Here It Is

As promised, more on the ride for tomorrow. The map below shows part of it as well as elevation gain. I will tack on the ride out to Golden and the ride home which adds another 36 miles from my house. I can already taste the post ride food.


So far the riding partners are Hutchison, Pinkerton, and probably Kendall. If you do not see any blog updates from any of them after Tuesday of next week, send out the search party. The camera battery is charging now so I will try to take plenty of pictures along the way. I am not sure if there are any good donut stops on this route since Daylight Donuts in Idaho Springs is no more.

My estimates on the construction schedule across the street have been pretty accurate so far. Of course the early parts of the job are easy, it isn't until you get into framing and roughs that you find out what a hack the architect is and whether or not your mechanical and electrical contractors are worth anything.

This week they, stripped the forms off the foundation, installed the perimeter drain and sump pit, and applied the damp proofing to the concrete.


Based on the window wells on site, it looks like there should be some backfilling action today. Also based on the window wells, it looks like the final product will be a mid-range duplex. The higher end ones go for precast window wells so you don't look out on corrugated steel that usually gets all sorts of beat up in the construction process.


I'm hoping marketing materials will come out soon so I can see a rendering of the place. I hope it doesn't block my view of the mountains . . . funny story, ask me sometime.

Preparation and Planning

Rumor has it we'll be going on a nice, long death march of a ride on Saturday given the forecast for warmer weather. By "we" I mean Hutchison and I, so far at least. More about the ride to come. There's great potential for wind when it is this unseasonably warm . . . cue the YouTube . . . I told you wind power was dangerous!

Despite the speed of the internet and its ability to circulate video, I actually read the news article first and then had to find the video. There are links to some more fodder here.

While were talking about Denmark, I stumbled onto a site yesterday and I can't remember how, but this guy does stuff (ie work) during the day that is a lot cooler than what I do.


Peter Callesen has been around for a while, take a look at some more of his work. The detail is pretty incredible. Looks like he has a gallery showing in NYC this year or if you end up in Denmark for some reason you can find his work and find shelter from the dynamic forces of wind power.

Coming Soon

I decided to carry around the camera more often. In the day and age of digital information and instant gratification, why bother trying to describe what you can easily cut and past. Nothing too impressive out there this morning, but . . .


An average sunrise, who else was up to see it and actually saw it?

I have described some of the changes going on in the old neighborhood, but here's an example of one in the works. Finally the stupid doll store is gone and will be replaced with something worthwhile.


According to the word on the street, the Pajama Baking Company will be an upscale ice cream shop, bakery, Euro-style sandwich shop, as well as seasonally and locally inspired produce market.

Add this one to the list of links for useful information. While I don't always trust somebody else's opinion when it comes to food, it is nice to get a heads up prior to throwing yourself headlong into a mediocre dining experience. The February 23, 2008 post was quite informative and I can't wait for Urban Pantry to open.

Another Day, Another Blogger

I went to the well of inspiration and came up with a bucket full of boring this morning. Usually my walk with Dempsey gets the old creative thought process going, but today I got sidetracked when I noticed how much quieter it is outside with a layer of snow on everything. At that point I stopped thinking and just focused on drinking my coffee one sip at a time.

Ponder this one. Why do you read the blogs of others? I came up with three basic categories:

1) to keep current with the lives and thoughts of friends and acquaintances.
2) to read something written by somebody else about something I find humorous.
3) to see what utter stupidity the usual suspects are spewing forth.

It is really category 3 that concerns me the most. What is it about a train wreck that repeatedly draws our fascination and attention? I know some of these blogs have a track record of posts that are nothing but ill conceived, half-baked drivel, but I still eagerly await updates, knowing full well that I will leave shaking my head. Don't get me wrong, I love making fun of people, myself included, but what the hell am I thinking?

