So I was walking across the street to Scooter's to get some coffee when a guy carrying some bags approached me and said, "You're a smart looking fella".
I'm thinking to myself at this point, this guy is either a con artist or crazy. Clearly I am smart, and probably good looking too, but I wouldn't say that to a stranger unless I had a ulterior motive.
He goes on, "maybe you should read Missouri Statutes 323 on homeless people then, f*cker!" and then he walked off. I'm at a loss for words at that point, as a) he mumbled a bit of it and I was trying to digest what he was saying, and b) his concluding argument caught me off guard.
Perhaps he needed a little Christmas cheer. A sardonic reply came to my lips moments too late, but that is probably for the best.
Yet another reason I love working downtown. I guess you can at least see the crazies coming at you, versus in JoCo they are more discreet. ;-)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Observations
Freedom is what makes this country great. Freedom to talk about issues, freedom to worship in a manner that aligns most closely with your beliefs, freedom to drive a Lexus in the left hand lane at 55 mph.
Ok, so I'm kidding about the last point. Mostly.
I was telling Penny (who calls me the pessimist) that as a society, the US has to be one of the most screwed up societies in the world. We're governed by greed, worship celebrities, and are so insulated that we often have difficulty seeing past our own noses. That all being said, why is it, that when you look at just one person, they seem so level headed? In other words, why is it that the individual pieces are so much different than the whole?
I just remarked that the most important news today would be the story about Brittany Murphy passing. This is terrible news, indeed, as it seems she was a talented actress that got mixed up in the wrong crowd and in most likelihood, OD'ed at the age of 32. But let's put that in perspective. One child dies every five seconds due to starvation. A child who couldn't possibly provide for themselves, dies one of the most painful ways possible. Brittany likely overdosed, or died due to a complication from her eating disorder. Her situations were avoidable, in my opinion. My point being, what's more important to all of us? Where should our focus be, in order to have a fair and just society?
Another example...Congress is on the verge of passing the health care bill. Yet how many people really understand what it means for them? I'm not talking about the rhetoric crap that's spread around in emails by biased parties, I'm talking about really understanding the bill, and how it relates to them, their children, and their parents. Now, I certainly realize that the bill is over 1000 pages long, but where does someone go to get an honest, unbiased opinion? Certainly not the media. They are more interested in Nielsen ratings and internet hits, by trying to lure people by "informing us" why Brittany Murphy died or what Kate Gosselin is wearing while shopping for her kids.
Maybe I'm turning in to a grumpy old man, but I think the truth of it is that I see how great we are as individuals, but how badly our society is turning out to be. Americans are born into a country where the possibilities are endless, but we are quick to embrace self-destructive behaviors rather than face difficult choices. Why workout five times a week when you can just pop a pill? Why force your kids to go outside and ride their bikes when you can let them play xbox 360? And then we wonder why you have to drug them into a stupor so they can "pay attention" in school? We're becoming a society of the quick fix. Why have a nice relationship when I can just tweet about things? Why have a nice meal when we can snarf down a bunch of genetically altered McD's in less than 10 minutes?
It does make me sad, and makes me wonder what kind of life I can expect AB and Kieran to have seeing just how far things have careened off of the good and middle path in my short time on this earth.
At least I had a great bike ride yesterday.
Ok, so I'm kidding about the last point. Mostly.
I was telling Penny (who calls me the pessimist) that as a society, the US has to be one of the most screwed up societies in the world. We're governed by greed, worship celebrities, and are so insulated that we often have difficulty seeing past our own noses. That all being said, why is it, that when you look at just one person, they seem so level headed? In other words, why is it that the individual pieces are so much different than the whole?
I just remarked that the most important news today would be the story about Brittany Murphy passing. This is terrible news, indeed, as it seems she was a talented actress that got mixed up in the wrong crowd and in most likelihood, OD'ed at the age of 32. But let's put that in perspective. One child dies every five seconds due to starvation. A child who couldn't possibly provide for themselves, dies one of the most painful ways possible. Brittany likely overdosed, or died due to a complication from her eating disorder. Her situations were avoidable, in my opinion. My point being, what's more important to all of us? Where should our focus be, in order to have a fair and just society?
Another example...Congress is on the verge of passing the health care bill. Yet how many people really understand what it means for them? I'm not talking about the rhetoric crap that's spread around in emails by biased parties, I'm talking about really understanding the bill, and how it relates to them, their children, and their parents. Now, I certainly realize that the bill is over 1000 pages long, but where does someone go to get an honest, unbiased opinion? Certainly not the media. They are more interested in Nielsen ratings and internet hits, by trying to lure people by "informing us" why Brittany Murphy died or what Kate Gosselin is wearing while shopping for her kids.
Maybe I'm turning in to a grumpy old man, but I think the truth of it is that I see how great we are as individuals, but how badly our society is turning out to be. Americans are born into a country where the possibilities are endless, but we are quick to embrace self-destructive behaviors rather than face difficult choices. Why workout five times a week when you can just pop a pill? Why force your kids to go outside and ride their bikes when you can let them play xbox 360? And then we wonder why you have to drug them into a stupor so they can "pay attention" in school? We're becoming a society of the quick fix. Why have a nice relationship when I can just tweet about things? Why have a nice meal when we can snarf down a bunch of genetically altered McD's in less than 10 minutes?
It does make me sad, and makes me wonder what kind of life I can expect AB and Kieran to have seeing just how far things have careened off of the good and middle path in my short time on this earth.
At least I had a great bike ride yesterday.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Once upon a time an hour felt like an hour
Now it seems that time is flying so damned fast we'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary instead of our 10th in a few weeks. Unbelievable! <---I always misspell that word.
