Congratulations! You've Been Granted Denial

Spring is in the air and the academic year is coming to a close for many which means the Postal Service is carrying around thousands of letters which will determine the future of college applicants. I've been sitting on this one for a few days since A/H1N1 has provided plenty of blog fodder, but I found it amusing and wanted to share.

The rejection lines from selected schools are pretty hilarious if you read between the lines and do some loose translating.

Bates College: The deans were obliged to select from among candidates who clearly could do sound work at Bates. - Sorry kid, you'd flounder and make our program look bad.

Harvard: Past experience suggests that the particular college a student attends is far less important than what the student does to develop his or her strengths and talents over the next four years. - Dude, we don't even have an underwater basket weaving program, why don't you apply to Bates.

Boston University: We give special attention to applicants whose families have a tradition of study at Boston University. We have extended this consideration in the evaluation of your application, but I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission. - After doing some digging we confirmed that your greatest virtue is that you are your parent's child, but all the money in the world won't get you in here.

When it comes down to it, anybody applying for anything should be prepared for the possibility that they will not be a successful applicant. The sooner aspiring adults come to learn this, the better. I'm not suggesting that academic institutions send the letter version of laughing in an applicant's face (although hearing about a singular "LOL" on letterhead would tickle me given my distaste for the kids and their texting), but they are the next step to "the real world" so might as well tell it like it is. I personally didn't have to go through the confusing and emotional process of being rejected by the academic institution of my choice. The rest of life provides plenty of opportunity for rejection and failure . . . as well as successes.

Weather Data

It is Wednesday once again which means it will be time to take the show out to Cherry Creek Reservoir for another time trial. It also means that the weather is changing as the afternoon progresses.


As you can see, the winds have changed from a slight puff at 5 MPH and mostly from the south to variable with a gust or two above the 20 MPH mark. The direction scatter plot cracks me up. We've gone from wind from the south to winds from every possible easterly direction. What does this all mean? Nothing really, we'll still be out there trying to ride as fast as possible. I have a sincere doubt that my average speeds will be anywhere close to Sunday's speeds. In the TTT, we were pushing in excess of 31 MPH for our average. Turning that kind of speed on the 10.65 mile KHMTT course would put me well in the sub 21 minute range.

I got a visual explanation of what phase 5 means on WHO alert scale. Please be aware that it is no longer the swine flu, it is A/H1N1


I'm not sure how the scale of 1-6 works. At level 5, I personally am not very concerned. Does this mean that my perception of alarmist tactics has actually put me in greater danger?

Disaster Strikes Emergency WHO Meeting

The photo below confirms that Egypt is making the correct decision to hold the worlds biggest BBQ.


According to the BBC, "It is decided to slaughter all swine herds present in Egypt, starting from today," said Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali.

For the record, Egypt has zero confirmed cases of swine flu. I think they just don't like pigs.

WHO Intensifies Efforts

According to Medical Professional, the World Health Organization has increased its activities in determining the proper course of action with the Swine Flu.


Bringing in a super hero shows great foresight, but I'm not sure I trust the hippo.

Solution from Medical Professional

I can only assume that I am relatively safe from the swine flu. Not only have medical professionals come up with explanations, but also solutions.


Judging by the amount of time on said medical professional's hands, the office in Denver must not be overwhelmed with cases of swine flu.

Explanation from Medical Professional

I spoke to a friend who works in the medical profession and got clarification on the swine flu and why it is such a threat.


If that pig gets a hold of any of the syringes in the background, we are all in big trouble. Just look at the smile on his face and the evil glint in his eyes. Be afraid, very afraid.

Tower, This is Ghost Rider

Music please . . .

Picture this, the year was 1986. Tom Cruise was still on his way to being a star. Top Gun was lauded for its aerial cinematography, a shining example of how to make motion pictures with not only planes but jets, fighter jets! This movie had it all; action, drama, comedy, romance, stuff blowing up, patriotic moments, and memorable quotes.

Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: That's a negative Ghost rider, the pattern is full.

Now picture this if you will, substitute "Maverick" with "Federal Government" and "Air Boss Johnson" (wow, didn't really know he had a name) with "New York City" and you have a pretty close picture of yesterday's stunt with Air Force One, er Two, er 1.1? A review of the order that lead to the incident has been requested by the President. My guess is that the punchline will be, "Wait, what? No, no, no, Photoshop you dummy, not photo-op!!"

Sad part is, somebody probably put in the order thinking that it was a reasonable idea. What says "America" and "Liberty" and "Stability" better than Air Force One flying in the general vicinity of the Statue of Liberty? I have made the resolution to stop picking at the stupidity of current events on a daily basis, but I have a problem, I can't stop. I know I have a cynical streak that probably cuts clear to the bone, but really, if the powers that be are out there and can hear me . . . stop making it so easy!