I picked up a couple new books at the library yesterday. One of them is Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy which was recently written up in the Wall Street Journal. So far it is an interesting read. I have found many of my views on "the grand scheme of things" reflected in the kernel of this book. My very own book report will probably never be written so go read the book yourself and then we can discuss.

Foundations

The duplex across the street from me progresses . . . we now have foundation walls. If I get bored enough I might put together a construction schedule for kicks and see if I remember anything about my old job.


In the next week they will strip the forms, backfill around the foundation, put in water and sewer lines, do the plumbing underground work, and if weather permits they should pour the basement slab by the middle of next week.

Here's a picture of the car as promised. All in all it ended up being a nice $500 "spa" visit for the car. It got to relax off the road and ended its stay with a full detailing.


I usually try not to pick on my friends too much, but go over to Kendall's Blog and give him a verbal kick in the junk for his post on cubicle life. Come on now! Everybody and I mean everybody knows that cubicle life is like this:

You work the system to your advantage until your office building burns down, duh.

Riding and Stuff

First and foremost, I have my car back, finally. Unfortunately as I suspected my battery was in the process of dying. The test at Autozone or wherever I was confirmed one of the cells was bad, new battery for me! Because of all the housing, shrouds, and decorative bits hiding the inner workings of the Passat, the sales people aren't allowed to touch anything. I reconfirmed my membership status as a card carrying male by replacing the battery which is tucked back well behind the engine and under a lot of plastic. Pictures to follow.

Saturday ended up being the big ride day. We started out nice and early at my house, heading down to the Chatfield Worlds after a healthy breakfast of eggs and homemade biscuits. The group ride was well attended this weekend, with a little more horsepower in the group making it harder to get away. I spent a good bit of time hammering at the front for fitness sake. After the group ride a few of us headed up High Grade. I was feeling pretty good so I picked a pace that felt "right" and tried to focus on form, rhythm, and all that crap. By the time we got to the Schoolhouse it was nice and cold and the snow started falling, nothing serious but it would have been nice to have brought the thermal vest. The remainder of us headed down to Conifer, over Blue Creek and down to Evergreen for the customary apple fritter at the Tin Star. I can't sing the praises loudly enough for this place. A giant apple fritter and two cups of hot chocolate for $6, what a deal!

The remainder of the ride back up to I-70, down Lookout, and home was a bit of a struggle, but all in all, it was a good time, 5+ hour and almost 100 miles later. It was good to see the masters guys out in full force. Alex was sporting the new, fashionable wheels that are to be my race wheels for the season, a nice new set of Dura-ace 50mm carbon wheels . . . sweeeeeeeeeet. Pictures to follow.

I took it easy today as per the program and rode for 2.5 hours, nothing crazy. I decided to invite some people over for an impromptu pizza party tonight, standard format, you bring the toppings, I provide the setups. Doug, Trina, Ivy, Matt, Megan, Deb and I feasted on such gourmet offerings as BBQ chicken pizza, pizza with ricotta and arugula, and whatever other toppings we could throw together. The real stroke of genius was the "pizza" with peanut butter, Nutella, and marshmellow. No pictures to follow.

Coming this week . . . more quality time on the trainer!

Gluin' On Up

The first coat of contact cement is on the rims. Tonight I will put another coat on the rims and one of the tires. Saturday or Sunday I will be all ready to stretch the tires back onto the rims. I ordered a 55t/42t combo for the time trial bike and the goal is to have everything fitted and ready sometime this coming week.

It looks like the first race of the season will be a time trial, weather permitting. The Stazio series has been canceled already due to higher permit fees and "loss of use" charges from the City of Boulder. There's high demand for softball fields in mid-March.

One note on gluing . . . it scares me, not just the fear of doing a terrible job and having a tire roll off mid-race, but because it actually says "bad for the environment" on the tube of glue.

Seriously Boring!

Good work General! The threat has been averted. Russia and China are now so bored that they didn't even make it through the grainy video that is debatable and inconclusive. What do you mean you don't know what happened?