I took K-lite to his 15-month appointment yesterday and his left ear tube has become clogged with only-god-knows-what. He's built up a slight infection now and so we're having to put the drops in his ear to hopefully loosen up the troll stool or whatever is in there. If that doesn't work, we'll recruit 50 of our best friends to hold him down while an ENT sticks a little wire in there and tries to clear that stuff out. That should be a special time. Hopefully it won't come to that. There could be some massive head traumas involved and I don't think our friends would appreciate that kind of treatment while trying to hold down a 15 month old.
Penny got an email today with a height predictor. Now these body proportion divinators aren't exactly accurate, but when AB's current state of body was entered into said 8-ball, it came back with 6' 6" by the age of 18. I immediately hung-up the phone and started busting out a two and a half hour full body workout, followed by mixed martial arts training. Should it come to blows, I don't want to get beat up by my kid. Or get my head chopped off by a well-placed lightsaber strike.
I just got done looking at some pics of snow falling across various parts of the US, and I've officially raised my snow flag up. KC weather is weak. So very, very weak. It gets searingly hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter, tornadoes in the late spring, and that's about it. What I want is snow. I'm not talking dig your house out of a thirty foot drift snow (although that would be cool just to see how nearly everyone would go into an armageddon-like panic), but just a solid 12" snow. Something that really covers everything, and looks gorgeous as it falls. Then that's it. The next week will need to go back up to 60 degrees and we'll begin spring. This 20-degree high stuff while it's dry is for the birds. Actually it's not, because they flew south.
I took K-lite to his 15-month appointment yesterday and his left ear tube has become clogged with only-god-knows-what. He's built up a slight infection now and so we're having to put the drops in his ear to hopefully loosen up the troll stool or whatever is in there. If that doesn't work, we'll recruit 50 of our best friends to hold him down while an ENT sticks a little wire in there and tries to clear that stuff out. That should be a special time. Hopefully it won't come to that. There could be some massive head traumas involved and I don't think our friends would appreciate that kind of treatment while trying to hold down a 15 month old.
Penny got an email today with a height predictor. Now these body proportion divinators aren't exactly accurate, but when AB's current state of body was entered into said 8-ball, it came back with 6' 6" by the age of 18. I immediately hung-up the phone and started busting out a two and a half hour full body workout, followed by mixed martial arts training. Should it come to blows, I don't want to get beat up by my kid. Or get my head chopped off by a well-placed lightsaber strike.
I just got done looking at some pics of snow falling across various parts of the US, and I've officially raised my snow flag up. KC weather is weak. So very, very weak. It gets searingly hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter, tornadoes in the late spring, and that's about it. What I want is snow. I'm not talking dig your house out of a thirty foot drift snow (although that would be cool just to see how nearly everyone would go into an armageddon-like panic), but just a solid 12" snow. Something that really covers everything, and looks gorgeous as it falls. Then that's it. The next week will need to go back up to 60 degrees and we'll begin spring. This 20-degree high stuff while it's dry is for the birds. Actually it's not, because they flew south.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
I like this video...
This is a huge race in Iowa City, and was held last weekend. It looks like a lot of fun to me, hope you enjoy the video.
Jingle Cross 2009: Friday Night Cross from Gizmo Pictures on Vimeo.
Jingle Cross 2009: Friday Night Cross from Gizmo Pictures on Vimeo.
I still think I should get extra credit...
So my 3rd cross race was this weekend, Boss Cross #4 at Barry Platte Park in NKC. The course had some rolling hills, two soft sand crossings about 20 meters long, and one set of barriers. I really enjoyed the course, it had a great mixture of effort/recovery sections and there were certainly some opportunities to drop a few gears and get some speed going. I also raced under the Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee colors for the first time, and I have to say, those guys are a nice bunch. Pretty quick too!
I really felt like I'm riding stronger, but still nowhere where I'd like to be for next season. I really don't have much base fitness, so while I might have the gas pedal floored, there just isn't a whole lot of power getting applied to the rear wheel. That just takes time and unfortunately, you can't build that up in a month or two. You can augment it, but if there is no base to begin with, it's tough. I've noticed that the more races I've been putting in, the more glaring my opportunities for improvement are. I'm delighted to have this information at hand and I need to sit down after my last race and write down a season's worth of notes. Despite all the shortcomings, I'm still super excited for Grote Prjis, which will be my assumedly final race of the season. I'm honestly hoping for some snow and muck just to have a great experience and something to cap the season off with.
Anyway, back to this weekend. I'm riding towards the back of everything, the guy ahead of me is too far ahead (read: not enough in the tank) to bridge the gap, and the guy behind me is probably thinking the same thing, so I'm just holding my position and having some fun. I go through for my 3rd lap and I hear the scorers read out my number. I'm figuring this is good and where things ought to be. I then cross the finish line for my 4th and final lap and everyone is gone. Just a few spectators, and the scorers are gone. Well, I'm thinking I'm not going to stop because I still have a lap to go and I don't want to pull a DQ on something so silly. So I hup hup to it and crank out another lap. Somehow, between here and there, I must have blacked out and ended up doing 5 laps. So one more than I needed. I even asked the scorer's to verify and I looked at the sheet and everything was square. Crazy. Maybe I should have drank more water or something. Oh well, nothing like free practice at race pace. I guess.
I really felt like I'm riding stronger, but still nowhere where I'd like to be for next season. I really don't have much base fitness, so while I might have the gas pedal floored, there just isn't a whole lot of power getting applied to the rear wheel. That just takes time and unfortunately, you can't build that up in a month or two. You can augment it, but if there is no base to begin with, it's tough. I've noticed that the more races I've been putting in, the more glaring my opportunities for improvement are. I'm delighted to have this information at hand and I need to sit down after my last race and write down a season's worth of notes. Despite all the shortcomings, I'm still super excited for Grote Prjis, which will be my assumedly final race of the season. I'm honestly hoping for some snow and muck just to have a great experience and something to cap the season off with.