I Blame the Swine

I got some photographic evidence of the swine flu this morning from the safety of my house. Not only is it infecting people, but also trees, shrubs, and the air we breathe! Can you see the bits of it falling?


I remember the great SARS pandemic of '03. Worldwide, there were 774 deaths attributed to the disease, 50% of those deaths were individuals 65 and older. I didn't dive into statistics much further because based on US Census Bureau World Vital Events, an estimated of 152,505 people die . . . every day!

Not to make light of such grave matters . . . (pause here to allow eye closing laughter to pass) . . . I am having a hard time stomaching the media's presentation of this deadly, deadly threat to the populations of the world. I started into this article in the WSJ, but stopped reading just after, "Nearly 2,000 people in Mexico have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since the first case of swine flu was reported two weeks ago." I'm going to have to file that one under 'S' for sloppy. Given the statistics above, should have gone for ultra, but conservative, scare tactics and said that over 1.8 million people have died since the first case of swine flu was reported. It is a fact, do the math. Using similar logic though I bet more than 2,000 cars have been sold by private party owners since the first case of swine flu was reported two weeks ago.

The death pandemic has been out of control for centuries, according to well known news sources:

Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity's number one health concern. Responsible for 100 percent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure.

All kidding aside and my sympathy to all victims of the pig flu, I make a simple request to the media; please report the news, don't make it. In other important world news, I raced bikes this weekend.

On Saturday, we did ourselves very few favors as a team by missing the break of the day. Zac put in a good effort to bridge the gap, but since he's coming back to form from a variety of injuries, he wasn't quite able to make it across. Chuck and I spent the rest of the day working away, getting some good training time in the wind, trying to bring the race back together. In the end, I gained a lot of fitness and Chuck took advantage of his finishing speed honed on the track to take the field sprint and 8th place.

Sunday, I headed up to Boulder for the Haystack ITT and TTT. Getting motivated and ready took some doing. I got to Chuck's house in time to sit around for a few moments before getting kitted up and ready to go pick up some race numbers. From there, we had enough time to pin up numbers, roll around a bit and get to the start. Chuck used that time to get a flat, find a wheel to use (a nice borrowed Lightweight Disc, retail value - $2,670), and get to the line with enough time for the official to say, ". . . 2, 1, go!" That's perfect timing if you ask me, no standing around getting cold. I tried to relax since the first leg was wind aided and I knew the third leg was going to be into the wind with a couple slight rises. I kept trying to turn over the biggest gear I could and focused on catching the next person in front of me. It worked pretty well, I finished 4th behind Peter Stetina, Kevin Nicol, and Ben Day.

Our team time trial team was stacked, stacked to the point that I had concerns about my ability to hang on and not slow everybody down. The team was Chuck and myself representing the Subaru-Vista Auto Group side of things, Ben Day (2003 Australian National Time Trial Champion), Chris Baldwin (2nd 2006 USPRO Time Trial Championships), and Alessandro "Baz" Bazzana. We got going fairly smoothly, taking advantage of the tailwind section to get settled in. After the first turn, things started to come apart. We gapped Chuck and Baz and backed off a bit but only managed to get Chuck back. Shortly after the second turn, we lost Chuck and I lost the ability to pull through. After the third turn, I was starting to struggle to hang on and my ability to recover between minimal efforts just to keep a wheel was gone. I know I slowed Ben and Chris down, but we had to finish with three. We made it across the line and took the win. Results haven't been posted and since it was starting to get colder, windier and wetter, we decided not to stick around to study the results sheet.

I was fairly happy with the weekend of racing. Again, I'm working towards being fastest in August so 4th place in the ITT was a pleasant surprise. There might be more racing coming up next weekend, if it doesn't decide to snow again prior to the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb. It wouldn't be the first time that event has been postponed in my racing career. There is also another TTT opportunity with the Rabbit Mountain event on Sunday.

Installation

With Deer Trail being as short as it was this year, a whopping 55 actual miles, I had plenty of time to work on some of the home projects yesterday afternoon. The completed crown moulding shelf went up on the door relatively easily and the cuts on the casing were much more simple than on the crown. The end result came out as expected and now I won't have to hunt around for the chalk or eraser. The chalkboard looks much better trimmed out than it did free floating.


I have found the chalkboard to be quite useful for quickly jotting down items for a grocery list or for care instructions when dog/cat sitting is necessary. The message above serves little to no purpose other than good natured, self-ridicule.

