If there is one thing I have learned from living in Colorado for over eight years now, it is that the likelihood of precipitation when the forecast is calling for a 30% chance is higher than a forecast of 60%.
It seems to be the sweet spot for the weather peeps. As I type the 40% chance of snow for this afternoon has taken the shape of sunshine in my part of town, but I'm pretty sure it will be snowing tonight when they get into the 30% hours. Additionally, the activities on tap for tomorrow (and some declaration of good weather by the promoter) further increase the likelihood.
My theory is that 30% is low enough that when it doesn't happen they can simply say, "Well . . . we only said 30% chance . . ." and when there is precipitation they say, "We told you it was going to snow." My prediction for tomorrow is that I will fall over when I start to run after the TT effort which will result in a 30% chance of laughter from myself and others.
Ever have those moments? Press the button above and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
It is always nice when clothing shows up early, before the first real racing opportunities (feel free to ask and I'll give you the full VOS rant) arrive. The Louis Garneau clothing for the 2009 season looks and feels really nice. There is nothing like doing away with the old, blown out chamois of old and putting on something brand new.
This is a good time to thank some sponsors. Thank you Subaru and Vista Auto Group for taking over the title sponsorship for the team. We couldn't make it all happen without you.
Thank you to Louis Garneau for the clothing, helmets, and shoes. Thank you Ed, Chris and everybody at The Bicycle Pedal'r for providing shop sponsorship and support. Thank you to Jittery Joe's for keeping us caffeinated. Thank you Ibis, for making our already great looking bikes look even better.
It really does take the entire team to get everything done and to maintain a team as successful as the teams put together by HERO. Thanks go out to Alex, Mike, Leonard, and everybody else who has helped pull everything together for the 2009 season. It should be a good one.
Hutchison and I plan on breaking in the new clothing duathalon style. This weekend is the final event in the Chilly Cheeks series out at Cherry Creek Reservoir. The race is basically the CCTT course followed by a four mile run. I can't wait to see how the legs feel going into the run part. There are plenty of real racing opportunities coming up, but we figured one last hurrah in the realm of goofing off, while getting in good efforts wouldn't hurt.
I may have poo-pooed Hutchison a little too soon on his post apocalyptic vehicle selection since now I have to change my choice from a Certified Pre-Owned luxury vehicle to this:
In this morning's WSJ, I read that the Navy is essentially giving the Sea Shadow away to whomever is willing to take it off of their hands. What better way to showcase some military technology than a little end game survival? The article is yet another fine writing example from the Journal, full of wit and journalistic barbs. For example, "At a cost later put at $195 million, it aimed to attain the same invisibility at sea that it had in the federal budget." Zing! Take that military spending gurus! Direct hit to the fiscal responsibility center!
The Sea Shadow reportedly kicked serious ass in the Navy's war games exercises off the coast of California. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Sean Connery's escape from Alcatraz in the documentary "The Rock" but I need to double check the internet for the real truth. Even though you can see it in the photographs, trust me, it is invisible to most forms of surveillance.
Great news for whoever takes the Sea Shadow, you'll also get the Hughes Mining Barge as part of the deal. This craft was used for some super secret missions, well only one. It outfitted another craft with a grappling hook for "sea bed mining operations" (read: to pluck a Soviet submarine off the sea floor). It is still classified as to whether or not said "mining operations" were of any success. In any case, you need a super secret hideout since the cloaking device on the Sea Shadow can't operate 24/7.
In other news, I have to give credit to the current administration. They said they were going to fix the economy and by golly they have done it. Bernake said the recession should end in 2009. I didn't realize it would happen today! Another couple days like this and it will start to look like a rally.
I didn't watch the Academy Awards last night so I don't know who was wearing what or which celebrity couples caused a stir, but looking at the list of winners, it appears that a lot of awards are going out of the country. I saw Slumdog Millionaire and thought it was one of the better movies I have seen in a while. It isn't like moving making is something new in India, but it is fun to joke about everything being outsourced these days.
