Balls!

Dempsey just got a fresh bag o' balls from the local Sports Authoritah, just in time for a fresh coat of snow.



Indulge me on this one for a moment. Dempsey isn't necessarily the best retriever, although we are working on it. Sometimes he has a hard time finding the ball I just threw moments prior, yet this morning he found the oldest, grossest, most beat down ball under a layer of new snow. So we played with that instead of the shiny new balls. To exact my revenge, I am totally going to get one of these, that'll show Dempsey when his ball ends up in the next time zone. (side note: check out the rest of the links on that site, that guy makes stuff better than you)

Aww, so cute. He went through red-eye reduction, but I can't make the devilish glow go away.

A week or so ago when I was plumbing the depths of the internet to find fodder for a clever response about going to the rodeo at the Stock Show I came across some blogs way more interesting than my own. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise as my life isn't really that exciting, or is it?

Most of the blogs I read on a regular basis are of the "woohoo, over here, look at me!" variety. Mine also falls right in there. Let's face it, the purpose has been to share part of the life and times, highlight the successes, brag outright about accomplishments, and on occasion vent, keeping it relatively anonymous through the vagueness of the laments of the everyman. In the interest of not "outing" friends the innocent are merely left out. I think it would be more interesting to protect the names of the innocent and publish the dirt and drama that is my real life.

It would perhaps be more cathartic to share more under the cloak of anonymity and enable the true offloading of feelings, thoughts, emotions. Blogger doesn't have that button to click when you get started, you have to encrypt your identity on your own if you so choose. It is limiting, but fortunately most of my friends are in the same blogging category as my own. It makes for boring reading at times . . . Pinkerton! Update your blog! There are some people I can't blame for withholding the mind dump. There is always a back story and maybe someday I'll share it.

Take a look around sometime, avoid the next blog button because most blogs are crap, but there are a lot of people who are more interesting than yours truly and I'm pretty sure most of them are better writers.

Really?

Flipping through the Wall Street Journal this morning in my normal, everyday, morning routine I came across the following article:

"Chew This Over: Munchable Ice Sells Like Hot Cakes"

There are some interesting facts and statistics as well as insight on more inane behavior and discussion enabled by the internet. Is there really benefit to having this much of and this type of information readily available to the ice chewers of the world? I guess the same goes for any topic . . . maybe we were better off when news traveled a little bit slower and we didn't know as much.

For the record, so far as I know, the type of ice mentioned in the article has been known as "booger" ice for quite a while. The best sources that I can remember were Pepper's Pizza in Chapel Hill and the snack bar at "The Farm" . . .

You can find a blog on just about anything without looking too hard. Some are well written and some are a waste of free storage. I'm finding the ones in the Colorado cycling community tend to be the latter . . . Pinkerton! Update your blog!

Hmm, windy . . .

There were a few time last night I thought the house might blow down. I'll wait for Hutchison to comment on real wind, I bet it was a bit more blowy at his house.

Wow, it is almost February, almost time to sign up for CCTT and think about racing again . . .

Waxed

Deceptive title I know . . . no waxing for the purpose of hair removal, at least not this weekend, but I did wax the counter top after having sealed it last week. The wax was easy enough to apply and it adds a nice luster and glow. JD is going to be out of town tomorrow but I'm thinking Kendall, Pinkerton and I should be able to lift the slab and get it upstairs safely.


It was nice again this weekend and I hit the hills Saturday and today. I got in a good 5 hour ride on Saturday before the pizza party. We made a slight detour into Evergreen to hit the Tin Star . . . the sign says it all.


Earning donuts is hard.


Speaking of which, never turn your back on others in your kitchen. I went out to be social and when I came back there were all kinds of crazy things going on . . . there were some good pizzas coming out of the oven and the unglazed quarry tiles are officially seasoned.

The sign of a good party is a trashed kitchen.


I caught up with the Brenners this morning, heading up to the hills to start the ride. Their place is looking great these days! Leaving their driveway and heading up Cityview makes for the hardest 25 minute warm up I have ever had. We rode from Cityview to High Grade, to Hwy 73, to Turkey Creek . . . I could feel the lingering effects of Saturday's ride. Add an unexpected strong wind and I lost all will and motivation. I got in about two hours before calling it a day.

Rodeo

So you want to go to the rodeo . . . uh . . .

I paid my stock show dues a few years back and I don't think I have to go again until 2017. There is some amusement in it all, the equine exhibitions, the farm/ranch goods and accessories, the turquoise, ostrich skin cowboy boots . . .

The usual suspects are going to the rodeo this evening. Deb doesn't know what she is getting herself into and for that I wish her good luck. I am going to hold down the fort and hang with the cat and dog, maybe I can get Lou to rope Dempsey or something. If so there will definitely be pictures posted!

In other amusing news, filling out customer feedback forms online after sub-par experiences at food establishments sometimes leads to a response.