I also took a stab at making my recycled/reused window box. There was a decent amount of siding left from the garage project, most likely because a professional sider did the job and kept the waste to a minimum, but some of the 50" lengths are spot on for making window boxes to hold some plastic 24" containers. Using some left over pressure treated 2x6s and the siding, with minimal cutting necessary, I was able to craft this:


The materials are as weather proof as it gets and once painted, the window box will match the siding. This one will be for my kitchen herb garden, given that I don't kill everything I touch. I would like to plant some basil, chives, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, etc. I would like to plant some mint as well, but it will be in its own container.


I am taking another stab at growing excess basil from the grocery store. This little guy took root in a glass of water and just got transplanted this morning. If it keeps growing, I might transplant it to the window box. My guess is that i'll be buying some plants to fill the herb garden and try for starting from seed next season.

I need to build two more boxes for the garage and then go shopping for some geraniums. It is all slowly starting to take shape. I have all sorts of ideas but not as much time as I'd like to prep and plant between working, racing and training. Oh well, such is the life.

Wood Shop

I think I failed the internship test in the wood shop at work today. I did most of the cutting at home and I will say for sure my "rip fence" isn't what it ought to be. I also made use of scrap materials for free which became evident when some things didn't line up perfectly due to warpage.


The good news is that caulk and paint hide a lot of things. I should be able to get the shelf up and start prepping it all for paint, filling holes and making it look pretty in general. Not too bad for a few minutes work.

I used some small 1/4 round on the top of the shelf so my chalk and eraser won't go flying off when I open and close the door. I am much more confident in my skills for cutting the casing since it gets cut flat, no compound anything involved . . .

With any luck, I will be racing some more this weekend, Deer Trail on Saturday and Haystack TT/TTT on Sunday. This will be the first full weekend of racing barring any cancellations . . .

Ewww

If all I could say were, "Yuck!" I wouldn't be posting this. Feel free to chime in, but when was the last time you ordered pizza from Domino's on purpose?

While the chain had it's place and time and did many things for many people when it comes to pizza delivery, their pizza is pretty low on the scale from bad to good. Certain statements in the article make it very clear that there are too many MBAs in the world. I give you, "When you have a brand that's almost 50 years old and you come out with new products, you want to make sure they're brand-enhancing." Does appetizing fit into the realm of "brand-enhancing" or is it something left to the scientists mentioned in the article? Mac-N-Cheese in a pizza crust bread bowl doesn't even sound very good, I'd hate to see the delivered product.

On the other side of the deliciousiocity scale is Golden Saigon in Aurora. To date, I have not had anything there that was not top notch. After the time trial at Cherry Creek, I joined Randy and Dee for dinner. We opted for the make your own spring roll plate which was the perfect amount of food post TT effort. They bring out a plate with chicken, shrimp, beef, veggies, and rice noodles, accompanied by a hotplate and pan of water for softening the rice paper. What you put in your spring roll is up to you as is how successfully you manipulate the rice paper. It was good to catch up with old friends, the jerks who tricked me into the whole bike racing thing in the first place . . .

The time trial, in retrospect, went about as expected. It is hard not to put pressure on yourself based on your memories of what you have done in the past, but fact of the matter is I don't come out both barrels blazing at the beginning of the season. My fastest time last year didn't come until a few weeks from now. Just for comparison:

Date	Place	Time		Date	Place	Time
--	--	--		4/8/2009	5	22:10.0
--	--	--		4/15/2009	2	22:14.4
4/23/2008	1	21:46.3		4/22/2009	3	21:53.3
4/30/2008	1	21:46.0		--	--	--
5/7/2008	2	21:27.7		--	--	--
5/14/2008	1	22:07.5		--	--	--
5/21/2008	1	21:13.0		--	--	--

My goal is to go sub-21:00 and retire from the sport and move on to my real love, competition eating. As long as I don't have to join in any Domino's Pasta in a Bread Bowl contests, I'd be happy as a pig in a well stocked barnyard.

Arts and Crafts

I took a moment during my lunch break to make use of some power tools we have at work that I don't have at my house, figuring that having appropriate materials on hand is half (maybe a third) of the battle on some of home projects.

I have made little to no progress in over a year on finishing off the door between the kitchen and now the espresso room. I got a new door that provided the ability to install a pet door for when animal egress is needed. That new door is pretty plain, even with the chalkboard I added. The remainder of the plan is to build a crown molding shelf to hold the simple necessities, like chalk and eraser, and frame the board with some casing prior to painting the door.