Even Major League Baseball is dabbling in outsourcing to India. I caught a piece on the evening news about a show in India called The Million Dollar Arm. It fits in the same genre as the other "Who Wants to be a _______" shows, but instead of a quiz show, it is more of a draft combine, with the pool of players being much more diverse in backgrounds as well as skill and talent levels. Long story short, the two winners got drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, we'll see how that works out. I can only guess that somebody with a 91 MPH fastball has some coach-ability, but with hitters getting bigger and stronger (possible more skilled as well), my prediction is that these guys will see limited action if any at all in "The Show".
We should figure out how to outsource some of our economic troubles. Reading the details about the Liberty Media and Serius XM deal leads me to believe there could be a great market for creating companies with high market value in "tax losses". Creating these companies overseas should make it even less expensive to create a giant failure that is attractive to other companies for tax purposes. If we're lucky, somebody will create a Biggest Loser Corporate Edition for our entertainment, kind of like The Office, but the money and the questionable management would all be real.
I think Hutchison is getting the right idea, time to start preparing for some sort of post-apocalyptic reality. Where he has missed the mark is on vehicle selection. With Ford, GM, and the other American biggies headed deeper in the tank, I'd select a vehicle that will have a manufacturer still making parts up until the end of our civilized society's time. The shifting market is providing a lot of choices especially when it comes to lightly used luxury cars. I'm sure you could maintain Certified Pre-Owned status even if you highly modified your Mercedes to meet the demands of a neo-post-modern Mad Max-esque world . . .
. . . I'm giving up my faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. I wish I could claim originality on that one, but it came from my cousin Dan, circa 1997. Good luck trying to unravel the philosophical dilemmas involved in that one, but let me get you started . . . we're Jewish.
My distaste for Facebook and Facebook junkies is no secret. I will look down my nose at you and mock you for any part you take in the social networking craze be it Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or whatever other sites there are. There are people that I really don't want to catch up with again for old times' sake. If we weren't good enough friends to stay in touch with in the first place, that's probably saying something. I digress . . . if thinly veiled stalking and "friend" counting are your thing, than social networking is probably right up your alley. If you don't care to make a distinction between actual interaction with people in the real world versus a manufactured environment, somewhere artificially sheltered like the internet, go ahead and start an account.
That being said, let this serve as cautionary, anecdotal evidence as to why you shouldn't be in a rush to join the ranks. I can break down the article for you, one social networker at a time.
Kevin Shine - a self-described pathological Facebooker, Mr. Shine recently found himself telling all 157 of his online "friends" about the vomit a stray dog left on his porch.
Lisandrea Wentland - every time she logs on, she says, "it's like going to the best party in the world."
Whitley Leiss - a junior at Texas Christian University after abstaining from Facebook said, "I saw all that I had missed and I realized I hadn't missed anything."
I can not fault Mr. Shine, pictures of dog vomit are hilarious. If you search my blog, you'll find at least one. Poor Ms. Wentland seems to have low expectations for parties. She has joined an online quitting-Facebook-for-Lent support group, much like AA (FA I suppose), but unfortunately it might not be of much help quitting Facebook . . . as it is hosted on Facebook. I don't get the parents who signed up for Facebook to "keep track of their kids". Whatever happened to talking to them instead of stalking them? I love the stories I have heard in the past year about people getting in fights with exes because of changes to relationship status or people being de-friended. Even better is when people start calling their friends, concerned because of a drop off in Facebook activity.
Like many, including the WSJ, I'm behind the times. People have been giving up Facebook for Lent for years now. Ms. Leiss gave it up back in 2007! The fourth hit (1. her Facebook page, 2. her listing as a "friend" on another Facebook page, 3. the above WSJ article) on a Google search, the way internet stalking was intended, was this article from the TCU Daily Skiff.
If anybody needs me this weekend, you can keep track of me on Twitter. Oddly enough the updates seem to be the same . . . mocking someone or something . . . well that's weird.
