At one time in my life, waking up at 5AM was tough. Since Ryan came along, waking or sleeping isn't really such a big deal anymore. When it comes it comes, when it goes, etc.
That being said, i wasn't sure how my body would react to today's 3:30 alarm. Luckily enough, i was able to get up, slam coffee and some oatmeal and then get the family in the car, surprisingly close to our planned 4:30 departure time, maybe we're getting better at this? So off we went, leaving our groggy house guest Jeff behind 100% convinced that we are nuts.
We met up with Caroline just over the bridge and the caravan began. Destination, the Lake Charles T-Gator Duathlon or as i refer to it 2/15/2 of pleasure.
Lots of friendly faces at the start, Charlie, Norm, Ryan, Brandon, Brian, Mitch, Ricky, old home week really. The run was out and back, up a very slight hill.
The race started and immediately i realized that i hadn't run fast in a while, pain came in quickly, not like the kind i've been getting on longer slower runs. I just started passing people and hit mile 1 in 5:45, shocked i pressed on. I slowed over the 2nd mile which allowed Kate and a couple of other guys to blow by me. I finished in 11:56, psyched to break 12.
On to the bike with a lead on Norm, i figured i better make it count. That wasn't to be, i think he caught me in less than a mile. He said he wanted to catch me so bad, he only got clipped in a little before getting to me. Come on man!
The course went straight into a headwind from the leftish that seemed to ebb and flow. Going out it was lots of 20-24. The course bent to the right twice before the turn, after that it was mostly 25-27 on the way home. Things were going well, then less than a mile to go, some officials working a fork in the park just looked at me without motioning or anything, so instinctively i went right. Turns out the race went left, no worries though.
The last run is just pain. Coming off the bike, you're blown, but you're used to moving at 20 something, now you're going 9? It's tough. I got to the turn in 6:45, then did the last in 6:50. I was psyched, not sure how i finished, i know i didn't get top 3 in my age group, but Amy said i was top 10 overall, we'll see.
It was a great race, lots of laughs, great course, lots of fun with Amy and Ryan, also only my second ride on the Cervelo which is a gem. I like it a lot. The position may not be finalized, but it's definitely good.
Ryan fell asleep leaving Lake Chuck, so we headed on to Breaux Bridge for the goods at Cafe Des Amis. Can't say enough, they really delivered. We celebrated with primo coffee, Fried Green Tomatoes and Crawfish Pie, etouffee served over puffed pastry. Really a perfect ending, and Ryan was a champ on the roadtrip, which might be his longest so far.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
her bikini small, heels tall, she said she liked the ocean
No, this post isn't about her or her or even her
it's about goin back to cali, cali, cali, the tour of cali that is
Here are some random thoughts on the race so far
Love the new disco get-up, like the dark colors.
Hate the new disco get up, what's up with the upside down Disco? No wonder they stopped sponsoring these guys. I wonder if that was an error at the print shop.
Also, i agree about Levi's position. He's totally going Praying Mantis Landis style, and obviously, it works.
Everyone was surprised with Jason Donald's ride except me. You make anybody wear that outfit in San Fran and they're going to ride fast, come on!
I thought the decision on Stage 1 to neutralize the circuit laps was odd.
Tivo went south on Stage 2, the last minute went like this
"and teams are scrambling to get to the front in this last half mile, even Big George Hincapie is giving it a go..." then the dialog appeared whether or not to keep or delete this program...ARGH.
I haven't checked out Stage 3 on tape yet, but you gotta love it when Jens Voigt wins, the dude is a powerhouse who always works hard. That being said, he really could stand to drop his seatpost an inch or so.
Some other good stuff from across the pond:
Max VanHoyDoy getting the helping hand for the win on his new team.
This still makes me laugh
I've got big plans on tap for the 2007 Fantasy Cycling season, if i can ever get around to programming it, all will be impressed, or their money back, and that's a promise.
it's about goin back to cali, cali, cali, the tour of cali that is
Here are some random thoughts on the race so far
Love the new disco get-up, like the dark colors.
Hate the new disco get up, what's up with the upside down Disco? No wonder they stopped sponsoring these guys. I wonder if that was an error at the print shop.
Also, i agree about Levi's position. He's totally going Praying Mantis Landis style, and obviously, it works.