I picked out some casing from the warehouse and made a few quick cuts so I would be able to get it home. I decided that some 1" x 6" ultralite (coated MDF) would be perfect for the top of the shelf. Just to hedge my bets, I made some cuts on the ultralight since 6" would stick out quite a bit from the door. I located some crown moulding that was left over from another job and cut a few lengths since there will be some practice cuts made since compound mitering is involved. If time allows this evening post time trial and following events, I will make some cuts and do a quick dry fit to make sure it will all work. When the time comes, all of the parts will come back to work where I can use more fun tools, like the nail gun, to get everything glued and tacked together.

Thanks to convenient window shopping provided by the internet, I have a few ideas about what size window box liners are available. I'm going to take a stab at making the boxes/liner holders from some of the material I have leftover from the garage. Using pressure treated 2" x 6" for ends and "ribs" should provide enough of a framework to allow me to use the extra siding for the front, back, and side caps. I will be able to make the boxes the exact length I want. I will paint them with the same paint I used on the garage, so they'll blend right in when nothing is growing. I don't really look forward to making cuts on the cementitious siding, I now know how to/not to do it. Planning counts as progress right?

Now That We're Racing

The nice folks at Vista Auto Group and Subaru have given the team all sorts of goodies for showcasing at race venues. Fortunately it doesn't all travel with us to races, but the tent and banners will come in handy. Also fortunate that it doesn't all travel because it fills my car pretty much to capacity.


Keep an eye out for us at races on the local calendar. We'll be the ones in the Vista Auto Group-Subaru Cycling Team tent when we aren't racing. As soon as I have a chance to unbox some of the water bottles and stuff, I will post some pictures.

Now that we're racing, I feel like my time, although limited, is a bit more structures. That gives me some sort of sense of motivation to carry on with some of the outdoor projects, especially since there are a few more hours of daylight now.


Putting up some window boxes on the garage and planting some Alpine Geraniums is on the list of things to get accomplished before the end of the weekend. Not much has changed in the backyard as of late. Some piles have moved a little bit, some have grown, and everything got wet . . . that's about it. With the windows dressed up a bit, I might even take the time to remove the stickers that came on the windows from the factory, just maybe . . .

Racin' Bikes

It happened, never thought it would, but we got to race bikes, although I don't know if I'm comfortable referring to it is "racing" just yet. I went in circles, following people until I couldn't follow people anymore. After that, I picked the next group to follow and put in my efforts to get a well rounded workout.

Speaking of well rounded, with the weather being a terrible as it was Friday and into Saturday, I decided to do some baking. It has been a while since my last cinnamon roll baking adventure, but I decided to stick with the recipe from the show Good Eats. It had a few things going for it, one being buttermilk, two being an overnight resting period for the dough to develop flavor, and three cream cheese icing.


Baked goods with mass amounts of cinnamon always make the house smell really good. I had to open the oven a couple times to get the full effect and check progress. If I remember for next time I make this recipe, I'll be cutting back on the sugar in the filling. There is much more than needed and it doesn't melt all that well.


I am going to have to keep the cream cheese frosting recipe handy since there are plenty of things I could think of that could use a good glazing. This stuff would work well on cookies, cakes, or my finger. Fortunately, I was able to show some restraint and I have some leftover which reheat well in the toaster oven.

There really wasn't much reason to move from the couch on Saturday except to check out what was happening in the outside world. I did motivate eventually to ride the trainer in the hopes of my legs not feeling like total garbage in the event that Sunday's race really did happen.

The course at the Air Force Academy is a "classic" and was partially used for the 1986 World Championships. There are about 950' of climbing per lap and it feels like one of those endless grinds especially a couple laps in. My legs didn't feel like total garbage, but they didn't feel spectacular either. Chuck was kind enough to get in the early move so I did my best of following, especially on the flats just in case somebody else decided to go. Nobody really went and I was part of the shrapnel as the race exploded over subsequent laps. Unfortunately the chase caught Chuck's group, whittled down to a duo, at the end of the fourth lap. I finished the race in my little group and called it a day. Fitness will come around, if not there's always professional eating . . .

Stupid Snow

This is just dumb, look how big that flake is and the other one.


Saturday's race is postponed as of last night and our race is still being debated for Sunday. I really don't think this cycling season is ever going to happen.

Sick

I know I must be sick . . . I pre-registered for the Haystack Time Trial, not that pre-reg is all that crazy for me, but given the forecast I am not sure it is such a wise idea all around.


The weather doesn't look to promising, even though all I see is some rain when I look out the window. They say they will run it as long as there isn't any snow accumulating on the road, but snow flakes, though soft and fluffy looking, hurt at time trial speeds. If they do hold it under miserable conditions, I am not sure if I will be out there, therein lies the downside of pre-reg. Some races are run pre-reg only . . . until the promoter opens day of as well. I can only shake my head.

