Snots, Puke, and Tears

I have taken the past 2 days off of work to stay at home with The Bug who has been sick. My wife had to be at a convention both days so she couldn't stay home with him as she usually does when he doesn't feel well. First let me say that I love Bug more than anything on this earth and will do anything that is necessary to care for him when he is sick. To be honest, I am probably a bigger baby than he is when I am sick (he is 1 and I am 34). But, these past two days have absolutely drained me. I have no explanation for how such a small nose can make so much snot. I spent the entire day taking clean tissues out of my right pocket and putting dirty tissues in my left pocket. Then there was the occassional burp-barf. You know, when they kind of burp and a blob of barf comes out? Then there were lots and lots of tears. Anyway, his temperature is back down to normal and he seems to be happy again. I was glad to see him smiling tonight.

Tomorrow I am off to help my buddy Nugget do some drywalling at his place in Wisconsin. I will be back on Sunday. I see the weather is supposed to be fabulous with a high of 10 degrees during my stay. They have a sweet spin bike which I plan on using a lot because there is no way that I am going outside to ride or run in 10 degree weather. I am not as hardcore as some of you STUDS/STUDETTES.

Runners To Your Mark....

Today was the 3M Half Marathon & Relay. I did the relay with my boss, Mr. P. We had a good time and finished a little faster than we thought we would. My time (which is still in debate with Mr. P) was right at an hour for the 6.7 mile first leg. Our total time was 2:12 for the half, but only the second leg runner has a timing chip, so they began timing us at the horn. Those of you who have done one of these know that it can take 5 minutes to get to the start. Anyway, I am happy with one hour for this stage of my fitness. I think I will keep running because it seems to be a nice compliment to biking.

Yesterday I did a spin class at my gym. It was my first spin class ever so I wasn't sure what to expect. It quickly became apparent that you get out of spin what you are willing to put into it. I busted my ass and after an hour I felt like I had a great workout. I will try to do one spin class a week on a day when I won't be able to run or bike.

I hope you all had a weekend filled with riding.

Special Delivery

Another piece for the Retro Rocket project arrived today from Banana_Brain. I still have a few things to buy and hope to have the bike built by April or May.





The 3M Half Marathon is on Sunday and our team is ready.


I am the one of the far right.

Leaving Las Vegas

I arrived in Vegas yesterday for the World of Concrete exposition. The expo is the second largest convention event put on in Vegas every year behind the consumer electronics show. There are over 80,000 people from all over the world in Vegas for WOC. To make a long story short, my feet are killing me from endless walking at the expo and I am glad to be back in my room.

There is something about Las Vegas that I don't like, but I can't pinpoint it exactly. I have been here for work numerous times and each time I look forward to leaving. I understand that gambling is a business for the casinos here, but have you ever stopped to think how much money has to be lost by people everyday to open and profitably maintain just one of these casinos? People come here with the delusion that they have the chance to strike it rich, but how often does that happen? When I look around as I walk down the strip, my guess is that the casinos win most of the time. Maybe my Vegas aversion is from watching Nicholas Cage come here to drink himself to death. Come to think of it, this is probably a good choice for that.

I fly out early tomorrow morning bound for Raleigh, NC. I am back in Austin on Thursday. Fun week, eh?


Have one for me too, Nick.

Spectacular Sunday

As predicted, the weather in the Austin area today was FANTASTIC. Temperatures were in the mid 60s without a cloud in the sky and very little wind. The morning started with The Bug projectile vomiting all over his mommy. I am not sure what was wrong with him this morning, but he seems to be fine now. Sunflower was the only one who could make it to our 11am ride this morning. The others all let me know in advance that they weren't going to be able to make it which was nice. We rode from South Austin down Old San Antonio Road through Buda and Kyle. This was the first time I had ridden the route and it turned out to be nice. We saw a lot of cyclists out today. Of the 25 or so we passed, all but one waved. There always has to be one. So, I turned around and chased him down and pulled beside him, gave him the bird and threw my pump into his front spokes. When he regained consciousness I got right in his face and said, "NEXT TIME WAVE MOTHERFUCKER" and rode off. Haha! I am joking of course, but wouldn't that be cool?? Have a good Sunday folks.


Sunflower rolling in after a late night of partying. She's a trooper.


Just cruising along and enjoying the sun.


I spotted these little creatures on the way back to the cars.


And these guys too.


Me.


Sunflower hammering down the road.

Saturday

I misread the spin schedule and the class I wanted to take is tomorrow, not today. So I decided to run instead. It was cold and rainy, but I had one of my better runs of recent memory. Next Sunday is the half marathon that I am relaying with my boss and I think I am as ready as I am ever going to be. I may keep running regularly afterward because it seems to be a nice compliment to cycling. Tomorrow Mr. P, Sunflower, J-Man and possibly Mr. S and Big Cat are meeting me at an elementary school in South Austin for a road ride at 11am. I am really looking forward to getting out on my bike after a week of hiding from the ice and rain. Have a good Saturday.


My big sweaty head after a rainy 4 mile run.

Free at Last!

The ice has finally gone and life is back to normal here in TX. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, but no matter because was planning on doing a spin class anyway. Sunday I hope to put in some solid miles on the road and it looks like the weather may cooperate. Riding next week will be on stationary bikes because of work travel to Vegas and North Carolina. I need to do a few last runs before the 3M Half Marathon next weekend anyway. More to come tomorrow.