After this morning's walk at the park with Dempsey, I noticed spots of blood on the kitchen floor and thought to myself, "I don't remember stabbing anyone last night, maybe it was the butler." Then I saw blood on my shoes . . . As I was dialing to turn myself in for a crime I did not remember committing, I noticed that Dempsey was licking his front, right paw and underneath was a fresh spot of blood on the tile. Upon further investigation, I found out that at the park some how, Dempsey had completely lost one of his nails. It wasn't just broken to the quick and bleeding, it was broken off at the paw.
Instead of having him bleed out at home, alone, I decided to bring him in the car to work so I could keep an eye on him and take him to the vet if necessary. Turns out the owner, who doesn't really like dogs, was out today so my boss told me to bring Dempsey in as opposed to visiting him in the car every half hour.
Everybody has been commenting on what a well behaved dog he is. This is very nice to hear given Dempsey's past displays of aggressive behavior towards strangers, especially male. As people stood in my doorway, he would maintain his place on the floor until released and then he would walk up to whoever was there and get some scratches behind the ears, do the requisite sniffing, before resuming his spot on the floor.
When left at home, I'm pretty sure Dempsey spends the majority of the day exactly like this.
At the office, he gets a lot of attention from anybody who comes in.
But pretty much does exactly what he does at home, on the floor since we don't have any comfy couches here.
Awwww, who's a good boy?
Dempsey got in some quality ZZZs at the office, I did some work, trying to interpret the intentions of an architect on a 300+ unit apartment building. Speaking of housing . . . do you qualify for housing bailout?
Although I have not run a company of great size, I am fairly confident that I can do so poorly, thus creating a situation where I will need billions of dollars of aid. I realize that it will take some time to build a company large enough to have an impact on the economy on a national scale which is why I am only seeking $1,660,000 for my proposed ineptitude. I'll have you know this is only .01% of what GM is asking for. As part of my restructuring, I vow that my company will quietly spend the money until it is gone before asking for more.
I was inspired by one of the headlines in this morning's WSJ, GM Seeks $16.6 Billion More in U.S. Aid . . . when am I going to get mine? Why did it take the US automakers this long to disclose just how FUBAR the situation is? Did they think there would be some sort of miraculous Q1 turn around that would save their businesses or were executives taking the time between now and the last Congressional hearings to get their affairs in order?
"Uh . . . (insert executive assistant name here), could you go ahead and pack up my things, close the accounts with my name on them, turn out the lights, and oh yeah, figure out what it would take to keep this joint running, but don't think about cutting my compensation package. We need to submit that to the Feds at the end of February. If you need me, I'll be in the villa that the company bought in the Caymans."
In my humble opinion, the bailout needs to be structured so that the companies as they exist disappear. Company heads should be credited with the driving the last nail in the coffin of what was once a great industry, a global leader in production, innovation, design, etc. Do what needs to be done to ensure Detroit doesn't turn into the visions of economic post-apocalyptic madness portrayed in film and let the free market fill in the void. Spend some money to create opportunity in a city that has long been in the process of decay.
Sometimes, somebody puts an idea or statement into words so well that you can do nothing better than provide the intro and then go straight to the quote. BBC's Top Gear sent the hosts to the good old U.S. of A. to film a segment about the new, American muscle cars. The segment has some pretty great moments that you can watch on your own, but in introducing the cars, the hosts slap Chrysler in the face, blatantly and without remorse:
Clarkson: This is the Cadillac CTSV that James will be driving. This is the Corvette Z(ed)R1 that I'll be driving and this is an empty space where Richard's Dodge Challenger should have been parked.
Hammond: It is not here because Chrysler, the people who make the Dodge Challenger said we're always horrid about their cars and they decided at the last minute not to lend us one.
Clarkson: Now if this was normal Top Gear, we'd just make a Challenger out of leaves or something (May: or just push Hammond off there and carry on without him . . .) Exactly! but we decided to show Chrysler that Britain is not a bankrupt rock in the North Atlantic and that we will not be pushed around by a two bit car company.