This guy seems to have a good handle of what is going on here. Uhhhh . . .

I like the video on Pinkerton's blog better.

Booooring!

I was hoping for something spectacular, I can only hope an observatory gets some quality, color enhanced footage for this one. I will keep an eye out for some video along with some mad conspiracy theory that has to be brewing out there. I heard it isn't a "failing" satellite of our own, no, not at all.

On the not boring side of things, I get to do fun things like place the team order through Highway Two, the Continental and Fizik distributor. It is like I have my very own bike shop in my living room!



Come get your crap and give me a check or I will revert to standard markup and sell it to somebody else!

Should be a perfect weekend to play with contact cement, carbon wheels, and fresh new tires. At the recommendation of everybody, I cut off the old tubies on the set of Nimble Crosswind wheels I bought from Carlos. Along with the disc, they will get new Conti GP4000 tubulars, thanks Highway Two!


No really, I mean it. Most cyclists, especially at the mid to upper recreational level are a bunch of thankless bastards who think they are "entitled" . . . nobody owes us anything, so thanks to those who go out of their way to help out. I'll put more detailed sponsor info on here as it solidifies.

Safety First!

Workplace safety is a very serious issue, not a laughing matter, unless you are a TV Public Service Announcement producer in Canada. Take a look at this. You have to browse around a little bit, but navigate to the TV spots. I recommend downloading them so you can view them uninterrupted. Working adjacent to a warehouse environment, although not in Canada, I should be more sensitive to the nature of the spots, but they are funny. They might be the funniest thing I have seen come from our neighbors to the north since DeGrassi Jr. High (the original series) or Kids in the Hall. There has to be a happy medium between catastrophic events and paper cuts that could get the point across better.

In other horrifying internet discoveries . . . put in your home or work address at FelonSpy.com and see how close by your local "1st degree Sodomy" convict lives. I can only wonder how long it will be before the ACLU shuts this one down, despite the fact that it is all Public Record.

While I'm driving the "fear" bus. Looks like the Cold War is about to get started back up. According to Reuters, both China and Russia have expressed concerns about us shooting down our dead/dying spy satellite with a missile. I'm worried between this and the lunar eclipse we are destined to have cloudy skies that night and I will miss all of the excitement.

As promised, I am going for a hobby change. Tonight after diligently riding the trainer, I am giving up cycling for the rest of the evening to watch Arsenal v. Manchester United while eating Fish and Chips over at GB's. Bollocks!

Must be the $$$!

I love it when somebody tries to save a buck at my expense. I called to check on the status of my car, not because I think the PT Cruiser is a worthless P.O.S. or anything, but because Dempsey looks better rolling in the V-Dub. As I was forewarned, the insurance called for a "reconditioned" front bumper cover meaning they take one that was in another accident, do some magic plastic welding, and sell it for a few bucks less than a new, OEM bumper cover. Stuttgart Auto Body told me the price difference was about $30 and that they reconditioned parts are usually so sub-par that they will not install and paint them because they have to warranty their work. Great to know . . .

Reconditioned part comes in, shows to be failing at all repair points already, OEM part gets ordered, but is on backorder. It is scheduled to come in today which puts completion of my car somewhere towards the middle of the week. The PT Cruiser is only paid for through today by the insurance company. Winners in this situation . . . uh, Enterprise, because they are getting paid no matter what. The insurance company didn't save anything, I didn't save anything, Stuttgart had to waste time putzing around with parts they knew would be problematic. Thanks, that's great, rant complete.

I am still waiting for the promoter of VOS to post results from yesterday's race. Inquiring minds want to know how the race finished, who won the crit, if there were any new time gaps, and how many of my friends Zack Morris beat. The turtle race is on! What will get to the web first, the results of VOS or the start list for KHTT? I'd be willing to wager the cost of my PT Cruiser rental that the latter will not be posted by the time I get my car back. What does "later next week" really imply?

Wow!

