Hear me out

I was out on a hard ride yesterday morning when Naz Hamid, a good friend and teammate from Half Acre Cycling, gave me a call asking if I'd like to grab some lunch with him. I'm not one to turn down the opportunity to have a meal, especially after a bout of high-intensity riding, which consumes an inordinate number of calories.

I met him at First Slice, which is a small cafe at Montrose and Ravenswood, near the Metra tracks. I had a vegetarian 'Chicago-Style' sandwich, which was laden with relish, cheese, and some other indescribable things, along with a lentil salad and coffee. Naz had a goat's cheese and pear sandwich, no coffee. After we ate, Naz mentioned that he had to go to the Gaper's Block office, just up the street, to take care of a few things, and since I really had nothing to do the rest of the day, I gladly went along.

The office, which Andrew Huff of Gaper's Block share with the programmers from Humanized.com, was a just as you'd expect – tables covered with computers and computer books and coffee mugs – a den of info-tech creativity. I didn't see a ping-pong table or pinball machine, like I half-expected. I met some of the guys from the office, including Aza Raskin of Humanized, who, along with some partners, are about to unleash a new form of office/home furniture upon the – 'Bloxes' I think they're called. I'll be sure to post-up something about them when they make their big debut.

I was looking at someone's Sea Monkeys, when Naz asked if I'd like to be a guest on the latest Gaper's Block podcast. And so I was. I'm glad to hear that my speaking voice hasn't changed one bit since I was about 13, and I'm ready to admit that listening to my voice still makes me cringe in embarrassment.

But enough with the self-deprecating – I had an awesome time yesterday and I must thank Andrew Huff and Naz for bringing me and my (not-so) expert opinion on to their podcast.