yesterday i got to ride a segway. you know, one of those fancy two-wheeled gyro-controlled scooters. ginger. IT. whatever they were calling it before anyone knew what it was.
anyway, turns out that a guy in my apartment complex has one, and i happened to come home from work at the same time he was riding around the parking lot. i followed him, pulled up beside him in my car, and started asking him questions. (“hi, i’m sarah in 803.” “hi, i’m mike in 1301.”) he bought it 3 weeks ago, and he is one of 6 people in houston that owns one (“we have a little club,” he explained). apparently there’s a segway store opening soon, but when i commented that i’d have to go see if they gave test rides, he offered to let me ride his. of course i jumped at the chance.
standing on it felt sort of weird at first, but if you just stand still and level the thing will balance you perfectly. all you have to do is lean forward, and you move forward. lean forward a little farther, and you move forward faster. lean back, and you move back. twist the control on the handlebar and you turn in tight little circles. you don’t even have to be moving to turn–the darn thing has zero turning radius and can spin on a dime. the top speed is controlled by which magnetic key you use to turn it on.
it was so cool. if only i had $5000 to blow, i’d buy one. (“i rewired the atm at the food emporium to provide an honorarium to anyone with the code…”) ah well.
when dubya tried to ride his segway, he fell off simply because he forgot to turn it on.
figures.
today was lovely. spent some time by the pool, made myself enchiladas for lunch. spent 6 hours with cari at the mall on the oh-so-crowded tax-free weekend, and had dinner with her at my favorite restaurant ever.
cheesecake. mmm.