Everyone was surprised with Jason Donald's ride except me. You make anybody wear that outfit in San Fran and they're going to ride fast, come on!
I thought the decision on Stage 1 to neutralize the circuit laps was odd.
Tivo went south on Stage 2, the last minute went like this
"and teams are scrambling to get to the front in this last half mile, even Big George Hincapie is giving it a go..." then the dialog appeared whether or not to keep or delete this program...ARGH.
I haven't checked out Stage 3 on tape yet, but you gotta love it when Jens Voigt wins, the dude is a powerhouse who always works hard. That being said, he really could stand to drop his seatpost an inch or so.
Some other good stuff from across the pond:
Max VanHoyDoy getting the helping hand for the win on his new team.
This still makes me laugh
I've got big plans on tap for the 2007 Fantasy Cycling season, if i can ever get around to programming it, all will be impressed, or their money back, and that's a promise.
Friday, February 16, 2007
badow!
This will appeal to bicycle/tech geeks everywhere. I can't wait until it's mandatory and the entire race can be tracked in a browser, that statement alone merits me a lifetime membership in the group named above.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
tales of the weird
i've heard of police impersonation cases before, but this guy took it way too far.
haza haza!
Here's the whole story but most importantly...
Agreed to chip in $12,500 to help pay for a $250,000 master plan to build a proposed bike path on the Mississippi River levee from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The master plan is required to qualify for federal funds, which could pay for up to 80 percent of the $33 million project. The Pontchartrain Levee District is putting up $50,000 for the study, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering has agreed to provide an additional $125,000. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville and the three other parishes on the proposed bike path are being asked to kick in $12,500 apiece for the study.
I wasn't overly optimistic after seeing this on the Business Report
Poll: Readers not enthusiastic about bike path
Daily Report readers are skeptical of plans to build a bike path connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Sixty percent of the respondents to an online survey say they don't like the plan, which would cost $33 million, because they think it would cost too much money and not enough people would use it. Forty percent say they like the plan because they think it would stimulate tourism and recreation-related spending. The Metro Council is set to vote this afternoon on funding a master plan study for the project. More than 1,650 people participated in the survey.
I'll go on record as saying 100% of me thinks it's the only salvation for the training on the River Road.
Agreed to chip in $12,500 to help pay for a $250,000 master plan to build a proposed bike path on the Mississippi River levee from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The master plan is required to qualify for federal funds, which could pay for up to 80 percent of the $33 million project. The Pontchartrain Levee District is putting up $50,000 for the study, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering has agreed to provide an additional $125,000. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville and the three other parishes on the proposed bike path are being asked to kick in $12,500 apiece for the study.
I wasn't overly optimistic after seeing this on the Business Report
Poll: Readers not enthusiastic about bike path
Daily Report readers are skeptical of plans to build a bike path connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Sixty percent of the respondents to an online survey say they don't like the plan, which would cost $33 million, because they think it would cost too much money and not enough people would use it. Forty percent say they like the plan because they think it would stimulate tourism and recreation-related spending. The Metro Council is set to vote this afternoon on funding a master plan study for the project. More than 1,650 people participated in the survey.
I'll go on record as saying 100% of me thinks it's the only salvation for the training on the River Road.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Sorry Steph, Busted by the man...
We received notification today that you have posted a segment from the Around Town TV Show to www.youtube.com. I am writing to instruct you to remove it immediately.
The Around Town TV Show is copyrighted and may not be duplicated or distributed in any way without the express permission of 1stCo. To do so illegal.
Please remove the video segment today and email me at blahblahblah to confirm this has been resolved. I trust this matter can be resolved without further action.
Stuart
The Around Town TV Show is copyrighted and may not be duplicated or distributed in any way without the express permission of 1stCo. To do so illegal.
Please remove the video segment today and email me at blahblahblah to confirm this has been resolved. I trust this matter can be resolved without further action.
Stuart
Monday, February 12, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
properly disgusted, late in coming, but proper nonetheless
This afternoon during Ryan's nap, i reclined on the couch and clicked on our old friend HBO to find Return of the Jedi minutes before the ending. I figured it would be nice to step back to that simpler time, back before Jar-Jar Binks when special effects were special because they were parts of a movie, not the entire movie.
Let me replay the incident here for your benefit:
Ah, the ewok village on Endor
love those ewoks.