Anyway, back to this weekend. I'm riding towards the back of everything, the guy ahead of me is too far ahead (read: not enough in the tank) to bridge the gap, and the guy behind me is probably thinking the same thing, so I'm just holding my position and having some fun. I go through for my 3rd lap and I hear the scorers read out my number. I'm figuring this is good and where things ought to be. I then cross the finish line for my 4th and final lap and everyone is gone. Just a few spectators, and the scorers are gone. Well, I'm thinking I'm not going to stop because I still have a lap to go and I don't want to pull a DQ on something so silly. So I hup hup to it and crank out another lap. Somehow, between here and there, I must have blacked out and ended up doing 5 laps. So one more than I needed. I even asked the scorer's to verify and I looked at the sheet and everything was square. Crazy. Maybe I should have drank more water or something. Oh well, nothing like free practice at race pace. I guess.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
5:30am
5:30am is entirely too early to wake up and work out. Sure, I'm glad I got it out of the way, but good God, when does the madness end? I can't believe I used to be out the door by 5:30 to get to DST on time. I guess that was before kids, so I wasn't going to bed as tired.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Hell, might as well take another 13 days off.
Yea, I know I'm the lamest blogger in terms of new content delivery. The impetus for writing out new content just hasn't been there. Not that there hasn't been enough stuff to write about, that's for sure.
My next race is on Saturday at Barry-Platte Park for the series finale of the Boss Cross races. I've been training sporadically, but training hard, nevertheless. Throwing up crossed my mind as I was done with my intervals last night, so that's worth something, right? Haha! My last race this year will be on January 10th in Old Shawnee Town, the Grote Prijs Shawnee. This should be super spectator friendly as you can purportedly watch from the warmth of City Hall while I race around outside sucking the bark off of trees as I roll by.
I've also been graciously signed to the Team Colavita / Parisi Coffee race team! Check out their website and see what I'm getting myself into. I'm quite excited, and I think I should see a marked improvement in my results training with these guys (and gals). I'm already excited for next cross season, but luckily I still have two races left this year before beginning the summer.
Talk to you all later.
I'm planning on taking a couple of months off of serious training before starting to train for my next event.
(edit: This is what I call a poorly edited posted).
In continuation of "I'm planning on...": I figure that I'll start a 12-week program in late Feb/early March for my next to-be-named endeavor. It will be quite the spectacle, and I better be in excellent shape to complete and not die. Of course, if my heart rate can hit 198 with no adverse effects, I might as well change the B in my middle name to stand for "bulletproof".
My next race is on Saturday at Barry-Platte Park for the series finale of the Boss Cross races. I've been training sporadically, but training hard, nevertheless. Throwing up crossed my mind as I was done with my intervals last night, so that's worth something, right? Haha! My last race this year will be on January 10th in Old Shawnee Town, the Grote Prijs Shawnee. This should be super spectator friendly as you can purportedly watch from the warmth of City Hall while I race around outside sucking the bark off of trees as I roll by.
I've also been graciously signed to the Team Colavita / Parisi Coffee race team! Check out their website and see what I'm getting myself into. I'm quite excited, and I think I should see a marked improvement in my results training with these guys (and gals). I'm already excited for next cross season, but luckily I still have two races left this year before beginning the summer.
Talk to you all later.
I'm planning on taking a couple of months off of serious training before starting to train for my next event.
(edit: This is what I call a poorly edited posted).
In continuation of "I'm planning on...": I figure that I'll start a 12-week program in late Feb/early March for my next to-be-named endeavor. It will be quite the spectacle, and I better be in excellent shape to complete and not die. Of course, if my heart rate can hit 198 with no adverse effects, I might as well change the B in my middle name to stand for "bulletproof".
Thursday, November 19, 2009
10 days off will do a blogger good
One of two things occur to push me over the edge and force me to blog.
1) I think of something brilliant and have to share it with the world. This occurs far less often than...
2) Someone in a Lexus cut me off on the commute in and has made my inner rage boil.
So I haven't thought of anything that revolutionary and all the Lexus drivers must be on holiday. Thank God.
I was going to leave the blog at that, but I figure it HAS been 10 long days and all, so I'll dump what little beans I have. That didn't sound right...
K-man is an absolute hoot. He's really chatty now and has been hammering out quite a few more words these days. His favorite word is ouch. He says it all the time and thinks it is absolutely incredible that he can say it once and then the rest of us go around the house like the bunch of seagulls on Finding Nemo. He's also getting pretty good at wheeling around the house, and loves his big brother like nothing else. I love watching him come pile on Aiden and give him some love. They are so sweet right now.
AB is turning into quite a young man. I'm very proud of him. He is still chock full of questions, and those questions usually revolve around movies (especially Star Wars). Penny and I both get pretty frustrated by the relentless stream of questions, but it is nice that he is engaged and isn't buried into a PSP. I'm sure those days will come too. Just wait til K-man steals AB's PSP. I'm sure you'll see some true brotherly love then.
Penny is under a lot of stress at work, and they just laid off a few people. Nothing major, but definitely something that was very sad for her. She hadn't ever been around a layoff situation (one that I'm a little too familiar with) and it was difficult for her to be one of the survivors and see hard-working people let go. On a more positive note, she's been working out a lot and getting ripped. Needless to say, as her muscle tone goes up, my lippyness goes down.