Two Hours Later
Hammond: This is a Dodge Challenger that I just bought . . .
In the end, their take on the Chrysler made car is pretty "horrid" and much fun is made at the expense of the excesses of American cars and the relative stupidity of our culture as seen in a brief stop in Reno, NV. Long story short, for the most part, the US auto industry is a joke to the rest of the world and only the blindest version of blind patriotism will enable one to ignore that fact. At least it is possible to find some amusement in the whole mess. If anybody needs me, I'll be over here waiting for my bailout check to arrive.
Getting the VOS race report from a couple sources really doesn't make me too sad that I have made myself the promise never to do that race ever again, ever. Sounds like decent weather and all of the ballers were there for the NBA All-star game, but the TT sounded as boring as ever. As usual, the rest of the stage race was an exercise in trying to not fall off your bike to maintain your GC position. As always, given the early season timing, a number of other riders seem to want to make it as difficult as possible to attain that goal. At least the crit was different this year.
Looks like the market took a nose dive again today, drawing ever closer to the 52-week low set back in November of '08. Why isn't the stimulant package working? Maybe the economy should just resort to good ol' fashioned trucker speed you can get at the gas station or your friendly, local truck stop.
While the weather is less than optimal for the Tour of California, it has been amusing to watch online. Best of luck to all of the Colorado based riders there. It is cool to see riders in the break that you chatted with in passing on a training ride a few weeks back. The best part is that makes me "pro" by association . . .
Seeing some of the footage from Tour of California yesterday made me really happy that I'm not an "elite" cyclist, subjected to racing in miserable conditions to earn a $5,000 per year paycheck. Given that cycling is mostly a hobby, a very time consuming, often exhausting hobby, I have the option of riding inside some days and skipping out on races where the weather forecast is less than optimal.
I have had to ride in slop like this, both warm and cold, and it is not fun. Everything about riding becomes more difficult than necessary, you are more prone getting flats, getting caught up in a crash, and days like that really make you question your desire to continue. In the warmth and relative comfort of the basement this weekend, I caught up on other sports in the world. Soccer has become a favorite of mine for trainer rides because it is entertaining and uninterrupted by commercial breaks. Saturday, I caught the match between Lazio and Turin, set the the soundtrack of whatever was on the iPod at the time. I lost a little focus during this particular highlight:
I didn't mean to laugh at the ref's misfortune, but the speed with which he dropped was simply incredible. Footballers love the dramatic anyways, I can recall at least 158 instances of somebody taking a dive at the slightest bit of contact. There were some quality opportunities on goal and a couple great goals in the game, especially the one to tie it up.
On Sunday, instead of waiting for it to warm up so I could get outside, I made the executive decision to drink many, many shots of espresso and get on the trainer before motivation slid away completely. In hindsight, it was a mistake since I could have ridden outside pretty comfortably later in the day. I got to watch Manchester United v. Derby County in some Carling Cup action. There are a mind boggling number of different leagues, championships, etc. that these teams play in during any given week.
Watching Manchester United toy with Derby was like watching a kitten play with a ball of yarn. They had the game under control for pretty much the entire time I was watching. You can tell in the highlights clip above how stronger Manchester United was than Derby. It really is great sport with constant action, near misses, high level of precision and skill. While there are not a lot of goals scored in regular matches, there is still plenty keep your attention . . . the challenges on 50/50 balls, the one on one tests as a team tries to move up field, the chess like strategy . . . if you haven't watched in a while, I recommend checking out Fox Soccer Channel for a schedule for Premier League, Championship League, UEFA Cup, Serie A, Bundesliga, Argentinian U-23 match play, and so on and so on.