Wedge is still around, you old dog.
Now Lando, that Billy Dee Williams is suave.
Leia should never have gone with that ewok-combed-out look, not good, go back to that Tatooine Jabba-barge metal bikini thing, that was quality.
Now there's pre-baldness Luke, gazing at the spirits of the great jedi: Ben, Yoda and middle-aged recently dead Darth
Wait one minute, WTF is Hayden Christensen doing in this film? I hit pause and rewind, you can imagine the disgust Amy and i felt. The scene was memorable because having only just met the helmetless-Darth/dying Anakin a few moments before, you were forced to imagine him healthier and less mechanical in what appears to be the standard issue uniform for citizens of Tatooine. Nope, George Lucas in an orwellian device the likes of which i've never imagined was possible, overlayed the older actor with an image of Christensen for the 2004 dvd release.
Why would you do this? This is so much worse than Ted Turner's colorizing the classics. Does everything really have to come back together this completely George? I'm still surprised that he didn't stick Han Solo's dad into episode III somehow, or maybe a little baby Lando Calrissian somewhere.
Anyway, i googled it and some hardcore fans point out that young Anakin was good, older Anakin was bad. Which is a load of crap, he was always bad, he only turned a little good at the end of Jedi. It's like a paltry ploy to say "Hey, look! kids born in the late 80's, that guy from my latest movie invented time travel too."
Why didn't he take it all the way and come up with a teenage Yoda and maybe Ewan McGregor too. Or wait a minute, Luke never knew young Yoda, young Ben or young Anakin for that matter. He should have dubbed in Luke saying, "Yoda, Ben, who's that other guy?"
Maybe it's all just a big hallucination that Luke's suffering from, after going into the Medicine Man Ewok's hut, and smoking the "wacky weed" out of that dead stormtrooper's blood-stained helmet.
Or how about this, all six frickin episodes have been a dream sequence a la Wisdom and now Luke wakes up back in the oil bath on Tatooine with an embarrassed C-3P0, who's showing Uncle Owen where he touched him on a small droid doll.
Ok, maybe i took it too far there, but it's equivalent to my disgust.
Let me replay the incident here for your benefit:
Ah, the ewok village on Endor
love those ewoks.
Wedge is still around, you old dog.
Now Lando, that Billy Dee Williams is suave.
Leia should never have gone with that ewok-combed-out look, not good, go back to that Tatooine Jabba-barge metal bikini thing, that was quality.
Now there's pre-baldness Luke, gazing at the spirits of the great jedi: Ben, Yoda and middle-aged recently dead Darth
Wait one minute, WTF is Hayden Christensen doing in this film? I hit pause and rewind, you can imagine the disgust Amy and i felt. The scene was memorable because having only just met the helmetless-Darth/dying Anakin a few moments before, you were forced to imagine him healthier and less mechanical in what appears to be the standard issue uniform for citizens of Tatooine. Nope, George Lucas in an orwellian device the likes of which i've never imagined was possible, overlayed the older actor with an image of Christensen for the 2004 dvd release.
Why would you do this? This is so much worse than Ted Turner's colorizing the classics. Does everything really have to come back together this completely George? I'm still surprised that he didn't stick Han Solo's dad into episode III somehow, or maybe a little baby Lando Calrissian somewhere. Anyway, i googled it and some hardcore fans point out that young Anakin was good, older Anakin was bad. Which is a load of crap, he was always bad, he only turned a little good at the end of Jedi. It's like a paltry ploy to say "Hey, look! kids born in the late 80's, that guy from my latest movie invented time travel too."
Why didn't he take it all the way and come up with a teenage Yoda and maybe Ewan McGregor too. Or wait a minute, Luke never knew young Yoda, young Ben or young Anakin for that matter. He should have dubbed in Luke saying, "Yoda, Ben, who's that other guy?"
Maybe it's all just a big hallucination that Luke's suffering from, after going into the Medicine Man Ewok's hut, and smoking the "wacky weed" out of that dead stormtrooper's blood-stained helmet.
Or how about this, all six frickin episodes have been a dream sequence a la Wisdom and now Luke wakes up back in the oil bath on Tatooine with an embarrassed C-3P0, who's showing Uncle Owen where he touched him on a small droid doll.
Ok, maybe i took it too far there, but it's equivalent to my disgust.