"Thank you very much for your feedback on your recent visit to our location on South Broadway. I appreciate your compliment on our service as well as your comment on the food. I will share both of these with my staff at this location. If you have the time and are willing, I would love to hear more details about the food that led to your dissatisfaction. We try our best every time to provide the BEST food and the BEST service in the industry. Clearly we have failed on this instance and we cannot except that performance level. Please feel free to respond to this e-mail with additional details if you have time. Either way, I would like to invite you back for a PERFECT experience on us. Just bring this e-mail in and request to speak to the manager on duty, either Dinny, Bryon, or myself Chris. Again thank you very much for your feedback. It is because of guests like you who take the time to provide us with invaluable feedback, that we are able to gauge our efforts to be the best at what we do. Have a GREAT day and we look forward to seeing you soon!"

Not to nitpick, but wouldn't that be "we cannot accept that performance level" . . . in any case, the Spicy Pickle wants the opportunity to provide "a PERFECT experience on us" . . . perfection is difficult to achieve, but free food is a good start.

-0 F??

What really determines if the zero is on the positive or negative side of the scale? It was cold regardless, one of those mornings were I put on the extra sweater, wrap the scarf extra tight, and hope that my fingers don't go so numb that I can't hold the rapidly cooling coffee.

These walks with the dog start out the same way as pretty much every morning. Walk out the door, down the street, see what the dog has to sniff, say a few words to him, pick up some poo, keep my head down, trying to keep my chin wrapped in scarf, but my mouth available for coffee.

Usually the worse the morning, the more some little thing will impress me and wake me from my morning stupor and gloom. This morning it was the faintest hint of the moon dipping below what looked like either a set of clouds from a front or pollution. Whatever it was picked up the glow of the full moon setting. I knew there wouldn't be enough time to get home and get the camera, plus I probably couldn't capture it accurately anyways so I stayed in the park and kept throwing Dempsey's manky tennis ball. As the moon continued to set, it got larger through the magic of perspective and its hue turned more towards orange as the rising sun cast a pinkish tint on the morning sky.

By the time I left the house to go to work, the morning resumed with the ordinary . . . people passing by in traffic, oblivious to their surroundings. At least I have picked up something besides poo this morning.

Ssssss . . .

Nothing like the sound of a rapidly leaking tire on the trainer. The Tufo tubular clincher finally gave up the ghost as a trainer tire after 2 good seasons of service. Good thing I had another one sitting, waiting in the wings, ready to go. Another good thing is that the tire didn't go kaboom while I was riding. The rubber was split, casing showing, and I could feel the hop developing.

Time to play the waiting game on the car. It is drivable so I'll hang onto it until the adjuster takes a look. Then it's off to Stuttgart Auto Body to get my ride pimped! . . . err fixed.

Kapow!

Nothing like coming out to your car in the morning and finding this:


Whatever drunken goon from Herman's Hideaway managed to hit my car and the car in front, what I don't understand is how you hit cars mid-block when you are theoretically going in a straight line . . . reference the "drunken" above I guess.

They managed to pretty much destroy my driver's side side-view mirror and do significant damage to the rear and front door, and crack the bumper. Body shop here i come.



Officer! He went that way!



Uh, UNC lost to Maryland, what gives? Bite me Steve, bite me.

A Study in Fashion and Style

I do not like them in a box.
I do not like them with a fox.
I do not like them in a boat.
I do not like them with a goat.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.


Channel something in the vein of Jesse Jackson's reading of Green Eggs and Ham on SNL years back . . . Rah, rah, go locally based team! I support your ideals, motivations, methods, intentions . . . but what's with the clothing? I just can't wait to see the team car, I can only hope for a Model T or a vintage Packard.

I've touched upon this point before, but this whole argyle thing has already been picked up by the sports world and somewhat played out. Check (no pattern pun intended) this out for the rundown. I am still partial to the University of North Carolina Men's Basketball uniforms, circa 1991, designed by Alexander Julian, as my favorite addition of argyle to the sporting world.


Go Tarheels! Too bad I am in Colorado and nobody cares about college basketball, because there isn't any here.

Mmm, coffee . . .

I had to add this one to the permalinks. It will be a useful resource for filling the caffeine needs.

It is cold as a mofo, good timing as the parents come in this evening. Sorry mom and dad . . . for so much.

No Sealer for You!

Nope . . . still don't have any. I thought about just picking some granite/natural stone sealer at Home Depot just to get it done, but I'll be patient some more. According to the automatic reply from Concrete Exchange, Winter Shipping Procedures are in full effect, plan your pour accordingly.


I have started considering rearranging the small kitchen appliances to make more counter top space. Picture the microwave in the butler pantry and the toaster oven to the right of the sink, displacing the cookbooks temporarily, but opening up the soon to be former butcher block top to the right of the stove as prep space. Ultimately I'll need more space to the right of the sink for the integral drain board when I pour tops for that area, hence the planning.

Still left for kitchen work . . . painting and some minor trim work around the chalkboard. Time to hone the miter saw skills.

