CBL development, which makes it even worse.

Anyway, I was reminded of why I never go to malls. Macy's is already decorating with a Christmas theme, and the long cotton runner rugs I found had just horribly tacky patterns (this from someone wearing blue tie-dye shirt, slightly different blue Guatemalan weave shorts, and mostly red patterned fleece socks...). Although Lechter's was having a going out of business sale and I did get a few more things for the kitchen (you can never have too many mixing bowls or instant-read thermometers...).

So I stroked up and over along the 101 frontage to San Rafael, where my shopping plans were cut short by the "no skating on 4^th street" thing. Sorry San Rafael merchants, I'll be spending it elsewhere.

But back to the skates. Ouch. Need to do that more often, 'cause my legs are tight enough right now that I'm using my brake.

hey, we have a northgate mall in seattle too! I think they name them all the same so they can save on marketing and promotional costs. only have to make on copy of the "sale at northgate mall!" ad copy.....

hey, we have a northgate mall in seattle too! I htink they name them all the same so they can save on marketing and promotional costs. only have to make on copy of the "sale at northgate mall!" ad copy.....

Anyway, yeah, there was a Northgate mall in Chattanooga, and I think there was one near my grandparents in upstate New York while I was growing up, but the weird bit is that I'm sure that the one in Chattanooga and the one out here weren't built under the same development or management company, so it'd be hard to believe that they'd be trying to save on graphic design or some such.

Watch your ass skating in San Rafael... Watch it even harder if you're on a skateboard. Tickets from the cops are between 85 and 130 bucks, depending on how they feel when they catch you.

Although I live elsewhere, I skateboard in San Rafael fairly often... always have to be on the lookout, though.

Yep, I thought it was only a prohibition on the sidewalks, but when I dropped down Lincoln over the hill from Terra Linda, saw the signs on 4^th Street, I skipped over my planned stop at MSS for brakes (and probably a stop at Electronics Plus

and a few other merchanges that would've liked my business), crossed over to the south side of 2^nd street to hit the Asian food store off of West Francisco, and kept to the residential streets 'til I was safely back in the tolerant burg of San Anselmo. Where I spent some money that I'm sure San Rafael merchants would have appreciated.

Seems to me that we need to make this a heavily economic decision. Open a store in a non-skate friendly town, go hungry. It's that simple.

Last night went fairly well for skateboarding - only a couple cops drove by, and we were well out of the street and off our boards by the time they saw us. Generally speaking, if you're loitering they don't care, but a friend received $130 ticket for rolling down the street last month. If he had landed a kickflip over the guardrail gap, it would have been worth it - however, he got the ticket after skating slowly for ten feet in a straight line.

I think the businesses view the ban on skaters/skateboarders as being encouraging to their business rather than discouraging, at least in Marin. The segment of youth that are currently being turned onto 'Extreme Sports' and stuff like that are generally at home playing the video games rather than out in the street skating, so I've found that as an economic powerbase skateboarders are still in spare change for Taco Bell mode. I mean, I've certainly been there a lot...

One of the problems with inlines rather than a plank is that you can't just step off 'em when the constabulary comes a cruisin'. Of course we've got more speed and agility, but I haven't tried to outrun security since I used to skate parking garages (and discovered that the really rough pavement on the exit ramps, corrugated for extra traction, sucks to hit at 30MPH on little tiny urethane wheels...).

So good question: How the hell do we make it more feasible for kids to get off their lazy butts? I know I spent way too much time on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2

, but my occasional indiscretions are nothing compared to what the Rat Boys spend playing online. I'd really like to find a way to get 'em out into the fresh air more often (heck, I like to get me out into the fresh air more often), but modern culture seems to be actively working against that.