Friday, February 09, 2007
best laid plans and tunes
This weekend was going to be my first 2007 race at the Evangeline Oak Du, but my stomach had other plans, so i will be taking it light. It's weird to have time off, i've had pretty good workouts for 3 months straight without much of a break.
Angels and Airwaves are so cool that even their website kicks ass.
It's Blink-182
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up.
Thanks Gelpimp
Angels and Airwaves are so cool that even their website kicks ass.
It's Blink-182
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up.
Thanks Gelpimp
and another thing
Since gated neighborhoods and one-street subdivisions that dead-end are all the rage, the least these planners could do is break out a thesaurus. On my ride down Bluff i noticed a number of new one's coming up with such great names as Bluff Oak, Oaks at Bluff, Bluff Lakes, Bluff Bluff Bluff, Bluff Bluff, the Mansions of Bluff, Mother Bluffer, BluffBluff, the Bluffs at Bluff, leBluff, Jeb Luff's, iBluff, Bluffer's and Yo Mama's got a Buffalo Bluff. Come on people, break out.
Of course this from the guy who lives where every street is SpringMe, SpringYou, SpringDog, SpringCat, etc.
Of course this from the guy who lives where every street is SpringMe, SpringYou, SpringDog, SpringCat, etc.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
A cyclist's prayer
Oh God, please protect me today and if it be your will, keep me from being killed on this ride, because i don't want the first words said over my freshly dead body to be "that there look like one of them bike guys, they are always in the way, where are they ridin to anyway?".
That's probably not the best mantra to keep in your head, but Sunday's afternoon ride, which unfortunately corresponded directly with the Super Bowl pre-game drinking rituals among the pick-up truck driving intellectuals of Iberville parish, had me repeating this prayer for most of my 3 hours of chamois time.
It all started innocently enough, me spinning along on an iRide, trying to figure out circles again after 4 days off due to a fever, when Sebastian blew past me like a frickin Porsche. He actually looked more like a sportscar than a cyclist because he was on the maiden voyage of his new Guru TT machine. Very slick in all-black, we rode along around the loop talking seat tube angles, position, etc. He was excited to do Pace Bend in two weekends, that race is awesome. The rolling enclosure makes all the difference, here's a pedalmasher film made the year that i did it, 3 years ago and it feels like only yesterday yesterday yesterday ... (insert dream sequence here).
Anyway, i turned off River Road onto the new River Road, which is Bayou Paul. There seem to be more cyclists on this road now at any given time than anywhere else in BR. From there i decided to ride through the gravel to Bluff, then over to 74 which is where the festivities began with trucks buzzing me, telling me to get off the road, etc. all while clinging to an 18 inch shoulder. Very nice, i think i'll go back to my trainer and pray for the day i live somewhere else.
That's probably not the best mantra to keep in your head, but Sunday's afternoon ride, which unfortunately corresponded directly with the Super Bowl pre-game drinking rituals among the pick-up truck driving intellectuals of Iberville parish, had me repeating this prayer for most of my 3 hours of chamois time.
It all started innocently enough, me spinning along on an iRide, trying to figure out circles again after 4 days off due to a fever, when Sebastian blew past me like a frickin Porsche. He actually looked more like a sportscar than a cyclist because he was on the maiden voyage of his new Guru TT machine. Very slick in all-black, we rode along around the loop talking seat tube angles, position, etc. He was excited to do Pace Bend in two weekends, that race is awesome. The rolling enclosure makes all the difference, here's a pedalmasher film made the year that i did it, 3 years ago and it feels like only yesterday yesterday yesterday ... (insert dream sequence here).
Anyway, i turned off River Road onto the new River Road, which is Bayou Paul. There seem to be more cyclists on this road now at any given time than anywhere else in BR. From there i decided to ride through the gravel to Bluff, then over to 74 which is where the festivities began with trucks buzzing me, telling me to get off the road, etc. all while clinging to an 18 inch shoulder. Very nice, i think i'll go back to my trainer and pray for the day i live somewhere else.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
SimAquarium 2.0 - The Guppy Strikes Back
Alert to Opera Users, SimAquarium 2.0 is back and this time it might be too complex for it's own good. With the old version, you could allow your fish to swim around mindlessly and breed while earning bucks to buy the higher priced and apparently sterile elite fish. This time it's all about reality, fish breed, but fish also die. To date, my little aquarium has seen nearly 23,000 fatalities, with a near even amount of births. I'll put it this way, guppies ain't shy. Additionally, some fish won't breed unless the tank is clean or dirty, some need additional food added, some need growth hormones and others fertility treatments or medicines. It's odd, but undoubtedly it smells better than a real tank.