One thing that I have never done is to build a wheel. I figured this book would be a read to get introduced to the principles of wheels and wheel building. I am sure like anything else, hands on experience is the best form of teaching but this will have to suffice for the time being.

No Shame in Walking. Right?

It is Tuesday and I have been cooped up for 3 days now while we get buried in ice. Forget riding, forget driving, forget leaving the house. It just sucks. So, no real bike related posts here for now. Sorry. But, the short video above is worth a click.


My garden on Tuesday. Redamndiculous.

Monday Woes

This may look normal for you, but this is TX.

The ice has finally found me. I moved from CT to TX this year to escape it, but there can be no escape for me. It always finds me.

I got up this morning and looked outside and my deck was covered with ice. That was all I needed to see to decide that I would be working from home today. When I lived in TX the first time about 10 years ago having just arrived from the Pittsburgh, PA area, I left my house in one of these ice storms. Big mistake. The road crews have no means of dealing with ice such as sand or salt. The people have no idea how to drive in bad conditions so the number of accidents are insane. I remember watching a guy at a stop sign in the ice storm 10 years ago. He started to spin as he moved through the stop sign. What is the solution for losing traction in TX? You just give it more gas, DUH! The car was moving at 5 mph, but his tires were spinning at 75 mph. No joke. So I will just work from my nice safe home today.

On another note, one of my heat pumps quit working yesterday leaving me with heat in only the upstairs of my house. It is nice and toasty up here, but it still sucks. It figures that on the coldest day of winter that my heat would fail. I am sure that the repair service that I called yesterday who were then closed will not be able to get here today because of the roads. Such is my life right now.

Saturday Morning

Coffee.....one of god's greatest creations. Have a good Saturday.

Just Arrived for the Retro Rocket

New Old Stock. Ya gotta love it.

Blinded by the Light

It's Wednesday and it has already been a long week. Monday and Tuesday were consumed by my trip to Atlanta. Today I went in to the office and it turned out to be a surprisingly busy day. After work I stopped to pick up The Bug at daycare. We got home and I helped feed Bug by making him a grilled cheese sandwich. We fed Bug and got him to bed and then I headed out for a ride. I really have never been a fan of night riding, but with the short days this time of year I don't have an alternative. I managed to get out for an hour on my mountain bike (but on the road) and had a pretty good ride. The temperature was perfect at about 63 degrees. Our neighborhood is loaded with deer, and I had a near miss with two of them. I worked in 5 hard 300 yard sprints and some good high cadence riding. Not too shabby for a Wednesday night I guess.


The Bug enjoying his appetizer of Kix and Goldfish.


A perfect night in Texas.


I definitely need a new light. I can't see that good at night as it is and this one isn't helping my cause.

What a Douche Bag

Put on earth to make me laugh. Thanks brah!

Go Away Wind

Big Cat and the dude from Vegas that I met riding last week who will now be referred to as J-Man, met me at my house at 10am for some road action. We did a 35 mile loop on mostly country roads. It was a nice sunny day and the temperature when we left was around 55 degrees. Yes, yes, I know you have it much worse. The wind was blowing out of the north like a MUTHA. The last 3 miles coming back up Route 12 from the South was just head down and balls to the wall to maintain forward momentum. I was glad when we turned West into my neighborhood. The Leader ran flawlessly as usual. All in all a great ride.

I hope to just relax for the rest of the afternoon. I have not felt great (stomach issues) the past few days, hence my lack of posts. Tomorrow I am off to Atlanta to meet with a few companies. I won't bore you with the details of what they do and what I am going to talk about. Just the typical conference room presentation sort of thing.

Mr. P, you better have gone out and hammered Bee Cave Road today with those new shoes and pedals.

Keep turning the cranks and have a great Sunday.


The Texas sun shining on mi casa this morning.


The Leader anxiously awaiting GO TIME.


Big Cat and J-Man heading South on McGregor Road.


A scenic country crossing over Onion Creek.

Running on Empty

Tonight was a running night. I have to say that running is not as BLAH as it used to be. I even find myself enjoying it at times. The iPod nano certainly helps the situation. Tonight I ran in the cold and rain to the soundtrack of Hustle and Flow. Lots of good rap about bitches, tricks, and busting caps. Great motivation. haha. The reason I am running as I mentioned in a previous post is that I got talked into doing the 3M Half Marathon in late January. I am not doing the whole run, but rather a relay with my boss. I am sure we are going to post a horrendous time since neither of us are fast runners. But it should be fun just to give it a go.


Does this look like the face of a runner?

After much thought, I have decided on two goals for myself in 2007. I wanted to make sure that the goals were realistic and achievable. I travel a lot for work so sometimes I am just not able to get out on the bike. Here are the goals:

1) Ride at least 4000 miles in 2007.
2) Be in good enough condition to enter a race by Fall.

Tomorrow I am off to Conroe, TX to meet with a very large producer of ceramic tiles to talk about how our chemicals can make their tiles better by blah blah blah. Conroe is about a 3 hour drive from my house, so at least I can avoid air travel for the first week of the year. :)

Story Time

I just finished this book:



Science Fiction and what I call High Fantasy are my favorite genres. Most of my favorite books fall under these two areas. Eragon had all of the elements that make these stories great - dragons, elves, dwarfs, etc. Following the adventures of the characters is a great way to escape the daily grind. If you haven't read this book and are into this genre, I recommend it.