Who didn't spend some quality Saturday mornings with Zack, Kelly, Slater and Screech? That's right, I'm talking about "Saved by the Bell" . . . a classic in our own time. Nothing defined the early 90's teen experience that nobody (and I mean nobody) had better than this show. I didn't know anybody who had friends like Screech, except maybe the kids on "Family Matters" who had Urkel. Their experiences in school were so far fetched and contrived, I don't even want to talk about it.

In my very own version of "Where are They Now?" I have to highlight the fact that Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is a Cat 2 cyclist.


This is not some celebrity lookalike random coincidence I am talking about here. This is your man, Zack Morris, NYPD Blue's very own Detective John Clark, co-star on upcoming TNT TV series Raising the Bar . . . need I continue?

I am not sure how Hutchison and I missed his name in the start list, but that still would not have put him high up on our list of favorites for the pre-race wagers. I give Mr. Gosselaar the respect due for moving up the cycling ranks and having what it takes to hold a Cat 2 license. It takes a certain level of fitness and dedication to make it there and to even want to show up to race. On top of it all, he's married and has a couple kids and I'm assuming, still works actively in Hollywierd.

What I do want to talk about, not to discredit the efforts of the aforementioned actor, is the number of Colorado Cat 2s that finished behind this guy in yesterday's road race at Valley of the Sun. I'll leave out names and I won't even post the link to the results, but you know who you are! The only way to redeem yourselves now is to send me some pictures, get an autograph for me!

Woot!

Now that our special brand foolishness from yesterday is over with, we can move on to better things. As Steve predicted, despite spouting some idiocy about the wonder of flowers, there was a Woot-Off in the works. It gives me yet another excuse to hit the refresh button repeatedly. I can only hope that something I don't really need, but secretly want comes up for me to buy.

This morning I managed to get an actual native English speaker on the phone when calling United Airlines customer service to book my ticket to Europe for this summer. I am all booked and ready to go. Mark your calendars now, make sure you put a special note on the race days for Masters' Worlds. All the information you need can be found here, alles auf Deutsch naturlich . . .

So ends another work week. Thanks to the exploration of advanced techniques in killing time it has actually gone by pretty quickly. The snow piled on by the last storm seems to have cleared up already and the forecast looks favorable for riding outside the weekend. I really need to get back to some of the home projects and get ready to paint the kitchen ceiling, but there is always tomorrow.

Bite Me Hallmark!

Ah, the joys of Valentine's Day . . . I for one will be supporting neither Hallmark nor the flower industry, thank you very much. In the strip below, Calvin might be young, but he shows wisdom beyond his years:



I am very happy to say that I have never bought a dozen red roses out of compulsion or "necessity" to make up for extreme cloddish behaviors, nor will I ever buy anyone a dozen red roses because they are as cliche as one can get and they are hackneyed. Show a little originality every once in a while!

There are a few movies out there that follow the pattern of boy meets girl, boy chases girl, romance blossoms, turmoil ensues, boy chases girl some more, reconciliation happens, continuation of romance, movie ends. I have to give a nod to "Say Anything" for its humor and the sheer amount of quotable material . . . and some fine supporting work by Jeremy Piven. What happens in the end, beyond what we are shown, after the seatbelt light goes off? John Cusack continues his rise to stardom and Ione Skye goes batshit crazy and as if by some sort of instinct being the spawn of a musician dates/gets involved with/marries every active musician on planet Earth.

That was a fun tangent, I think I am going to hit up all of my 80s music today from Bauhaus to The Smiths and reminisce about the good old days as highlighted by John Hughes and the like. Now where's my copy of "Better Off Dead" . . .

In the end it all supposedly works out, or are Calvin and Susie just perpetuating the myth and foolish behaviors. I'm not bitter and jaded more than usual, I swear.


Looks like there's more trainer time in my future this weekend, but that's ok. Pinkerton got outside yesterday and tried to get me to join, but it didn't fit the agenda. The open invite to run with Kevin out at Bear Peak is sounding tempting, I could go for some torture.