Friday, January 19, 2007
my sanford and son side
I'll admit it, when my neighbors stack up large piles of trash, and by large i mean larger than what will fit in our parish-supplied 250 gallon trash can/homeless shelters, i will usually give them a quick glance to make sure they're not tossing out something reusable. There have been times when i've thought of snatching up a discarded 20 inch bmx bike, to build some sort of strange grocery-getter/coffee shop cruiser, but i've never pulled the trigger, that was until a few weeks ago.
Behold the apple of my eye...
Yep, i found this one in front of a house recently sold. I guess the previous owner wanted to move out in a hurry and threw it on the road. Remember the Shogun Kaze? a super tricked out funny bike they sold way back in the day, well this one's not that cool, it's just a set of pipes by comparison, but ... it was free.
I took it home and whipped out the tape measure, 58 c-t, with a 57 top tube. It's not like finding a C-Record Colnago covered in rust or anything, but as a beater, it will more than do.
Immediately i thought about making it a cross bike, so i threw on some old campy tubular wheels that Brian gave me (Relax Taylor, this was merely a concept, they're still yours for the taking) with my old Vittoria Tigre tubulars. All was good on the workstand, but when i aired up the tires the clearance on the front fork was a no-go. So i can either go with a skinnier front tire, or try to find an old hybrid 700c fork with canti bosses if i want to go with these wheels. I'll probably just stick my fatboy training wheels (700x28) on and use her to get to work and back, a rainy day commuter. My cross days are LONG gone (so help me GOD)
Check out that pedigree on the seat tube, Gonzales? That's the land of cycling greats like the Doc, Ward Webb and the Robert clan. I'll have to ride it hard to do them proud.
Behold the apple of my eye...
Yep, i found this one in front of a house recently sold. I guess the previous owner wanted to move out in a hurry and threw it on the road. Remember the Shogun Kaze? a super tricked out funny bike they sold way back in the day, well this one's not that cool, it's just a set of pipes by comparison, but ... it was free.
I took it home and whipped out the tape measure, 58 c-t, with a 57 top tube. It's not like finding a C-Record Colnago covered in rust or anything, but as a beater, it will more than do.
Immediately i thought about making it a cross bike, so i threw on some old campy tubular wheels that Brian gave me (Relax Taylor, this was merely a concept, they're still yours for the taking) with my old Vittoria Tigre tubulars. All was good on the workstand, but when i aired up the tires the clearance on the front fork was a no-go. So i can either go with a skinnier front tire, or try to find an old hybrid 700c fork with canti bosses if i want to go with these wheels. I'll probably just stick my fatboy training wheels (700x28) on and use her to get to work and back, a rainy day commuter. My cross days are LONG gone (so help me GOD)
Check out that pedigree on the seat tube, Gonzales? That's the land of cycling greats like the Doc, Ward Webb and the Robert clan. I'll have to ride it hard to do them proud.
mucho chagrin
It was with that, that i learned the fate of my precious letter to the editors of Esquire regarding Scarlett Johansson. I guess the accusation regarding Tiger Beat was too much, but it still makes me grin.
Natalie Portman said to listen to the Shins and it will "change your life". I love Natalie, so of course she was right. The Shins changed my life in this way:
I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO THE SHINS AGAIN.
These guys played on SNL this past weekend. To match the charisma coming out of their show, a person usually has to travel somewhere like the waiting area at Jiffy Lube. Dull and dying, they cranked out their first tune. They tried to save face by doing New Slang second, but it hobbled in much the same way. Ouch, not good.
I finally found some better music in the form of Modern Times by Bob Dylan. This was the soundtrack of my weekend in Manresa and it's really great. Rockin at times, in a French-Settlement-roadside-honky-tonk-kind-of-way. At other times straight out depressing, but all in good fun. The good kind of down. A word of warning, this album doesn't shuffle well with others. At times it got in with other recent purchases like Snoop Dogg, Journey and Gnarls Barkley (what can i say) and the result was not favorable.
