Ride In 2/21

I had to bring back my 12 lbs piece of junk Dell laptop back to work today. I took it home this weekend because my wife brought our computer to Florida and I couldn't have survived without a computer for two days, even if my phone is basically a computer and has all the functionality of one. Anyway, I picked it up on Saturday before we went to the airport (I couldn't bring it home on Friday because our IT guy was installing some new drivers and it needed to be connected to the network) and I probably would have forgotten it, if not for my wife's reminder last night. I think in the same conversation we both agreed that it would make sense to drive in today, but this morning I decided I would just throw the sucker in the bag and lug it into work. I don't necessarily mind carrying a bag that's heavier than just a change of clothes, but it does make me go moderately slower or at least feel like I'm straining a little more than usual. I also had my first group ride yesterday and while it was only 20 miles (which I don't think is a lot for these sort of gallivants), it's more than I usually ride on the weekend, so I didn't know what ill effects I might suffer from that.
All good through Arlington, unless of course, you consider having Rihanna's latest stuck in your head a bad thing, which, in fact, I do. I consider this karmic retribution for watching the NBA All-Star game, during the half-time of which she "performed." Rihanna is a national treasure (though not our's) and I wish she would stop singing songs from the perspective of a lust object.
Almost bit it in Georgetown. Going up the sidewalk, rather than the wrong-way up the cobbled 35th street, my hands were too close together on the bars and the front of my bike started to wobble like a flopping fish. I was pushing down pretty hard on the pedals and moving really slowly, so I had very little forward momentum and this did not help. I tried to adjust my right hand out towards the end of the bar, but this caused my front wheel to turn sharply to the right and the weight of the pannier on the non-drive (left for non-experts like me, starboard port for any yachtsmen perusing this) side caused my bike to start tipping over. In the course of this, I also somehow tried to bike over someone's flowerless flowerbed thinking that might help things, but to no avail. I managed to unclip and decided to walk the rest of the way up the one-block hill because I was confident I would have fallen if I tried to start pedaling again while still on the incline. I slipped a few times, but didn't fall.
I'd like to dedicate this post to Mr. Brett Hack, who has been a constant inspiration to us all, though I just learned about him today. He proves to us all that if self-righteousness doesn't motivate you, spite certainly can.