Back in the good ol' U.S. of A., there was plenty of "traditional" sporting action this weekend too. The Daytona 500 452 was action packed and full of excitement and controversy. I didn't watch it and I haven't even bothered to watch the full clip below, but I can only hope there was an exclamation of "Oh m'gawd! Dju see that wreck? Oh m'gawd! Woooo . . . NASCAR!! Awesome . . . daaaaamn!!"
I shouldn't make fun of a sport that has roots in running moonshine and getting away from the law-man . . . a sport that has such heroes as Dick Trickle and this man . . .
I'll stop picking on NASCAR for now. At least they have plenty of funding, a place in the national spotlight, and can garner constant coverage . . . did Lance win that Tour de France going on in California yet?
I am really glad I held off on commenting about the idiots in the sports world yesterday despite there being enough fodder between Michel Phelps, Miguel Tejada, 97% of the NBA, and that A-Rod. This morning's WSJ had an article that had me cracking up because it danced delicately around the jackassery of the professional sports world. Where else do you have to have hired, "safe" friends to keep you from exposing the fact that your are a not only threat to yourself and others, but also a grade A moron. The majority of the athletes listed in the article have gotten into some sort of trouble when left on their own.
I still have a hard time with the argument that steroids don't have a significant impact on baseball. Hitting is not just about strength, it requires a high level of skill and coordination. If a slightly mis-hit ball is a pop up that happens to go 400' instead of 250' because somebody has the "natural" physique of an early 1990s Mark Mcgwire . . . doesn't that count as some sort of impact . . . you make the call.
Another one I am having a very hard time getting my brain around is a Microsoft Store, kind of like the Apple Store, but less user friendly and way less . . . uh, cool. Microsoft sells mostly software, but has a couple bits of hardware. Will this be a Zune and Xbox 360 store . . . isn't that just a Best Buy? Maybe it is just marketing having an influence on me, but I can only picture nerdy (rather than charmingly geeky) sales people peddling Microsoft wares in techie fashion, inaccessible to the normal user, kind of a cross between Radio Shack and uh, well, who really cares? It is a terrible idea, there is very little "gee whiz" factor when it comes to Microsoft.
This one goes into the "file under awesome!" folder. What do you get when you combine Western excesses with Middle Eastern sensibilities?
People who over extended on their spending are ditching cars "some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield" at the airport on their way out of the country. In the US, we'd be trying to figure out how to bail these geniuses out. Dubai still has debtor's prison, lock em up!
This just in . . . Duke sucks! I always have an irrational fear about watching the Carolina v. Duke games with the thought being that my viewing might have a negative impact on the game. Once I get started watching, I'll change seats if things aren't going well or flat out turn the TV off if it is going really poorly. In the first half, Duke shot phenomenally well at 62%. Had they played the second half like that, there would have been no beating them.
Carolina stepped up their game for the second half and kept the Cameron Crazies quiet, throwing down 101 points to Duke's total of 87. I had to check in with my mom this morning to see if Duke had the flag flying at half mast like they have the morning after the last three times Carolina has walked away from Durham victorious. Yup . . . there are a lot of sad kids from New Jersey in Durham, NC today. There are some good bits in this article, I particularly enjoyed:
One is the flagship state school; one is an elite, private, Ivy League school of the South. One is located in "the Southern part of Heaven," while the other is in a city that stands as a unique mix of gritty, hardscrabble blue-collar workers and upscale socialites.
There is still at least one more match up between the two teams this season, with a third and fourth always possible depending on ACC and NCAA tournament pairings and performances. You always try to keep the season in perspective, recognizing that what happens in March is the most important result, but there is something very sweet about seeing Carolina put the beat down on the Dukies.
Our team sponsor loves us more than your team sponsor loves you and I have proof. For my lunch time workout, I headed to the ultra-secret team warehouse to do a little tire stretching so this weekend, I can put new tires on the new wheels that came in at the end of last week.
I had the opportunity to race these wheels last year and I have to say I love what Shimano has done. They didn't stretch the bounds of ultra light, they made wheels that just plain work. The hubs are very well designed and actually adjustable as opposed to "sealed" bearings that may or may not have lots of play in them.