Happy Valentine's Day . . . jackass!

In the Weather

Dempsey has seen the future and altered the game of fetch accordingly. This morning, in preparation for the coming storm, he decided it would be more prudent to chase the ball, pick it up, drop it, and then resume scavenging the park for scraps of anything potentially edible. Sure he's looking at me innocently now, but he has earned an extra tooth brushing and the special breath "treats" instead of the usual. I have always been well aware of what my dog's mouth comes in contact with. If you have forgotten scroll back a few months, I'm pretty sure there are some actions shots.

Cycloblog tourism is up in Colorado! From what I can tell, Ross's site traffic is up. Corey said he would miss waking up to three times the visitors as usual, along with the 34 comments in one day. I will on occasion allude to where Hutchison and I are headed next, but it is a much better killer of time if you have to stop by and read through other comments to figure it out. The question about work has come up from a few others already and the answer is we are both good at our jobs, so good that the inane comments and the moments they take to post do not prevent us from fulfilling the required, daily duties.

In cycling news, I am going to be riding the trainer tonight. I will spare you all geek talk and numbers analysis because, frankly, I don't do any of that. Neither does Dempsey, there are no statistics in fetch.

Side note: Carolina looked shaky again last night and I almost had to latch on to UVa being an alum and all . . . tourney time is right around the corner, hop to it!

Tempted by the . . .

Mmmm, Girl Scout Cookies. I knew buying them would be a bad idea. Now here they are sitting on my desk, taunting me, drawing me ever closer, just to catch a whiff, maybe just open one package and eat a single cookie. That couldn't hurt anybody right? Except who the hell actually just eats one Girl Scout Cookie as opposed to one sleeve or one box?

I did a little digging and found the history of the snacks. Take the time to navigate around the site. My favorite part has to be the question in the FAQ about obesity and how the Girl Scouts are knowingly and intentionally trying to make you and me fat and oblivious, yet happy. Nice evasive answer Girl Scouts Research Institute, I'd like to see some credentials.

Hutchison and I decided it would be amusing to pass the time during the workday by using other blogs as a meeting place. Think about the possibilities and the number of semi-public forums that are within our reach. Yesterday we were graciously hosted by Ross . . . clues to today's venue are not that hard to find. The way I see it we are adding a little bit of color to an otherwise drab world of Colorado Cyclists' blogs. Someday we will broaden our reach and I'm sure we'll get slapped by the hand of the blogging community. We're not trying to be mean, we're just wasting time with the best of them.

Luck?

A dog, hungry by nature, finds a plate of freshly fried eggplant, unguarded, ready for the taking . . . is it luck?

A basketball team, relying on a crappy, turnover prone point guard comes back from 13 points down to take the win in double overtime and keep alive a 52 game home winning streak against their opponent (what kind of stupid statistic is that anyways) . . . luck?

I don't have to ride today. Who's lucky there?

I am going to have to answer no to the above situations. Dempsey was given a gift, the gift of impeccable timing. Carolina is skilled despite last week's showing against Duke and those in attendance last night got their money's worth. Finally, I earned it. This past week was a big one on the bike. If I were so religiously inclined, I would probably have given up cycling for Lent.

Our ride Saturday was kept at a relatively mellow pace except for the efforts up Lookout and the moments where Kendall and I sped up for unknown reasons. Vera got to learn first hand why most of our friends ignore our phone calls over the weekend, knowing we are just looking for somebody to ride with. I can only point to my source of motivation for the random accelerations . . . gotta get to the Tin Star before the apple fritters are gone! Sunday's ride was harder than anticipated, but fortunately Dennis wasn't cracking the whip too much. I feel bad for Walker joining the ride cold only to head uphill immediately. I ended up climbing Lookout a second time for the weekend. At this point, my body is sore and tired. Even my arms still hurt. Wah, it is tough being me.