I've been hitting the bike pretty hard, trying to put up a better showing at my next race on Dec. 5th. I'm still not expecting a top 3 or anything, but I could see a marked improvement between races 1 and 2, and I'm expecting every bit as much improvement between 2 and 3. I'm slowly burning the lbs. off I've been carting around for the last decade, and it's pretty nice. I can see some difference, but still have a long way to go. As long as I keep moving in the right direction and getting "fitter", I'm good with that.
Hopefully I'll have some good news in a next couple of weeks regarding something I've been working on for awhile now, so as soon as I'm able to share, I'll do that.
I'll be back on soon.
1) I think of something brilliant and have to share it with the world. This occurs far less often than...
2) Someone in a Lexus cut me off on the commute in and has made my inner rage boil.
So I haven't thought of anything that revolutionary and all the Lexus drivers must be on holiday. Thank God.
I was going to leave the blog at that, but I figure it HAS been 10 long days and all, so I'll dump what little beans I have. That didn't sound right...
K-man is an absolute hoot. He's really chatty now and has been hammering out quite a few more words these days. His favorite word is ouch. He says it all the time and thinks it is absolutely incredible that he can say it once and then the rest of us go around the house like the bunch of seagulls on Finding Nemo. He's also getting pretty good at wheeling around the house, and loves his big brother like nothing else. I love watching him come pile on Aiden and give him some love. They are so sweet right now.
AB is turning into quite a young man. I'm very proud of him. He is still chock full of questions, and those questions usually revolve around movies (especially Star Wars). Penny and I both get pretty frustrated by the relentless stream of questions, but it is nice that he is engaged and isn't buried into a PSP. I'm sure those days will come too. Just wait til K-man steals AB's PSP. I'm sure you'll see some true brotherly love then.
Penny is under a lot of stress at work, and they just laid off a few people. Nothing major, but definitely something that was very sad for her. She hadn't ever been around a layoff situation (one that I'm a little too familiar with) and it was difficult for her to be one of the survivors and see hard-working people let go. On a more positive note, she's been working out a lot and getting ripped. Needless to say, as her muscle tone goes up, my lippyness goes down.
I've been hitting the bike pretty hard, trying to put up a better showing at my next race on Dec. 5th. I'm still not expecting a top 3 or anything, but I could see a marked improvement between races 1 and 2, and I'm expecting every bit as much improvement between 2 and 3. I'm slowly burning the lbs. off I've been carting around for the last decade, and it's pretty nice. I can see some difference, but still have a long way to go. As long as I keep moving in the right direction and getting "fitter", I'm good with that.
Hopefully I'll have some good news in a next couple of weeks regarding something I've been working on for awhile now, so as soon as I'm able to share, I'll do that.
I'll be back on soon.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Explain to me why
I enjoy suffering on Sunday?
Sunday morning I went out to the fine city of Leavenworth and raced in the De Stad Series' Veteran's Cup cyclocross race. The course was a lot more wide spread than the Boulevard cup, and it had a couple of long climbs and a couple of fast descents, with two sets of barriers. I didn't get to the course in quite enough time for a proper warm-up, so by lap two I was toasted. I started to feel a little life in my legs by lap 4, but by then, the damage was done. Average heart rate was 180, max was 198. Maybe next race I can hit 200. Ha!
I've had mixed reactions coming back from this race. I really didn't feel very whippy, but I held my own on the descents, and I even had a couple of barrier jumps go fairly smooth. But I had some go pretty poorly too. I just need to practice those a bit more. I'm still pretty sore from the hills, but this is to be expected. I've been trying to do intervals and some cardio work, but it's going to be a long haul before I'm jumping barriers and lapping people.
It's a journey I'm looking forward too.
I've had mixed reactions coming back from this race. I really didn't feel very whippy, but I held my own on the descents, and I even had a couple of barrier jumps go fairly smooth. But I had some go pretty poorly too. I just need to practice those a bit more. I'm still pretty sore from the hills, but this is to be expected. I've been trying to do intervals and some cardio work, but it's going to be a long haul before I'm jumping barriers and lapping people.
It's a journey I'm looking forward too.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Going for the deuce
Oh my, the coffee has kicked in. Speaking of kicking (that was a lame segue), here's some pics from AB's last soccer game. What a stud.
Halloween Pics
So I'm a little late posting pics, but I think they're worth it. The first half of the pics are from the neighborhood hay ride. The kids went around on a trailer with hay, and ended up at one of our neighbor's houses where he had his firepit blazing for smores and a professional story-teller. It was a fun evening.
I am racing at the Veteran's Cup tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. The 70-degree temps we're having are only bolstering my excitement. Sure, cyclocross is supposed to be muddy, cold, and miserable, but if you can race in warm temps, why wouldn't you!?!
I am racing at the Veteran's Cup tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. The 70-degree temps we're having are only bolstering my excitement. Sure, cyclocross is supposed to be muddy, cold, and miserable, but if you can race in warm temps, why wouldn't you!?!
Monday, November 2, 2009
My Coffee didn't come early enough today.
On Mondays, Coffee is in a special place of honour, so it gets capitalized. Three cheers for Coffee! Unfortunately, I got in and the fan was already spinning with the remnants of barnyard animal crap on the blade, so I didn't get to indulge in my little ritualistic caffeine-infusion until I was already grumpy. But now all signs point up, and I'm doing better.
I've been reading my e-buddy Greg's blog "Mud and Cowbells" this morning and he had some great write-ups of the CX action in Boulder this weekend. Definitely not something for the masses, but he is mighty with the pen/keyboard and sometimes has some really nice non-bike blog entries (is there a sexier term for a singular blog entry? blogette?)