I was sort of hoping for the new graphics, the ones that appeared somewhere once, but have never been seen again. They looked fast, very fast. By the weekend, I should be ready to put the final coats of glue on the rims and tires and smush it all together. That is, all the wheels but Brian's wheels, he threatened bodily harm if I touched his wheels. Some people won't ride tubulars glued by others and I can't blame them. In Brian's case, it isn't a matter of trust, it is a matter of doing it himself and practicing the craft. Having seen him work, I will vouch for his skills, that's why he's listed as one of the team mechanics on the team site.
Straying into the world of coffee geekdom, I decided since I have the tools at work to do so, I might as well make one of my old portafilters bottomless (crotchless, naked, call it what you will). I wandered into the hollow metal shop and told Sonny what I was looking to do. He looked at the portafilter and said, "Where does the weed go?" I think he meant coffee . . . maybe not.
Using the drill press and a 2 1/8" hole saw, we were able to make the cut through the brass fairly easily. The benefit of the naked portafilter is that you can watch the shot from start to finish to see how the extraction is coming along. It will let you know pretty quickly if you have issues with your puck, from the grind to the tamp, to other. Pictures to follow . . .
"We believe that the policy response has to be comprehensive and forceful," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in his speech Tuesday. "Instead of catalyzing recovery, the financial system is working against recovery. And at the same time, the recession is putting greater pressure on banks. This is a dangerous dynamic, and we need to arrest it."
According to a chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average activity today, this statement was made at approximately 11:02 AM EST.
The financial world retaliated accordingly, sending the market to 7888.88 at the close of trading. Seth Jayson, senior analyst at the Motley Fool, said, "The real issue is that banks, analysts, and others are hoping for miracles, and we're all out of those … Trillions of dollars have already been thrown at this problem, with little effect." How they heck are they supposed to do anything constructive with the possibility of $2 Trillion being added to the system? You give a banker that much money and he's going on vacation . . . I'm pretty sure I'd have the same reaction if you send heaps of money my direction. "What problem?? I'm rich!!"
Maybe one of the larger banks would be willing to look at turning some of the bail out money towards that Death Star Project.
I made the mistake of not looking at the symphony program prior to Friday night's concert. It was a pretty common "evening at the symphony" line-up featuring:
Rossini - Overture to The Barber of Seville Mozart - Violin Concerto No. 4 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4
It is almost impossible to think of the Barber of Seville without thinking of one of the all time, cartoon classics.
It saddens me to think that kids growing up these days will likely never be exposed to the classics, neither the Looney Tunes variety nor the musical masterworks. Oh well, their loss . . . In addition to the quality of the line up Friday night, the guest conductor provided some top notch entertainment. I have yet to figure out the conductors real purpose because I have never seen a conductor perform so horribly that the musicians could no longer read the music on the sheets in front of them. Giancarlo Guerrero was one of the most lively conductors I have ever seen in action. Even his exit from the stage was energetic, with a little vault off of the conductor's stand followed by a full trot to the wings of the auditorium. In the picture below, he's about to take flight.
I also managed to get out for a couple rides this weekend, unfavorable forecasts be damned! Saturday, I headed up to Boulder for a ride with Brian and Chuck. It was a pretty standard ride minus the fact that Chuck had sold his road bike already and was riding the fixie. Nothing like watching somebody come down a steep hill at about 150 RPM and still go for the town line sprint at max cadence. He didn't take it, Brian shifted into a gear beyond Chuck's capacity in the 46x16 and collected maximum points.
I am still envious of weather forecasters in Colorado. I want to be wrong most of the time in my job and suffer no consequence. Not just wrong, but horribly wrong, almost to the point where I have started planning for the opposite of what they say will happen. The shot above was from the first "bump" on Golden Gate Canyon Road . . . looks like a pretty nice day and it was. Both Joey and I were over dressed on Sunday. Vests and arm warmers would have sufficed, but we both had our thermal jackets which ended up not being too terrible.