At Last . . .

After weeks of staring at the counter top in the basement, we finally picked it up and put it in its final resting place in the butler pantry. It was heavy, as to be expected, averaging 22 lbs/sqft for a 2" thick slab for a total sum of somewhere in the neighborhood of 165 lbs or so. Pinkerton and I did the heavy lifting to get the piece from the basement up to the kitchen and started the delicate ballet of slab maneuvering with Deb as a spotter when JD rolled in and said, "Oh good, I can take pictures." He knew full well that he was the only one with upper body strength worth a damn.


I think the color is good, finish came out great (especially with the microwave covering the one fault), and the overall look is pretty much what I was shooting for. Between the sealer and the wax, the concrete picked up a nice, warm glow to it, softening the cold thought of "concrete grey" as the color selection. I could have possibly gone darker with the color, but you can make the call.


Concrete can have sharp edges, Pinkerton's skin might now be a permanent fixture on the edge of the top somewhere. Impressively, we got the piece in place with minimal damage to the surrounding walls. The "alcove" type install wasn't the easiest to pull off because of limited wiggle room. Fortunately I have plenty of touch up paint and drywall "skills".

The Hole Thing

I'm sure somebody is getting yelled at about this one:



Nothing like a sinkhole to ruin the evening commute, followed by the morning commute, followed by general traffic. Denver Water is investigating the cause of the break in the water main, but it is suspected that a pump failed resulting in a pressure surge which in turn lead to the breakage. Ooops.

In other hole news, the hole across the street from me is complete and ready for foundation work. I watched yesterday afternoon as they checked elevations one last time and moved the front end loader off the site. I let Dempsey guide me on the morning walk and saw a little more of the projects going on in the hood. Given the market conditions and housing trends, I wouldn't want to be the person sitting on a construction loan right now. Besides the usual concerns about a job in progress, I bet there are a lot of extra sleepless nights out there right now. One of the soon to be duplexes stood out from everything else in the neighborhood because of its size and bulk. The thing is truly massive, somewhat blocky, and a bit angular. I was comparing it to the more "traditional" scrape-to-duplex across the street. Maybe zoning has changed or there are no bulk plane restrictions on that lot . . . pictures to follow.

This week and the giant block of training I am in the middle of are almost over, finally. I had to take a look ahead to make sure I didn't have more of the same coming up. There is an end in sight, of course it also says I am going to Phoenix and Valley of the Sun . . . if I never go to that race again, it will be too soon! I'm looking forward to a weekend of some long, leisurely climbing rides and then some recovery.

Mmmmm . . . Cricket Burger

I am on the record (just ask Brian at work) for saying that Quentin Thomas would be good for at least five turnovers. Nick said it best in his message of condolence, "It's all about tournament time chumps, I don't see Duke making it to the Elite Eight . . ." He is going to make a fine attorney some day.

Fortunately I was able to eat some good recovery food last night, high quality beef, cooked to a perfect medium. I love the fact that the Cherry Cricket will sell you a burger cooked rare. I'd never order it or eat it, but at least you know they have some confidence in their beef no being tainted.

Tuesday's workout continues to exact its revenge on my legs. Last night was a quasi recovery workout but there were a couple efforts in the first half of it. Those five minute efforts felt mighty fine on the time trial bike, a feeling I'm trying to get familiar with. If I get tires glued up in time and if the weather cooperates, I plan on hitting up the Chilly Cheeks Duathalon Series on February 16th for kicks. The "race" would be the Cherry Creek TT course followed by a four mile run.

I am still waiting for the hole across the street from me to cave in with the freeze/thaw cycles the dirt is going through, but nothing yet. The front end loader hasn't even moved. I think Chad and I are correct in the theory that some GC said "Hurry up and dig!" and some Excavator responded, "OK!" knowing full well that he would leave his equipment on site longer and charge the GC to the hilt for it. I love how shady and predictable the construction world is.