We had a pretty nice Halloween here, and I'll try and get the pics up soon. AB was a Jedi (imagine that, I know!) and Kieran was an Ewok. Now since I'm apparently related to all 24 people that haven't seen Star Wars, I've posted up what an Ewok looks like. They are in Return of the Jedi, and help the Rebels (good guys) take down the shield generator that is protecting the Death Star. Obviously they succeed, otherwise we wouldn't be here with me typing and you reading this blog, because we would have been smashed to bits by the Death Star.
I've been reading my e-buddy Greg's blog "Mud and Cowbells" this morning and he had some great write-ups of the CX action in Boulder this weekend. Definitely not something for the masses, but he is mighty with the pen/keyboard and sometimes has some really nice non-bike blog entries (is there a sexier term for a singular blog entry? blogette?)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Something worth chewing on for a bit
It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
1st Cyclocross Video
I got a little carried away with the text animations, but I'm just figuring out the software. Thanks to Charlie, the best brother-in-law/camera guy/off-screen commentator a guy could hope for.
Hope you enjoy the video!
Hope you enjoy the video!
2009 Boulevard Cup CX Race from Chris Smith on Vimeo.
Monday, October 26, 2009
trees, and the rest
We got some new trees planted on Friday, which I'm quite excited about. I enjoy a lot of aspects of living in a new house, but I hate getting back to the newer section of the subdivision and all the houses are taller than the trees. I had a nice sized Autumn Flame Maple planted in the front, and a Greenspire Linden planted in the back. I'm looking forward to seeing these guys leaf out in the spring. I've already hit them with root stimulator, so I hope to see great things this upcoming year.
I must be getting old to be talking about trees.
I've been training a fair amount for my next cross race. It'll be on one of the middle weekends in November, I'm just not sure when since Penny is having a CD release party for her CD, Reveal. http://www.reverbnation.com/awakenus
I've been focusing mainly on performing Tabata intervals, and seeing decent results. I've lost a few pounds, and hope to keep that trend going. I think the important thing is to work towards a goal (placing stronger in CX) than to try and just "lose weight". That's a boring goal...it should be a reward!
I've also found out that my dad's dad that I never met passed away before I had a chance to meet him. It's an odd situation for me. On one hand, that's a pretty close genetic tie, but on the other hand, I knew nothing about him until I read his obit. It's not that I'd want to start a relationship or anything of the sort, but it would be interesting to see what he was like. It's a lot to digest, and one of those unknowns I'll have to live with, although it isn't THAT big of a deal to me. I don't even really know what I would have said. I mean, how do you start that conversation?
I'd imagine my dad would have quite a bit of emotions to deal with. I can't even begin to wrap my head around being in his situation (thankfully). I guess we all just have to make do with what we have in front of us, live with no regrets, and take care of those around us.
I must be getting old to be talking about trees.
I've been training a fair amount for my next cross race. It'll be on one of the middle weekends in November, I'm just not sure when since Penny is having a CD release party for her CD, Reveal. http://www.reverbnation.com/awakenus
I've been focusing mainly on performing Tabata intervals, and seeing decent results. I've lost a few pounds, and hope to keep that trend going. I think the important thing is to work towards a goal (placing stronger in CX) than to try and just "lose weight". That's a boring goal...it should be a reward!
I've also found out that my dad's dad that I never met passed away before I had a chance to meet him. It's an odd situation for me. On one hand, that's a pretty close genetic tie, but on the other hand, I knew nothing about him until I read his obit. It's not that I'd want to start a relationship or anything of the sort, but it would be interesting to see what he was like. It's a lot to digest, and one of those unknowns I'll have to live with, although it isn't THAT big of a deal to me. I don't even really know what I would have said. I mean, how do you start that conversation?
I'd imagine my dad would have quite a bit of emotions to deal with. I can't even begin to wrap my head around being in his situation (thankfully). I guess we all just have to make do with what we have in front of us, live with no regrets, and take care of those around us.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Pics from my race
Here are some pics from Sunday. As you can see, I didn't really smile until the end. ;-)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pain and glory
I can't possibly do justice to describing Penny's race. She ran awesome, and narrowly missed beating the 2 hour mark. She finished at 2:00:42, placing 120th out of 528 runners in her class. I know she is disappointed at not beating 2 hours, but she was awfully close and set a personal record by some 6 minutes. That's like taking 30 seconds off of ever mile, pretty crazy. I honestly wasn't sure how she was going to do this race, because it was so cold, and we hit rain on the way up to the race. But when she was almost 20 seconds ahead of the 2:00 pacer at mile 7 when we saw her, I was very impressed. And I'm not easily impressed. Go Penny go! We are all very proud of her.
Now, I can more aptly describe the suffering that went into my cross race having firsthand knowledge. But I would be terribly in remiss if I didn't warmly thank my supporters and family that came out to see a fat old man suck wind around a grass track. My deepest thanks to Megan, Charlie, Marlee, Ryan, Himani, Penny, AB and little K-man. It really meant a lot to have you guys out there, and wish I could have hung out more and visited, but Sunday was a day for suffering.
So I rode around the course a bit, and only saw two dismount opportunities per 2 mile lap. First was a set of barriers, and then a set of stairs. What made them tricky was that the section where you would typically remount were off-camber, and your bike would be a lot higher than what you would normally practice with. So instead of futzing with a wild remount, I just switched the bike to my other side and remounted with the bike below me. Seemed to work well, at least until I become a cross pro.
So let's get on to the race. There were 55 guys in my class, probably the largest class of the day. We all lined up on a 400-yard section of pavement, and then the whistle blew. A mass sprint ensued, and at the end of the pavement you dove off into the grass. There were lots of power hills (short steep pitches), off-camber sections, and lots of playing around in the gullies. There were a few crashes, and I managed to stay clear of those. I had my heart rate monitor on, and it instantaneously exploded. I finally shut it off after about eight minutes, and it showed an average of 185, max 196. Which is about 8 beats higher than what it should be (220 - your age). Cool.