A perfectly lovely ride went south when we turned around to come back down Golden Gate Canyon. About midway down the descent, I heard the POP-PING of a spoke breaking on my front wheel. I rode it out and came to a stop to assess the damage. The wheel had a nice wobble and hop to it, good argument for a 32-spoke wheel for training purposes! Everything was rubbing pretty badly, but we were also out of cell phone range to call in for reinforcements. I limped my way down the hill and about the place where cell phone reception came back there was the BOOM of the tire wearing through and the tube violently exploding. We called in the rescue and waited in the wind that was getting progressive chillier, the longer we sat. Thanks to Matt, we didn't have to wait too long. I have to thank Joey for not resorting to cannibalism, especially since his bike still worked and we were mere miles from civilization.
I tried to give myself a warm welcoming to the work week this week.
It is going to take more than just fresh bread . . .
For the week at least, I'm done. Time to turn off the brain and do whatever I feel like for the weekend. I plan on a long ride tomorrow, to Boulder to ride with some of the teammates and then back from Boulder. All activities for Sunday are weather dependent, couch surfing is a good possibility . . . see you Monday, maybe.
Nothing like a public works project to stimulate the economy, create jobs, boost morale. Why bother building roads, parks, dams . . . that's so Depression era! In the age of high definition, we could at least do something that pushes the limits of the early 1980s imagination . . . say, build a Death Star. The best part is that somebody has already started putting pencil to paper (how low tech!) to come up with some budget numbers.
The Geekologie article is pretty amusing by itself, but clicking on some links and reading comments exposes the true potential for hilarity. My personal favorite is the worksheet with some of the calculations, including volumes, weights, etc. The comparison of the volume of said Death Star vs. the volume of dollar bills for said budget of said Death Star is shocking. Just imagine how much graft there would be on a governmental project with a budget including that many digits before the decimal place.
In the list of things that made me chuckle today was part of a response to a question in the Mossberg's Mailbox section of the WSJ this week.
Another speed-enhancing tactic is to use a program like Startup Cop Pro to prevent unneeded programs from running at startup, and one like PC Decrapifier to clean out craplets -- unwanted pre-installed programs.
Ahhh, craplets and crapplication . . . is there anything that "crap" as a prefix doesn't amusingly enhance? I own an iMac for home use, but I am subjected to PC use at work and have long wondered about the marked deceleration of general speed which all Windows machines seem to undergo the longer they are around. The remainder of the answer sounds like a nightmare of a maintenance regimen, I'd rather have a valid excuse for decreased productivity.
It is entirely possible that everything nailed in place will fall down within 24 hours of construction. Matt and I are not construction professionals, well I guess I am sort of, but during the wall building process and cabinet install, we kept looking at each other in absolute disbelief. Pieces of the puzzle kept going together as they should which we found incredible given that the floor slopes 1.5" in about a 6' span. None of this should have been easily accomplished by a couple of hacks in an evening.
With the last wall (the short one) in place, we were able to establish the true level line at what was to be the counter top height. My goal and intent was to install a 12" strip of 1/2" material as both a backer for the cabinets and as additional support for the counter top so the cabinets wouldn't take the entire weight of the espresso machine.
At the end of the evening, we put a temporary top on for the time being. The final top will be two pieces of 3/4" plywood as the sub-top and a stainless steel top with 4" back splash. I need to move the water filter set up to its final home which will be mounted to the wall in the basement, along with the 220v timer so the machine isn't running 24/7. The pump will be placed inside the cabinet on the left, creating a little more counter space.
While I have the temporary top to play with, I will figure out what holes are needed where to get power and water to/from where they need to be. It is much nicer not having to crouch over a coffee table while making my morning coffee and I think the final product is going to look fantastic, a much needed improvement for that back room. There are a few more steps to go through before the job gets close to wrapping up. I need to drywall, install the final top, install the second light fixture (above the stairs to the basement), install the 220v timer, install the flooring, run some trim (baseboard, new casing on the doors, new window sills) . . . strip the ugly paint off the espresso machine, etc., etc., etc., but scroll back a few weeks and you can see how much progress there has been.