Natalie Portman said to listen to the Shins and it will "change your life". I love Natalie, so of course she was right. The Shins changed my life in this way:
I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO THE SHINS AGAIN.
These guys played on SNL this past weekend. To match the charisma coming out of their show, a person usually has to travel somewhere like the waiting area at Jiffy Lube. Dull and dying, they cranked out their first tune. They tried to save face by doing New Slang second, but it hobbled in much the same way. Ouch, not good.
I finally found some better music in the form of Modern Times by Bob Dylan. This was the soundtrack of my weekend in Manresa and it's really great. Rockin at times, in a French-Settlement-roadside-honky-tonk-kind-of-way. At other times straight out depressing, but all in good fun. The good kind of down. A word of warning, this album doesn't shuffle well with others. At times it got in with other recent purchases like Snoop Dogg, Journey and Gnarls Barkley (what can i say) and the result was not favorable.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
back in the blog saddle with good news
First blog entry of 2007!
Yes, it's been a while, but well worth the wait.
Here's the official announcement, we are very excited to announce that we are expecting Baby#2!
Baby to be named later will arrive some time around August 7th.
More on this story as it develops!
Yes, it's been a while, but well worth the wait.
Here's the official announcement, we are very excited to announce that we are expecting Baby#2!
Baby to be named later will arrive some time around August 7th.
More on this story as it develops!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Quality Viewing, White Elephant and Stuff
Doing a lot lately, but none of it is blogging. I'm about 2 months behind on updating Ryan's page, hopefully i can remedy this soon.
The Tivo really went through a dry spell for a while, scarcely getting anything worth watching but it broke out with a vengeance last week. Items of note include:
30 Rock is the funniest show on television. Granted, we've been missing the Office this season due to scheduling conflicts with Survivor, so as far as i know, it is the funniest. Last week was so damned funny, with Alec Baldwin evidently having a trist with Condy Rice.
Everest got interesting as two of the expedition's climbers went HAC (high altitude crazy) and continued climbing against Brice's orders. No one could turn them back, total morons. Little did i know that the show earned such high praise from MountEverest.Net.
SNL was hosted by Justin Timberlake. While i'm not a big fan of the modern day JT, i must say these made me laugh a whole bunch: Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dick in a Box, Target and finally Homelessville. Thanks for Youtube for being all OVER that episode, geez.
We also caught Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by the King of Smug, George Clooney. This movie was tough to look away from, tough to believe, but very cool, i'm still thinking about it.
Yesterday was our office White Elephant, i think my gift earned the title for Most Traded. I tried in desperation to get it back, but alas ended up with a two prong key rack emblazoned with the word "BISTRO". I'm not sure what the !@#$% that was about. I do take a certain pride though in bringing a highly traded item. Last year, i brought a 4-pack of Guinness with a box of dominoes. It bounced around a lot.
My funniest all time contribution though was once when i brought a Cindy Crawford swimsuit calendar to Gaynor's White Elephant and nearly everyone stole it, because they knew they'd be able to pick again later, when someone else stole it. The highlight of the night was when my grandmother stole it. I wish i'd had a camera.
This interview with Sager did make me laugh a lot.
The HID is illin, but still under warranty. With such power comes evidently great frailty in the bulb structure. I hope to receive it back from NiteRider soon, i only used it maybe a half dozen times.
Get a load of the chocked full LAMBRA calendar for next year, that's a lot of racing.
And finally, under the O yeah, he's white and nerdy category, if anybody is still looking for a Christmas gift for me, check this out. Of course i'm joking.
The Tivo really went through a dry spell for a while, scarcely getting anything worth watching but it broke out with a vengeance last week. Items of note include:
30 Rock is the funniest show on television. Granted, we've been missing the Office this season due to scheduling conflicts with Survivor, so as far as i know, it is the funniest. Last week was so damned funny, with Alec Baldwin evidently having a trist with Condy Rice.
Everest got interesting as two of the expedition's climbers went HAC (high altitude crazy) and continued climbing against Brice's orders. No one could turn them back, total morons. Little did i know that the show earned such high praise from MountEverest.Net.
SNL was hosted by Justin Timberlake. While i'm not a big fan of the modern day JT, i must say these made me laugh a whole bunch: Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dick in a Box, Target and finally Homelessville. Thanks for Youtube for being all OVER that episode, geez.