I just kept chugging along, although my seat post broke about 10 minutes into the race, causing the nose of my saddle to go sky ward. I had my nose down about one degree, but it was a solid ten degrees up plus it had fallen way out of position. Not only was it uncomfortable, but it forced by back into a way sharper "C" position than I was used to, so I'll be visiting the Chiro today. I tried to pound the saddle back into position, but it just didn't work.
All in all, I consider the race a success. I didn't take last place, and I learned a lot. Once I get some more training in, I'll anxious to do another, maybe in a month or so. I sure didn't enjoy the race while I was doing it, but once I was done, I had that notion that I could do better and I think I should go for it. I'll post some videos once I get them from Megan.
Now, I can more aptly describe the suffering that went into my cross race having firsthand knowledge. But I would be terribly in remiss if I didn't warmly thank my supporters and family that came out to see a fat old man suck wind around a grass track. My deepest thanks to Megan, Charlie, Marlee, Ryan, Himani, Penny, AB and little K-man. It really meant a lot to have you guys out there, and wish I could have hung out more and visited, but Sunday was a day for suffering.
So I rode around the course a bit, and only saw two dismount opportunities per 2 mile lap. First was a set of barriers, and then a set of stairs. What made them tricky was that the section where you would typically remount were off-camber, and your bike would be a lot higher than what you would normally practice with. So instead of futzing with a wild remount, I just switched the bike to my other side and remounted with the bike below me. Seemed to work well, at least until I become a cross pro.
So let's get on to the race. There were 55 guys in my class, probably the largest class of the day. We all lined up on a 400-yard section of pavement, and then the whistle blew. A mass sprint ensued, and at the end of the pavement you dove off into the grass. There were lots of power hills (short steep pitches), off-camber sections, and lots of playing around in the gullies. There were a few crashes, and I managed to stay clear of those. I had my heart rate monitor on, and it instantaneously exploded. I finally shut it off after about eight minutes, and it showed an average of 185, max 196. Which is about 8 beats higher than what it should be (220 - your age). Cool.
I just kept chugging along, although my seat post broke about 10 minutes into the race, causing the nose of my saddle to go sky ward. I had my nose down about one degree, but it was a solid ten degrees up plus it had fallen way out of position. Not only was it uncomfortable, but it forced by back into a way sharper "C" position than I was used to, so I'll be visiting the Chiro today. I tried to pound the saddle back into position, but it just didn't work.
All in all, I consider the race a success. I didn't take last place, and I learned a lot. Once I get some more training in, I'll anxious to do another, maybe in a month or so. I sure didn't enjoy the race while I was doing it, but once I was done, I had that notion that I could do better and I think I should go for it. I'll post some videos once I get them from Megan.
Friday, October 16, 2009
This is it!
15 hours from now, Penny will be starting her half marathon, trying to break the two hour barrier. I'm very excited for her, and really hope she breaks it. She's been working very hard towards it; she's tenacious, to say the least. Some of the neighbors and AB, K, and I are heading down there to cheer her on. I'm sure she'll be happy to see us, and she makes us very proud. Who would have thought she'd become a runner? I'm happy that she found something like that to do, and I know it gives her great joy and she embraces the suffering.
Speaking of suffering, just a short 26 hours after she finishes her race, I'll be starting my cyclocross race at Wyandotte County Park in the Boulevard Cup. I seem to be attracting quite a crowd to come follow me. I know a few of my friends said they would try and make it, which blows my mind. I didn't realize I was so attractive in lycra.
So here is to a weekend of suffering Smith's. And to think we paid money to do this!
Speaking of suffering, just a short 26 hours after she finishes her race, I'll be starting my cyclocross race at Wyandotte County Park in the Boulevard Cup. I seem to be attracting quite a crowd to come follow me. I know a few of my friends said they would try and make it, which blows my mind. I didn't realize I was so attractive in lycra.
So here is to a weekend of suffering Smith's. And to think we paid money to do this!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Two jokes...
A Republican in a wheelchair entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The Republican looked across the restaurant and asked, 'Is that Jesus sitting over there?' The waitress nodded 'yes,' so the Republican requested that she give Jesus a cup of coffee, on him.
The next patron to come in was a Libertarian with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, 'Is that Jesus over there?' The waitress nodded, so the Libertarian asked her to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, 'My treat.'
The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Democrat on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, 'Hey there, honey! How's about getting' me a cold glass of Miller Light?' He, too, looked across the restaurant and asked, 'Is that God's boy over there?' The waitress once more nodded, so the Democrat directed her to give Jesus a cold glass of beer. 'On my bill,' he said.
As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Republican, touched him and said, 'For your kindness, you are healed.' The Republican felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door.
Jesus also passed by the Libertarian, touched him and said, 'For your kindness, you are healed.' The Libertarian felt his back straightening up, and he raised his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door.
Then Jesus walked towards the Democrat. The Democrat jumped up and yelled, 'Don't touch me ... I'm collecting disability.'
DEER MEAT
A man kills a deer and takes it home to cook for dinner. Both he and his wife decide that they won’t tell the kids what kind of meat it is, but will give them a clue and let them guess. The kids were eager to know what the meat was on their plates, so they begged their dad for the clue.
Well, he said, 'It's what mommy calls me sometimes’. The little girl screams to her brother 'Don't eat it, it's an asshole..
The next patron to come in was a Libertarian with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, 'Is that Jesus over there?' The waitress nodded, so the Libertarian asked her to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, 'My treat.'
