Nice Ride!

Today was excellent. Just good stuff all around.

First, congratulations are in order for my hadith study buddy, intern, and friend who learned to parallel park today using RubySue, my soon-to-be-former car. We don't need no stinkin' traffic cones! There's always some junk in my car to use instead. Yes, Uban, that's your Bundt pan holding up the ice scraper on the left.

She got it on the 3rd try. Probably a world record!

Join me on the next page for some more good vibes...




EXERCISE
Today's post is named after a really cool initiative in Minneapolis to make bikes a part of the public transportation equation. Nice Ride Minneapolis is a nonprofit organization that rents bikes out to people who don't have one. It's great for people to take to work or for tourists etc. I have been intrigued for a while and finally just went for it today and got myself a bike on my lunch break. It helped that they put one of these literally 15 feet from my office building just yesterday:

Don't worry, there's more than one bike!

There they are.
Oh, and my car is right back there too! She's popular today.

Since it's basically been summer since, well, last summer here in Minneapolis I have been chomping at the bit to get outside more and this blog has really helped me do that. The ride was nice and I was surprised that I didn't have a hard time riding in traffic since A) I haven't ridden a bike for at least 5 years and B) I never really rode in traffic before. I'm still alive! I rode past one of my old apartments and had some memories. I also said hi to random kids in the neighborhood.

(Fake) Summer is also a time for ice cream and as a reward for getting three HUGE projects done at work this week, I decided it was Dilly Bar time. To this end I rode up to the adorable little DQ in NE for a six-pack to share with my co-workers. They were very happy about this.

I missed you too!

Just try and tell me there's something better than a walk-up DQ.

Needless to say after today's experience, I am now thinking about getting a bike. :)

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ISLAM
It's Wednesday so that means I was at my weekly class with Sh. Hatem al-Haj. We got a late start but the talk was still really good. We are currently discussing Al-Ubudiyyah: Being a True Slave of Allah by Ibn Taymiyya, Published by Ta-Ha, U.K.

Today we talked about some of the views taken by many Muslims that if adopted, are more dangerous than the attribution of divinity by Christians to three individuals instead of One. An example is the common idea that Allah is "everywhere and all around us and within us" which basically makes everything in the creation divine and dilutes His ultimate power over the creation. That is some scary stuff! May Allah guide me away from such falsehood.

Sorry if this post just got a little too serious, especially after bikes and ice cream bars and sunshine. For me, it's good to have a reality check so I remember who to thank for all of the great stuff in my life—I hope I haven't bummed anyone out!

If you want to see what I'm reading in class or to buy it yourself, here's the clickable image:

Thanks for reading, everyone! Now get outside and ride a bike if you can.