We also caught Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by the King of Smug, George Clooney. This movie was tough to look away from, tough to believe, but very cool, i'm still thinking about it.
Yesterday was our office White Elephant, i think my gift earned the title for Most Traded. I tried in desperation to get it back, but alas ended up with a two prong key rack emblazoned with the word "BISTRO". I'm not sure what the !@#$% that was about. I do take a certain pride though in bringing a highly traded item. Last year, i brought a 4-pack of Guinness with a box of dominoes. It bounced around a lot.
My funniest all time contribution though was once when i brought a Cindy Crawford swimsuit calendar to Gaynor's White Elephant and nearly everyone stole it, because they knew they'd be able to pick again later, when someone else stole it. The highlight of the night was when my grandmother stole it. I wish i'd had a camera.
This interview with Sager did make me laugh a lot.
The HID is illin, but still under warranty. With such power comes evidently great frailty in the bulb structure. I hope to receive it back from NiteRider soon, i only used it maybe a half dozen times.
Get a load of the chocked full LAMBRA calendar for next year, that's a lot of racing.
And finally, under the O yeah, he's white and nerdy category, if anybody is still looking for a Christmas gift for me, check this out. Of course i'm joking.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
cricket vid et al
Haven't had time to blog much as of late, but here are the bullets...
The half-marathon photos came out, here's various photos of me, Charles looking smooth, and the lead pack we kept in sight led by Joe "The Legend" Lee.
Enjoyed a nice group ride Saturday after the Delta Racing IHOP meeting. The 1:00 ride out of Walgreens is becoming pretty popular, maybe 15-20 riders made it this week. It was very nice, double paceline 20-23 conversational pace. The number of words per conversation varied inversely to where you were in the range of 19-23, if you catch my drift.
19 = "What a beautiful day, don't you love cool weather?"
21 = "you been riding much?"
23 = "Tough wind"
and so on
Dr. Wolshon, Keith and I exchanged youtube cycling video finds.
The best of these is the Bettini footage from this year's Giro di Lombardia. This is the emotional win Bettini got a couple of weeks after learning of his brother's death in a car accident. His mad descending skills are incredible to watch as he curls around a guardrail, then takes it all the way to the wall. Check it out, very cool.
Keith was rapping about the 89 World's footage he found, which is awesome to watch. I remember reading about it back in college, but had never seen the video. Fignon, LeMond, Kelly, Konyshev, Bauer; they're all there mixing it up. Well Bauer exits quickly with a flat, but it's still fun to watch.
Yesterday i managed to get in a little under two hours on the bike, i would have gotten more but didn't get out the door as early as i wanted. I headed out to River Road about 6:15 or so, did about an hour of riding there before heading towards work. Saw Taylor A. on the way back in.
The sunrise was nice, and then, as if on queue in a fabricated Marty Stouffer PBS moment, a hawk landed on a fencepost very near the road and began chowing down on his morning breakfast mouse. Not a bad way to start the day.
I was supremely mellow until i turned onto the Interstate, err i mean Bluebonnet, where 55 seems to be the rule. Can't wait for the casino to come so these drivers will be more "lubricated" if you catch my drift.
The half-marathon photos came out, here's various photos of me, Charles looking smooth, and the lead pack we kept in sight led by Joe "The Legend" Lee.
Enjoyed a nice group ride Saturday after the Delta Racing IHOP meeting. The 1:00 ride out of Walgreens is becoming pretty popular, maybe 15-20 riders made it this week. It was very nice, double paceline 20-23 conversational pace. The number of words per conversation varied inversely to where you were in the range of 19-23, if you catch my drift.
19 = "What a beautiful day, don't you love cool weather?"
21 = "you been riding much?"
23 = "Tough wind"
and so on
Dr. Wolshon, Keith and I exchanged youtube cycling video finds.
The best of these is the Bettini footage from this year's Giro di Lombardia. This is the emotional win Bettini got a couple of weeks after learning of his brother's death in a car accident. His mad descending skills are incredible to watch as he curls around a guardrail, then takes it all the way to the wall. Check it out, very cool.
Keith was rapping about the 89 World's footage he found, which is awesome to watch. I remember reading about it back in college, but had never seen the video. Fignon, LeMond, Kelly, Konyshev, Bauer; they're all there mixing it up. Well Bauer exits quickly with a flat, but it's still fun to watch.