The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Democrat on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, 'Hey there, honey! How's about getting' me a cold glass of Miller Light?' He, too, looked across the restaurant and asked, 'Is that God's boy over there?' The waitress once more nodded, so the Democrat directed her to give Jesus a cold glass of beer. 'On my bill,' he said.
As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Republican, touched him and said, 'For your kindness, you are healed.' The Republican felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door.
Jesus also passed by the Libertarian, touched him and said, 'For your kindness, you are healed.' The Libertarian felt his back straightening up, and he raised his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door.
Then Jesus walked towards the Democrat. The Democrat jumped up and yelled, 'Don't touch me ... I'm collecting disability.'
DEER MEAT
A man kills a deer and takes it home to cook for dinner. Both he and his wife decide that they won’t tell the kids what kind of meat it is, but will give them a clue and let them guess. The kids were eager to know what the meat was on their plates, so they begged their dad for the clue.
Well, he said, 'It's what mommy calls me sometimes’. The little girl screams to her brother 'Don't eat it, it's an asshole..
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
In the clear
I think we're all over our respective sicknesses, except K has some dire-rear and diaper rash. Poor guy. That's just awful. At least it goes away quickly.
My eyes are very tired today. Some days I think I need a job that doesn't entail sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen.
Anyway, tired is what we are going to be this weekend. P has her half marathon on Saturday, and I have my cyclocross race on Sunday. P has trained for hers. I have not. Well, a little. But I really have no idea what I am doing and my thoughts come back to the race every 5 minutes. My dear sister has agreed to come out and be my moral support for the race, so I think that should help me out in non-measurable ways. Immensely. I'm hoping to get at least two more sessions on the bike, one of which being technical training, but our days are swamped.
AB got in trouble yesterday for playing Star Wars at school yesterday with one of his buddies. They were dueling with pretend lightsabers and then accosted this poor girl and pretended to chop her head off. She then proceeded to cry. I had a bevy of reactions to the re-telling of this story, ranging from laughter, to rolling my eyes, to wondering if my kid is going to grow up and torture cats. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Well, okay, maybe that isn't okay. Certain feral cats in my neighborhood are not off-limits.
It's funny as I type these blogs, I imagine what all my family members are thinking to themselves as they read it. I'm sure my mom and sis aren't too pleased about the cat comment, but I think they would understand given my history with feline dander.
Anyway, I'm going way off topic. Time to boost my meds, I suppose.
I've been watching Fringe, Season 1, and I have to say it is awesome. One of my favorite shows in a long time. It's kind of like X-files + Alias + CSI. Very cool. The acting is superb and the plots are a lot of fun. It is kind of gory for a network show, but usually it's a quick glance and nothing really wrenching.
Okay, enough for now. Talk at you all later.
My eyes are very tired today. Some days I think I need a job that doesn't entail sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen.
Anyway, tired is what we are going to be this weekend. P has her half marathon on Saturday, and I have my cyclocross race on Sunday. P has trained for hers. I have not. Well, a little. But I really have no idea what I am doing and my thoughts come back to the race every 5 minutes. My dear sister has agreed to come out and be my moral support for the race, so I think that should help me out in non-measurable ways. Immensely. I'm hoping to get at least two more sessions on the bike, one of which being technical training, but our days are swamped.
AB got in trouble yesterday for playing Star Wars at school yesterday with one of his buddies. They were dueling with pretend lightsabers and then accosted this poor girl and pretended to chop her head off. She then proceeded to cry. I had a bevy of reactions to the re-telling of this story, ranging from laughter, to rolling my eyes, to wondering if my kid is going to grow up and torture cats. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Well, okay, maybe that isn't okay. Certain feral cats in my neighborhood are not off-limits.
It's funny as I type these blogs, I imagine what all my family members are thinking to themselves as they read it. I'm sure my mom and sis aren't too pleased about the cat comment, but I think they would understand given my history with feline dander.
Anyway, I'm going way off topic. Time to boost my meds, I suppose.
I've been watching Fringe, Season 1, and I have to say it is awesome. One of my favorite shows in a long time. It's kind of like X-files + Alias + CSI. Very cool. The acting is superb and the plots are a lot of fun. It is kind of gory for a network show, but usually it's a quick glance and nothing really wrenching.
Okay, enough for now. Talk at you all later.
Friday, October 9, 2009
back on track
Well, the sickness has been going around our house. Fortunately it's just been a common cold and wasn't H1N1. Looking forward to the weekend and hopefully getting to feel better.
Lovely weather we're having, eh?
Lovely weather we're having, eh?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Back to mostly normal
Well that little experiment didn't work to well. I tried to forward swiii.com to here, and inadvertently black holed the background .jpg. So I had to undo what I did earlier, and then figured I'd go ahead and put a new background up. Hope you like it. It's the entrance to some singletrack somewhere, and it sure looks inviting.
I don't have a whole lot today. We'll see if anything shakes itself loose in my brain after a little coffee.
I don't have a whole lot today. We'll see if anything shakes itself loose in my brain after a little coffee.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Oooweeeeee it stinks in here
Pretty much blew up the blog. Should be back up and running shortly while I shop for a better look. Sorry for the mess. C
Friday, October 2, 2009
Good thing I didn't type this yesterday
I probably would have used foul language since I was so dumbfounded about the fact that Ken Lewis of BofA was getting a $53M retirement package. He had been at BofA's helm for 8 years. (See CNN article for more details). He trashed BofA's stock, and architected a poorly conceived merger with Merrill Lynch.
The guy pretty much fleeced the company, and is now walking away smelling like a rose. Meanwhile 35,000 employees were laid off. Nice.