EARLY MORNING UPDATE: We have action as of 7:20 AM! In other news, bagel with Nutella gooood.

Take that!

Mike is all the way over on the other side of the world for the Tour of Langkawi, but he still hurts me. Last night's workout will make me strong, but this morning the result is something closer to me walking with an old man shuffle. I won't go in to coaching philosophies or anything like that, but I'm pretty sure my workout yesterday was better than yours. Working on power in time trial position definitely hurts, but I want to be faster this season so whatever it takes (within the legal realm that is). The time trial bike looks nice hanging in the basement, I guess it is time to get positioning dialed in and get some pictures posted.

On the subject of bragging rights, the Carolina/Duke basketball game is on tonight. I am not going to lie and say that I have full confidence in the Tarheels, watching the game will be a very nervous exercise. Not only did they lose a key point guard in the game against FSU, but they have shown the ability to choke with the best of them. Not that anybody in the state of Colorado cares about college basketball (read rant from weeks ago).

Back in my school days this was a big deal. When I was at public school in Chapel Hill there was less to worry about because everybody was from Chapel Hill and if you weren't a Carolina fan you were pretty much on your own. My private school experience was much different. There were NC State fans, Duke fans, Carolina fans, and the occasional Wake Forest fan. The outcome of a wider variety of ACC hoops games had much more severe consequences in terms of playground tauntings. I expect the only person who will chime in on this one is Steve. Shut your word hole . . . just wanted to get that out of the way.

So Starts a New Season

It was good to catch up with the teammates who were able to make it out in the snow to the team meeting last night. Sounds like the usual challenges exist, locking in sponsorship, finalizing clothing design, ordering, etc. I can do little but train in the basement and look at the snow piling up outside. The obvious goal personally, is to improve on last season's results, locally and at Masters' Worlds as well. August seems a long way away right now, but I think tonight's workout will bring a good dose of reality and will require my full attention.

Speaking of full attention . . . driving the lump below to work was a death defying experience, driving down Broadway . . . Broadway!! My car finally went into the shop yesterday and Enterprise was nice enough to "hook me up" with the upgrade to a PT Cruiser over the Kia they were supposed to give me. My initial thought was not to complain as the experience is costing me a whopping $.86 per day after Amica gets done paying their part, but after driving the thing last night and today, I will be more than happy to give it back. It doesn't even have an e-brake tight enough to induce the tail slide when desired. I was instructed to drive it in a "respectful manner", anybody have any tips?


There's some untimely action on the job site across the street from my house. Having been in construction a few days myself, I wouldn't want to start digging a hole right now . . . a) frost is bad, you can't put footers on frost, your house will heave, b) when it warms up later this week that hole will be a giant swamp. If anybody wants to come over and get in some WWF mud pit action, I'm in.


Newsflash! Cats are silly. Lou will crawl into anything be it a suitcase, cardboard box, laundry hamper, you name it.


I wish Dempsey had a PhD or some advanced certification so I had an actual foot to stand on. Oh, look how smart he is! He knows where his food is! Good boy!


And so starts a new season. Looking on the bright side of things, shoveling the sidewalk counts as a core workout. Am I right?

Never A Dull Moment

"Never a dull moment" said the shampoo bottle to Seth. I can only ask myself, "What does Proctor&Gamble know that I don't, outside of large business practices and international marketing?" How can my shampoo be that exciting?

Instead of watching the Super Bowl (although I did catch the last 60 seconds which looked pretty exciting) I watched Dogma again and it made me laugh. Now I have to rely on others to tell me which commercials were funny so I can waste time scouring YouTube today instead of preparing submittals for whatever project we have coming up at work. I guess I missed out on all sorts of SB celebration, food, camaraderie, and whatnot, but oh well. I also missed UNC almost blow it, barely eeking out an overtime victory against FSU. I did get to eat steak with a mushroom and red wine reduction sauce and it was good. Try roasting broccoli with parmesan cheese sometime, I'll give you the recipe, it was good too.

