there goes the neighborhood

Ugh, my bicycle was vandalized. I had it locked one of the poles to my apartment. It appears like some bad of miscreants knocking it town and jumped on the wheels a couple of times. And, strangely, took one of my grips as a trophy. There was a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon next to it. Anyway, I'm looking at just under $200 in repairs.

Two obvious lessons: (1) I should have been more diligent in bringing my bicycle into my apartment every time I was done riding it. Except, in my defense, the narrow staircase here makes it a more-than-average annoyance to haul the bike up here. (2) It's a good thing that I'm getting out of this apartment at long last. The neighborhood here by Camp Randall has declined precisely as the fortunes of the bar on the corner, The Grid Iron, have improved. The first 1 1/2 years I lived here they did abysmal business except on football Saturdays. They would have posters up for performers that would be playing and then I would walk by on the night of the performance and it would just be a guy up there playing his heart out for the waitstaff and no one else. In the past few months they've suddenly become much more popular--someone told me they have mud or jello or canola oil wrestling downstairs, but I have no confirmation of this. Anyway, the noise outside my window has been getting worse and worse at night-- college guys pounding the sides of their SUVs and shouting profanities at one another. And I'm sick of walking to the back door of my building and seeing someone urinate in the alley. And now my brave blue trek is vandalized. I've had it; I can't wait to get out of here!!!

Also, I don't understand the recent renascence of Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I'm too annoyed right now for my inquisitive spirit on that subject to be roused.