The tires are the things . . .

. . . blah, blah, blah, you finish the rest.

I actually got outside for a ride this weekend as the temperature peaked above 40 degrees and the sun was shining. The roads were mostly dry, but Pinkerton and I hit some snowy/icy conditions in Ken Caryl Ranch on the way over to Deer Creek Canyon. We decided that the canyon would be an ice box at best so we hit Chatfield and then cut through Highlands Raunch before urban assaulting our way back through town to get home.

It was nice to ride on the road instead of in the basement. Today I don't think I'll be so lucky, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because the high is only supposed to be 40, it is cloudier and windier.

On the home front, I was hoping to finish up the concrete counter top this weekend for install early this week, but the kind folks at Concrete Exchange sent a wax, but no sealer. I decided to slurry again to fill some of the smaller pinholes in the top. There's always next week.

Let it grow!

If you put enough lights in one room, you can grow stuff. Let me rephrase so I don't end up on some sort of list that will result in every action being closely monitored by some Federal agency. What I mean is that I finished the lighting project in the kitchen . . .


. . . and the paper whites are growing quite nicely.


One set got a head start on the other and the one in the bathroom is growing out of control to the point where the blooms don't support themselves very well.


The glass in the middle with sage and mint is showing some promise. I'm trying to get the most out of my $4.79 per herb pack at the grocery store. If I can get the leftovers to sprout roots, I will pot them and hope that they grow well for harvest at a later date. I tried this with basil a while back but didn't pay close enough attention to the plant and killed it shortly after potting.

The Plague

I think I had the plague, but I think I am over it now, so over it.

Amazing how working out can either make you better or put you in the depths of the hurt locker. I found that all of the snot came out of my head while riding the trainer. Kendall is at team camp and dying, not getting better.

Now that I don't sound like Kermit the Frog stuffed in a trash bag, I might try to ride outside this weekend. That is if a) it doesn't snow more and b) I don't get wrapped up in some sort of home improvement project.

Speaking of, the counter top has been slurried, I'm just waiting for the sealer and wax to show up. I pondered getting a grinder and wet polishing pads, but I think I am going to stick with the finish of the concrete as is. Pictures of install have to be coming up soon . . .

Bumpin'

The trainer is loud, so loud that it tends to drown out not only the voices in my head, but also those on the TV when I am watching and riding. To solve this I hit up the internet for cheap/inexpensive, possibly new, but probably used options. I missed out on a very timely Woot but I don't even have an Xbox 360 anyways. Craigslist to the rescue! For $50, I got a Sony home theater receiver that is quite possibly better than the Onkyo I have on the system upstairs. For another $75, I got a set of speakers (front, center, and subwoofer) to make the trainer system as loud as I wanna.


The next step is adding a DVD player down there so I can watch all my cyclo-porn . . . if I had any. I decided the stuff to watch while on the trainer would be Warren Miller films. There's action, there's music, there's snow just like the snow on the ground. DAMN YOU!!!

I made the first attempt at slurrying the concrete counter top. It is kind of like grouting, but kind of not. The one hole will probably take a couple passes as the portland will shrink, but color match should be good and hopefully the materials will hold. Here's the top so far.


Through all of this, the pets were as usual lazy . . . welcome to the house Lou.


They might be trying to fight off the plague that has beset the house . . . or they might just be that lazy.

Ahh . . . the memories

Remember New Year's Eve? Brian provided a good reminder . . .

Pictures as promised

Matt says, "Hmmm . . . I wonder who and/or what I can destroy to end the year . . ."
Sarah says, "Why do I keep letting him out in public?"


Jessica says, "Greeeaaaat, Matt Edwards is here."
Brian says, "Ha, ha, Matt Edwards is here."

It's not a party until the Sock 'em Boppers come out.

Did Pinkerton really just drop JD?

No, but Matt bloodied Hutchison thinking he had a sock 'em bopper on his fist . . .

Matt mutters under his breath, "Hold on, this isn't soft and inflatable, it's cold beer! Mmmm, cold beer, I feel so . . . so . . ."


Nice to see Doug back in circulation. Yes Trina is still wearing her coat, but the thermostat is set to 68, I swear. Matt, what are you plotting?


Matt says, "Do I sound as blurry as I look? Craig could be the next me."


He continues in his own head, "Nah, there's nobody who could be the next me . . ."

Craig could be the next me.

. . . and other quotes by Matt Edwards. Welcome to 2008.

Hey Rubin, how does this boomerang work?
How do you make the leap from Gay Black Porn to NPR?
Is that like Kevin with an "n" . . . no, so like seven with an "n" . . . I see. I'm on empty, where's my drink?

"It was a leap, but with the support of my friends and My former friends I lunged! Beyond belief I read that Edwarads is optimisistic in Iowa. Beyond belief! Thank YoU Thank YOu! I'm Matt Edwards, I'm out."

[editors note: wow, all I can say is pictures to follow.]