All in all the weekend wasn't too shabby. Thanks to Joey Brenner for dragging me out to ride yesterday, it was much warmer than I expected and roads that I never imagined clear were in much better condition than the street in front of my house. On top of that, thanks to Dennis Farrell for kicking my ass up ever hill we rode. This isn't a case of ageism or anything, but I hate you!

The party Saturday night was amusing in unexpected ways. The range of attendees was all over the place with a few familiar faces and some total randoms. I guess that's what happens when a party gets so big that the invite goes international (just hypothesizing on that one). Jessie told me that the party began as a group of friends who wanted to throw a party and get their red out prior to Valentine's Day . . . when we are all liable to wear black anyways. I can't wait to catch up with Jessie next week, after a year and a half of near misses and busted plans. We talked in the past of putting together a group to scour Denver for real cultural experiences but never got around to it. All the while I have been getting dumber by the day, thanks Jessie.

Tonight is the first team meeting of the year for the Tokyo Joe's Cycling Team, the road edition, I can't speak for the mountain bike team. We'll see how that goes . . . all I want to know is what color tires will my new bike have?

Don't leave home without . . .

Your spurs? Why oh why does the camera on the phone fail me at times like these? I was walking through the Whole Foods in Cherry Creek, minding my own business when I saw the most interesting get up I've seen in a long time. It took a while for my organic, gluten free cookie starved mind to register that this woman was wearing her riding outfit (refer back to my comments about snooty riding country) complete with spurs. For those of you western types, English spurs don't jingle. They are simple studs for applying that special extra bit of motivation to the side of your horse when simple leg pressure is not enough. I was hoping that she would break out a riding crop and beat on her boyfriend some for bringing back non-organic produce. Spurs? Really?

Let's talk about the weather. I am a big fan of the rare, winter, thunder snow storm. It started coming down last night on the way home from Sushi Den and then the rumbling started. I have no idea if the storm was supposed to be close, but the thunder had a bit of extra thump to it. The evidence left suggested a spring like storm with corn snow and a good bit of moisture. No riding outside for me today.

A few of us are headed to the annual Red Hot Fevah party, hosted by some women who know at least half of Denver. I am always amazed by the social circles I sometimes stumble upon. Crashing a party at Dana Crawford's loft probably has to be the highlight of my social career and I can only give Melisa a nod on that one, kudos! All I know about this party walking into it is that the theme is red, beyond that I'm flying blind . . . in red shoes.

I was hoping to get out and ride this weekend, but it is not all that warm and I can't ride down my street, I don't roll under those conditions. There is always tomorrow and there is always the trainer as a back up. I am trying to find some extra motivation to continue to train well, enter the season well prepared, and improve on last year's results. There have been changes from last year and more to come.

For now, I've got the fevah and the only cure is . . .

Sometimes

Parts of yesterday's post were very timely. A friend of a friend was the recipient of anonymous bashing through blog comments which just goes to show a)people aren't really that nice, b)the blog world is very wide reaching, don't believe me just get a site meter, and c)somethings are better left unsaid. There are a million topics for musings, daily ramblings, whatever you want to call them, but read a) - c) again.

I am, and have for a long time been, what most people would consider a raging cynic, but I like to see it as being gloomily realistic. People for the most part suck either through lack of sense, social graces, or regard for the consequences of their actions. I have maintained this outlook not only because of my experiences, but also because I'd rather be pleasantly surprised on occasion by the behaviors of others than continually disappointed.

Ask me about politics and the experiences of a young man as executive director of a non-profit dealing with politically charged issues sometime, but make sure you have a comfy chair and a beverage in hand.

A friend sent this along to me, read and reflect. I'll be back to visit the subject at a later date.

If you haven't read the article yet, read it and then do with the picture what you like.


I'll be interested to see the comments. On a lighter note . . . Bring on the weekend already!