Monday, Apr. 05, 2004
White Marsh, posted at 8:06 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com There's not a whole lot of shopping in Baltimore. To shop, you've got to go to one of the suburbs. I tend to navigate myself towards Towson, where I work out, or to White Marsh, where I used to work out. Baltimore isn't a town like Detroit, though, where the metro area stretches 60 miles or so. It's condensed and not even that far across, so this isn't onorous. I'm about halfway in between both White Marsh and Towson, and they both can be reached inside of fifteen minutes from my front door.I've lived here for three years, and I still don't really know what White Marsh is all about yet. When I go, I tend to go to the business community part of White Marsh, which is perfect suburban mallville. For better or worse. There's a traditional mall that I've stepped in twice the entire time I've been here, then there's an outdoors walking area that has a great Barnes & Noble, an Old Navy, the only mainstream movie theater that I've been to, and several yuppy chain bar-restaurants (Chili's, TGIF, Don Pablos, Red Brick). As corporate as it is, I like this area a lot. On a hot summer night, the streets are teaming with suburban teenagers and friendly yuppies who didn't want to fight the parking downtown. Down the street, there's an Ikea, a Target, a Best Buy, and a Dick's Sporting Goods.
I don't know what it is about White Marsh, but I can never figure out how I get there. I went to Ikea tonight - I'm thinking about buying a dresser, and am always in the market for another bookcase - but got so freaking lost on the way there that I could have ended up in Washington DC. I can get there from my house, the "back way," fairly easily. Just take Glenmore to Bel Aire to Kendall to Perry Hall to Honeygo. Easy. I did it every morning last year on the way to the Bally's out there. But if I try to get there a different way, like from a highway, I invariably get lost. From 95 isn't too bad, because it's well-marked. But from 695, I have to rely on my directional instincts, and I have none. Today, I got so turned around that I ended up turning around in three different driveways. I did eventually make it to Ikea, though, but didn't buy anything. It's times like today, when I could have had a bookcase and a dresser from the As-Is department for less than $100, when I wish I had a pickup truck. Probably for the best, I guess. I need to save what little money I have.
I ran for 35 minutes straight today and had a great arms workout. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to start following the Rock's workout from this month's Men's Health. I once had a student tell me I looked like the Rock when I smirked a certain way, and the cover article about him in this issue has inspired me. He's six inches taller than me, but, otherwise, we're two peas in a pod.
Not.