I got out last night to do the Cherry Creek time trial in the wind. My comment before the start was, "Hey, this isn't so bad, at least there aren't any whitecaps on the reservoir." Conditions have certainly been worse in the past. I brought the full arsenal of wheels, but ultimately went with the disc and tri-spoke setup as per usual. This week, the front wheel held air and I didn't have to borrow a wheel. I went faster, relatively speaking given the conditions. I think quite a few people misjudged the wind and went way too easy on the way out, not realizing that the tailwind on the way back would make for a quick return regardless of physical state. I should have gone out a little harder than I did, but there's always next week.

When I got home last night, I started going through a very odd and disconcerting chill/sweat cycle. Within every hour, I'd go between shivering and sweating and had all sorts of aches and pains. I didn't feel all that much better this morning, but I dragged myself into work to get everybody what they needed to get through the day before returning home to the couch. Hopefully this goes away without turning into anything worse, but for right now I feel wiped out.

Elements of Reality

First off, it is Wednesday. I can tell because the weather is deteriorating significantly as the afternoon rolls on and my start time approaches for the KHMTT series. Unfortunately the weather is going far beyond the usual Wednesday madness and a Winter Storm Watch has been issued for the weekend with a 70% chance of mixed precipitation on Friday and Saturday. This could all be part of what I suspect is a conspiracy being carried out by local news media outlets to sell more advertisement, but only time will tell. I don't like the fact that very little bike racing has occurred in Colorado because of this late resurgence of winter.

After a mediocre showing last week, I'm ready to pretend that I am going to "crush it" out at Cherry Creek tonight, but with winds at 20 MPH, gusting to 30+ it is anybody's guess. I tested at the Echelon Sports Performance laboratories last night and the results were encouraging. I am currently putting out 6.326 horsepower/ton, I don't really know what that means since it isn't the standard measurement for cyclist. If you want to do the math on your own, you can convert it to the standard power to weight ratios for cars and compare.

I made the leap and booked my lodging for my European adventure for 2009. I will be heading to St. Johann in Tirol, Austria again this year for Masters' Worlds. I have been moving my way up the podium for both the time trial and the road race, although my real focus is the TT. This year, I'll be sharing housing with Mike Olheiser, a two time winner of the TT in my age group and all around good guy. He has had some really impressive results the past couple of years.

I am looking forward to this trip even though it seems like the end of August is a very long time from now. Given that racing has not really started, I am sure time will fly once it does. Nothing like having busy weekends every weekend for the duration of the summer . . . that is if summer ever comes.

Now That I'm A Hick

As a truck owner, I have certain responsibilities. I have to track expenses related to the truck since it is a shared vehicle and every bulb, accessory, drop of oil, coolant, or washer fluid that goes into it gets split up. I also have to embrace some of the redneck roots that I really don't have, but can easily adopt thanks to instant access created by the media. When somebody says, "NASCAR, blah, blah, blah" I can latch firmly onto whatever they say and respond with an emphatic, "Chevy?!? please!" or "D'yu see that!?!"

The WSJ now has sports coverage. The first shocker was when they started including color pictures, but to cover sports, that's just crazy talk. I guess they can still give just about anything a financial spin. Take NASCAR for example, it is a huge dollar venture, even though it is based on a bunch of good ol' boys making their way the only way they know how. I read the first few words of this one the other day before deciding that truck or no truck, I really didn't care. I should have shut down when I saw the picture of a Toyota as part of an article about stock car racing . . . oh my gaaah, d'yu see that?!?

Interesting fact, NASCAR teams go through 1000 gallons of oil in a season, mostly because they use separate oil for qualifying laps and regular racing. Not only is this a waste of precious resources, but it isn't in keeping with the roots of the sport. How much moonshine would have been confiscated if early heros of the "sport" like Junior Johnson stopped mid run . . . think about it.

Passover Eats

It might be the oppressive thought of a solid week, and then some, of being restricted to matzo as the main, bread-like option for the culinary experience, but Passover food gets a pretty bad rap among many of us. I've been making the most of my internet researching skills to hunt down new and exciting foods for a change of pace from the usuals during the holiday.

Passover desserts are often a disaster. Too many ingredients are substituted or altered to create things the are supposed to resemble cakes or something. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good macaroon and flourless chocolate cakes can be quite good, but I stumbled upon Caramel Chocolate Covered Matzo and I actually wanted to make the recipe and didn't have the usual fears. It was easy to make and came out exactly as described and expected. The only hard part is keeping it around for the duration of the holiday as opposed to eating it all after it cools.