Yesterday i managed to get in a little under two hours on the bike, i would have gotten more but didn't get out the door as early as i wanted. I headed out to River Road about 6:15 or so, did about an hour of riding there before heading towards work. Saw Taylor A. on the way back in.
The sunrise was nice, and then, as if on queue in a fabricated Marty Stouffer PBS moment, a hawk landed on a fencepost very near the road and began chowing down on his morning breakfast mouse. Not a bad way to start the day.
I was supremely mellow until i turned onto the Interstate, err i mean Bluebonnet, where 55 seems to be the rule. Can't wait for the casino to come so these drivers will be more "lubricated" if you catch my drift.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
booyakasha!
It's in the books, not exactly the plan i had in mind, but the result was more than i expected.
I went to bed Friday night a little intimidated by the weather prediction which was in the mid to high 20's depending upon where you looked. When i woke up Saturday morning i was relieved to see that it was a toasty 35!
I probably ran about a mile to warm up and all was good. Charles had good advice, "Don't get on the front, those guys are going to go off too fast", so i didn't but i still went off fast. All i thought was "easy, take it easy" and mile 1 came in 6:52, for the next mile i thought "relax, coast, relax" and mile 2 was 6:50.
At this point, Joe Lee blew by me and i continued to try to chill, but the weather, the race, etc. kept me under 7 for mile three. Right about then Charles caught up to me and we started running side by side. Mile 4 must be long, i'm guessing it's long and 5 is short, just looking at my times.
From that point on, Charles and i ran together consistently knocking down miles and slowly bringing back a few runners from the lead group ahead of us.
In the last few miles, it seemed like we'd be way under 1:30 but it was not to be. Maybe the last tenth is long? 52 seconds seems pokey (52x10 = 520/60 = 8 min + mile?) It didn't matter, in the end, i got 9th overall and 4th in my age group, with 1:30.18 way more than i thought i'd do.
The weather was really perfect for the race, i didn't take a drink until mile 10, and i never touched my gu. I was jealous of Charles' drink belt, i know he got more out of his little bottles than i did from a paper cup.
Thanks go out to Jenni who made us scientifically pick this course apart over the last few months and to Charles who was great to run with.
Also thanks to my wife who is awesome! and it's a chocolate chip cookie too for God's sake.
Let's do the numbers:
6:52
6:50
6:57
7:06
6:46
6:57
6:56
6:53
6:47
6:48
6:49
6:55
6:43
:52
1:30:18
Official results are here.
I went to bed Friday night a little intimidated by the weather prediction which was in the mid to high 20's depending upon where you looked. When i woke up Saturday morning i was relieved to see that it was a toasty 35!
I probably ran about a mile to warm up and all was good. Charles had good advice, "Don't get on the front, those guys are going to go off too fast", so i didn't but i still went off fast. All i thought was "easy, take it easy" and mile 1 came in 6:52, for the next mile i thought "relax, coast, relax" and mile 2 was 6:50.
At this point, Joe Lee blew by me and i continued to try to chill, but the weather, the race, etc. kept me under 7 for mile three. Right about then Charles caught up to me and we started running side by side. Mile 4 must be long, i'm guessing it's long and 5 is short, just looking at my times.
From that point on, Charles and i ran together consistently knocking down miles and slowly bringing back a few runners from the lead group ahead of us.
In the last few miles, it seemed like we'd be way under 1:30 but it was not to be. Maybe the last tenth is long? 52 seconds seems pokey (52x10 = 520/60 = 8 min + mile?) It didn't matter, in the end, i got 9th overall and 4th in my age group, with 1:30.18 way more than i thought i'd do.
The weather was really perfect for the race, i didn't take a drink until mile 10, and i never touched my gu. I was jealous of Charles' drink belt, i know he got more out of his little bottles than i did from a paper cup.
Thanks go out to Jenni who made us scientifically pick this course apart over the last few months and to Charles who was great to run with.
Also thanks to my wife who is awesome! and it's a chocolate chip cookie too for God's sake.
Let's do the numbers:
6:52
6:50
6:57
7:06
6:46
6:57
6:56
6:53
6:47
6:48
6:49
6:55
6:43
:52
1:30:18
Official results are here.
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