What do red anodized brakes look like on the new team frames?
Will I post a new picture of every single part that goes into the build on these bikes? You bet I will! Everyday seems like my birthday now that products are rolling in. Yesterday it was the frames, today the brakes and Cateye computers. What will tomorrow bring?
I did get out to ride a fair bit this weekend. We hit Boulder on Saturday with most of the elite team managing to get together. The warm and windy end of January days are far preferable to a day in the basement and it was good to get to know my teammates to be a little better. On Sunday, I headed up to Conifer to get tortured by Brenner and Clay.
We did some zigging and some zagging, a little climbing, and a lot of descending. The rule of thumb is if you don't kill Joey in the first hour, he will ruin your life for the reminder of the ride with his endless source of power. After the last significant climb of the day, trip #2 up Blue Creek, he put the screws to me going back up Hwy 73 heading back towards his house. Fortunately we had fueled up at Tin Star prior, so I was able to endure and make it back to his house.
Evergreen is always good for a few laughs, even for the newly crowned Bear Claw King. While we were minding our own business, eating donut/fritter product, I saw what I can only describe as an "ass-tard" driving past with a fixie in the back of his car. That made me chuckle. Chuckle developed into full laugh when said a-tard rolled past on the sidewalk, walking his fixie. He parked it on the side of the building where we were sitting and walked into the sushi place.
Shoddy work with the camera phone, but you get the idea. You can't see details like the paper cutout, Colorado flag in the spokes, or the special wheels, but trust me, they all bore the mark of lame hipsterness.
Said lame hipster got all paranoid by our laughter and pictures being taken of his ride, so he came out to get his bike and roll it into the safety of the restaurant. After conferring with Hutchison, this is the same moron he spotted a couple weeks ago who exclaimed to his hipster friend, "Hey, let's go ride fixies around Denver!" To which his friend responded, "I only have a road bike . . . with gears." How lame!?! True story, I can't make this stuff up.
There are times where something gets so built up in your head and the excitement generated ultimately isn't reflected by the end result. There has been much anticipation and talk about the bikes for this season that I really didn't know what to expect when I got the call saying "the frames are in, come on over and see!"
They look incredible. I can not begin to do them justice with the camera I have. The silver is better than I hoped for. The detailing around the logos is spot on, especially the fact that the logo is a cutout showing the carbon weave underneath. Everybody at Ibis should be very proud of their work, hats off. Now to play the waiting game . . . forks are on order from Edge, brakes are on the way from TRP, and the gruppos are in the works. The only downside of having a beautiful frame come early is that you can't build it up right away.
I have plenty of other diversions and distractions to keep my brain occupied. I did very minimal work on the coffee "shop" this weekend having spent a respectable amount of time training, training for the upcoming season on a really sweet bike . . . did you see the seat post clamp? Sorry, where was I? Ah yes, I got another call this weekend letting me know that the cabinets were painted and ready to go. Beto did an amazing job laying down a base coat and clear coat. What was once a dull white is now . . .
I need to clean up the handles and get them back on for some accent and contrast, not to mention ease of opening the cabinet doors and drawers. I told him to focus his time and attention on the faces and that he did. The insides have the same paint for base coat, but there was no need to spend as much time since the doors will be closed 99% of the time.
I did not expect the depth and color in the reflection in a black paint. I knew I'd have black and shiny covered, but I'm pretty sure I could use the cabinet door as a shaving mirror if necessary. I can't wait to finish up the framing necessary for the built in area for the cabinets and get them installed. As dumb as it might sound, I'll put a couple coats of wax on the cabinets prior to installing them, it is an automotive finish after all. Again, better than anticipated and I can't wait to get it all put together.