My father operates under the principle that potato kugel ain't nothin' but a potato latke baked in a casserole format. While this theory is a good one, it leads me to some brief meditation on word origin. Did somebody first throw out the term as Kugel from germanic/yiddish roots for a scoop or did they mean Kegel which is more towards bowling pin? I wanted to find a different recipe to try to see if the potato Kugel could be different. I found this one in Food & Wine and I have to say the flavor was quite good. I would like to experiment with the recipe some to see if there is a way to lighten it up a bit and cut way back on the amount of oil since it is essentially still a giant latke fried in the oven.

I have made it halfway through the holiday without too much additional stress from hunting for KFP food. If I find anything else worth sharing, I will. It does appear, although possibly by accident, that Safeway has figured out that the holiday isn't over after the initial food purchase. There is still a shelf of KFP goods.

Anatomy of a . . .

Just because it's Friday and I saw this a while back . . . seemed to dovetail into my last post nicely.



The artist has some really unique looking pieces on his site, check it out, you know you aren't doing any real work.

Anatomy of a Grinder

I didn't have to go too deep into the grinder to change the burrs, but it did involve a little disassembly and cleaning in the process. I have been sitting on the new burrs for a while now, mostly because I am lazy.


Off comes the adjustment ring and the upper burr carrier.


From there, the lower burr can be removed and those who are super motivated can remove the lower burr carrier with some minor gymnastics involving longer screws to unseat it. I was not super motivated and the lower carrier wasn't too gross.


So I did a little cleaning after pulling the burr to get rid of the old, gummed up coffee residue. I really have no clue if the burrs needed to be replaced, but since the price was right on a new set and since they will last for approximately 400 kg of coffee, I figured it couldn't hurt to go ahead and do it.


Comparing visually, couldn't tell you much about new vs. old besides level of shine. The new burrs were sharper to the touch, we'll see what impact that has on my shots. I ran through some of my mediocre beans to season the new burrs and to make approximate grind adjustments. At a rate of a pound of coffee a week, I should be good to go for the next 16.9 years.

It's Passover Crackers!

The other day, I stopped at the useless Whole Foods and I really do find it useless since they didn't make any improvements over the Wild Oats that it used to be. I was amazed to find what I was looking for since this is the store that infuriates me because I can never find the one item that I mistakenly make the trip for. I purchased one chunk of horseradish in preparation for Passover. Now I know that WF is a Texas joint, but I thought they knew a little bit better, at least in Austin . . .


Passover Crackers? WTF? I am going to stop in this weekend and ask for some of them Jesus-Nip, cheese flavored Communion crackers. For the love of . . . it even says Matzo on the box! So I did the first thing that came to mind . . .


There has actually been a rash of unnecessary 911 calls as of late, complaint of too little shrimp in fried rice, locking oneself IN a car, etc. I didn't call 911 or burn down the store. This picture was from work yesterday. As I was leaving, there were two firetrucks in front of the building. Maybe it is a good thing we are moving to a new facility.

The Road to Success

. . . is not paved with stupidity. After years of turning out inferior product, US automakers are moving towards turning out useless products. In the midst of massive government bailout, while executives are being forced out by higher powers, somebody is still forging boldly ahead with sheer idiocy. Back at the end of last year, Ford introduced self-parking vehicles as the concept that would bring buyers to their dealerships. Yeah, that didn't really work so much for Lexus. Honestly, if you have a hard time determining if you car will fit in a spot or trouble parking it on your own (or you are prone to getting locked in) you probably should be driving anyways. Another gem from the above article:

In 2007, the company began offering an in-car entertainment system developed with Microsoft Corp., called Sync, which drivers can use to control their phone, stereo and iPod through voice commands. Ford is hoping such innovations will "make us cool in the customers' minds," Mr. Fields said.

John Casesa, managing partner at the New York consulting firm Casesa Shapiro Group LLC, said it is unclear how many customers will want the new Active Park Assist feature. "In terms of technology, the automatic parking wasn't very successful at Lexus," Mr. Casesa said. "I think the better example is Sync because it worked as promised and it's priced right."

Picking this one apart really isn't too difficult. First off, you are offering up amenities that really have nothing to do with the main purpose of your product. Does the American driver really need another distraction to make them even more frightening behind the wheel? Secondly, do you really want 'no, no, really, we made something and it actually worked' to be your selling point?

Yesterday, it was announced that GM was teaming up with the makers of the Segway to make a vehicle. This vehicle will be called PUMA which stands for Probably Useless in the Majority of Applications. Oh, sorry, it stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility.


I can only hope this was a late April Fools joke. Who in their right mind would ever let this out of a meeting room and into the public realm? According to the article, "GM and Segway say the vehicle could allow people to travel around cities more quickly, safely, quietly and cleanly, and at a lower total cost." The example below is a touch hyperbolic, but . . .


There are at least a handful of items in the picture that would provide significant challenge to the shell of the PUMA. I would be afraid of getting knocked over by a pedestrian rushing across a sidewalk.

The micro car concept isn't really a new one and it seems the the GM/Segway partnership would do nothing but make a very expensive, high tech micro car. The Peel P50 featured in the video above was essentially a 50cc scooter with a body. Maybe it is what we'd consider a retro look, given that the P50 was produced in 1962, but it has a much, much lower 'dork' factor than the PUMA. If this is the kind of stuff GM is going to come up with, maybe we should just cut them off and provide bailout to the former employees and suppliers.

So Little Time

Between doing stuff and stuff, there's not enough time to get stuff done. I got distracted by the end of the NCAA Final last night. I had hoped for a better game, but another notch on the ol' championship belt is a good thing, even if Carolina put the smack down on Michigan State.

I did find some time to get out to the garage and cut some more blocks for the counter top. By my estimation, I am just about half way there. Just doing some quick math, I need a total of about 240 blocks. At 2.5" per block, that is just about 50' of 2x4 cut up, minus whatever the giant pile of sawdust amounts to.


Once I cut the remainder of the blocks, I will have to do a little tweaking on the layout to make sure I get enough randomness to the top. Then it is off to the paint/stain testing laboratory. I have a couple concepts to delve into and I want to have a decent representation of what the end grain will and will not soak up.

In some of my other spare time, I made it to the Home Depot to pick up some plumbing supplies to address my plumbing fears. My fears were confirmed with some tugging on the poly line where I tapped into the cold water line to supply the espresso machine. Some tugging resulted in the poly popping out of the compression fitting, much like it did a few weeks back, flooding the basement.


I upgraded to all mechanical type connections with the shut off valve being compression style, but on copper not poly. The line to the filter setup is a dishwasher supply that has its own shut off built in if the connection comes loose down the line somewhere. I won't be testing that one on purpose, but it is comforting to have the shutoff option at the "T" in the cold water line. Makes me feel much better being able to turn it all off when I skip town for a longer period of time.

The time trial at Cherry Creek starts tomorrow, I hope the legs remember what they are supposed to do. I'm glad I got out on the TT bike once prior to make sure it works, but the first real effort isn't going to feel so great. At least this time, I don't have to go run four miles after.

A Day at the Track

This weekend was supposed to be the "Great, Late Spring Blizzard of 2009" but it never really materialized. Chuck offered to set up some team time at the Boulder Velodrome so we could spend some quality team time riding in guaranteed warm, dry conditions. Pictures tell most of the story about the size of the track and the angle of the corners, but until you start riding at speed, you don't really get it. Chuck gave us some brief instructions, most important being to communicate clearly and go faster than 15 mph so you don't fall down the banking.

We got out on the track and did laps to get a feel for it and it is a bit different. You are turning, but still mostly going in a straight line around the curves. Scott is processing all of the information as he goes around the track.


Randy has done some racing on the track before so most of it is old hat to him so he was much more comfortable with taking the corners at speed.


Chuck shows us how it is done, taking a lap in the pole lane. As you get to the corners where the track is banked at 45 degrees, you get quite the lean going.


After doing some pace line work, we did a few rounds of 'Italian Pursuits' which is basically a 1k lead out train exercise. In a normal team pursuit, you maintain a pace line for the prescribed race distance. For this drill it was one or two lap pulls and then you peel off. A one lap pull goes by really quickly, especially one you get going.


A number of us had very serious looks on our faces indicating the intensity with which we approached these races. In my case, it was reflecting the fear that had been put in me by a few close encounters of the wrong kind.


There was one effort where I was "chasing" Ryan and botched turn 1 pretty badly. Drifting up the track, I decided to stop pedaling and correct my line . . . except you can't stop pedaling a fixed gear. I did a little hopping, some veering towards the rail (and netting beyond) before correcting and stuffing my heart back into my chest. A good time was had by all and it was much better than spending the morning sitting on the trainer in the basement.

Racing for Sunday got canceled at the last minute as well when it finally decided to start snowing. I pulled the plug on that one prior since it was only 30 degrees out in Golden and the threat of snow existed. I'm glad I got my workout in when I did and didn't have to worry about Mother Nature's fickle ways. It will be nice when this racing season starts for real though.

And They're Off!

All races on the ACA calendar for the weekend are no more. The official word is that Koppenberg wasn't really rescheduled ever anyways. We're hitting the track tomorrow, photographic evidence of the carnage to follow.

If anybody needs me, I'll be playing in the predicted snow.

Next Project

This is actually one that is being revisited since it has been neglected for a bit. I got to work in the espresso room last night, getting more prepared to start thinking about possibly beginning to hang drywall. I had some junior plumber work to do to get the water filters and the pump motor off the counter and to their final home. The filters are on the wall in the basement for easy access when it comes time to change them in about 90 gallons time from now.


The motor/pump will live in the cabinet under the espresso machine. I need to find a nice foam block or something to put under it to minimize vibration, but it sure is much quieter with it hidden away. This cabinet space will also hold the "waste" bucket since I can't conveniently plumb in the waste line with enough drop to ensure that grounds won't plug it up over a short time span.


I still need to find a home for the 220v timer so I don't have to remember to turn the machine on at night before I go to bed. I've had the timer forever now, but haven't been motivated enough to get it set up and running. After last night's work, I have a bit more counter space than I did before.


Speaking of counter space, I finally got started on the top, sort of. Originally my thought was to do an edge grain pattern, laminating 2x4s together with a couple through bolts for accent and stuff. I got to thinking about doing an end grain pattern for kicks and I think I will keep heading in that direction. Because I have absolutely no interest in running each 2x4 through a jointer to square them, the top will have a certain degree of character because of the imperfections, but the overall top will be squared prior to install.


I am also toying with the idea of using a silver/grey "whitewash" effect instead of staining the top. This would allow the grain to show through still, but give it a metallic look. Good thing I don't have any deadlines set by the owner on any of this.

Since Passover is on the horizon, I figured I'd clear the last of the bread dough out of the fridge so last night, I prepped a couple loaves before going to bed. When the alarm went off this morning, my snooze cycle was getting out of bed, firing up the oven and waiting for it to beep. The result . . .


A mighty fine looking loaf was ready and waiting to be pulled out of the oven when Dempsey and I got back from the visit to the park. This is one of my best loaves to date using the master recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The verdict . . . delicious, especially with a healthy slathering of Nutella.

1985 F-150 For Sale - $2500

1985 Ford F-150 4x4, 300 CID Inline-6, 4-speed manual, 148,500 miles, clean title

This truck is the base model F-150. Recently passed Colorado enhanced emissions and has new throttle position sensor, idle control motor, EGR valve, O2 sensor, fuel filter, plugs, wires, oil, wipers, tachometer. All it needs is a horn. Also included are a bed liner, Ford Factory engine service manual, Ford Factory vacuum and electrical troubleshooting guide, and OBD I code reader.


She's a beauty, ain't she . . . any takers?

You Faaaaa . . . uh . . . Pass!

Matt and I did some more testing last night as planned. We connected the test light to the proper leads on the sensor, mounted the light inside the cab for optimal viewing and set out to test on the highway, now that we were more within the limits of the law. The EGR on/off solenoid was the first victim. Our theory was that we'd never see the valve open in the garage with the vehicle in neutral no matter how hard we tried. Shortly after getting on I-25, we saw the first flashing and it met our expectation that the valve should be opened by the computer at cruising conditions. We moved the test light to the mix control solenoid on the carburetor, not really knowing what to expect, but from what we read, we knew there should be pulsing involved. Yup, pulsing it was, but we still don't know if it is operating properly, but it does get the signal to do whatever it is supposed to. Nothing left to do now, but raise all sorts of hell in the manner a old pickup truck owner can and should. We probably will get all sorts of street (or farm) cred for parking on the snow bank at the Whole Foods . . . ah the humor.


Oh my gaah . . . did y'all see that!!??!!


Oh yeah and we still had to pass emissions, but knowing that things were apparently doing what they should be after the vacuum "leak" was fixed made us that much more confident. Plus, if it failed this time, we'd know even more than when we started. I took the truck in this morning, waited for 2.2 minutes to get through the line and the truck passed with flying uh . . . emissions. To be exact, HC GPM 2.0396 (4.5 limit), CO GPM 3.298 (45.0 limit), CO2 GPM 535.7429 (no limit), NOx GPM 4.1948 (6.0 limit) so everything was pretty safely within the limits, but two years from now, we might need a catalytic converter. That is if we still have the truck then . . .

The "initial" cost per share of this here fractional ownership truck is $494.68, not too bad. I'll have the mileage report in the near future as soon as I can start tracking it.