Penny and I discussed this last night, but I'm still upset. Capitalism started off as a good idea, but has turned into greedy excess. Work hard, make money. Somehow that's changed.
Now it's slash your way to the top, and collect an exorbitant amount of money from each company you run. Do it a few times, and then call it good. Robert Nardelli, anyone?
The guy pretty much fleeced the company, and is now walking away smelling like a rose. Meanwhile 35,000 employees were laid off. Nice.
Penny and I discussed this last night, but I'm still upset. Capitalism started off as a good idea, but has turned into greedy excess. Work hard, make money. Somehow that's changed.
Now it's slash your way to the top, and collect an exorbitant amount of money from each company you run. Do it a few times, and then call it good. Robert Nardelli, anyone?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
mostly lactic acid free
I'm mostly recovered finally, and now looking forward to going to Blanc tonight for my step-mom's birthday. This should be very tasty.
Conversely, I'm not looking forward to looking like a mongoloid on my cyclocross race here in 2 1/2 weeks, so I better get to crackin'. I don't think I've had a free night in what seems like an entire week, so I'll have some catching up to do.
Here's an even better video of what I'm doing. I have to keep watching these to keep the competitive juices flowing.
Conversely, I'm not looking forward to looking like a mongoloid on my cyclocross race here in 2 1/2 weeks, so I better get to crackin'. I don't think I've had a free night in what seems like an entire week, so I'll have some catching up to do.
Here's an even better video of what I'm doing. I have to keep watching these to keep the competitive juices flowing.
Monday, September 28, 2009
It wasn't impossible but still...
So we covered 110 miles in two days. Into a headwind. Through 2.5 thunderstorms. Through the sun and sand and snakes and squirrels and naked women. Let me say naked woman. We'll come back to that in a bit.
We pushed off from Kirkwood around 7:30ish on Saturday morning, and dodged a few thunderstorms between there and Hermann. The trail really was in pretty good shape, and it did have some lovely views. Pretty anti-climatic though (except for the getting chilled to the bone during a particularly bad downpour). While we were getting ready to get back on it after lunch, we ran into this couple that was riding from New York (seriously) to California (not Cali, MO). They weren't exactly in triathlete shape, so that made me feel pretty insignificant and that any aches and pains I had were but a mere itch compared to anything they had gone through. We kept passing each other until we got to Hermann, which is when the naked woman thing came into play. Ryan and I were coming down the trail (I think Jarrett and Stitz rode different directions trying to dodge the rain) when we saw a pasty white arse about a quarter of a mile down the trail. Ryan says "is that chick naked?!?" I can clearly see the ass from this point, and not quite sure if I wanted it to be him or her, kinda like "would you like to get shot in your right knee or your left?" Turns out she thought it would be a good idea to drop her lycra and pee all over the trail (and her shorts, as she told us when we rode by).
Great story, eh? Yea, not really.
So we stayed in Hermann, and that was fine and dandy I guess. The Crown Royal was definitely the highlight of that segment of the trip, and probably didn't help the dehydration I was fighting on Sunday.
Too make a long ride a short story, the sun came out, the wind picked up, and we slogged a hard 40 something miles to end up at Jeff City and one of us fell over a couple times due to exhaustion. I won't say who, but it wasn't me. Or Jarrett. Or Ryan.
That was a hard ride, but the ice pack I'm sitting on now makes it a bit better. I'll be ready for bed pretty early tonight. I could use a good sleep. I also have less than three weeks now until my first cross race. Ug. I don't want to think about that until Wednesday.
We pushed off from Kirkwood around 7:30ish on Saturday morning, and dodged a few thunderstorms between there and Hermann. The trail really was in pretty good shape, and it did have some lovely views. Pretty anti-climatic though (except for the getting chilled to the bone during a particularly bad downpour). While we were getting ready to get back on it after lunch, we ran into this couple that was riding from New York (seriously) to California (not Cali, MO). They weren't exactly in triathlete shape, so that made me feel pretty insignificant and that any aches and pains I had were but a mere itch compared to anything they had gone through. We kept passing each other until we got to Hermann, which is when the naked woman thing came into play. Ryan and I were coming down the trail (I think Jarrett and Stitz rode different directions trying to dodge the rain) when we saw a pasty white arse about a quarter of a mile down the trail. Ryan says "is that chick naked?!?" I can clearly see the ass from this point, and not quite sure if I wanted it to be him or her, kinda like "would you like to get shot in your right knee or your left?" Turns out she thought it would be a good idea to drop her lycra and pee all over the trail (and her shorts, as she told us when we rode by).
Great story, eh? Yea, not really.
So we stayed in Hermann, and that was fine and dandy I guess. The Crown Royal was definitely the highlight of that segment of the trip, and probably didn't help the dehydration I was fighting on Sunday.
Too make a long ride a short story, the sun came out, the wind picked up, and we slogged a hard 40 something miles to end up at Jeff City and one of us fell over a couple times due to exhaustion. I won't say who, but it wasn't me. Or Jarrett. Or Ryan.
That was a hard ride, but the ice pack I'm sitting on now makes it a bit better. I'll be ready for bed pretty early tonight. I could use a good sleep. I also have less than three weeks now until my first cross race. Ug. I don't want to think about that until Wednesday.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Katy Trail
This weekend me and some of my boys are going to go take on the Katy Trail. I'm not sure what to make of the trail itself. It's definitely not technically challenging, but I think the challenge comes into play when you jam your seat between your legs on the 2nd day. That should be good fun. Maybe I'll grab some extra hot dog buns from the Brat fest in Hermann and sit on those.
Plus this'll be my first train ride in probably...errrrr....uh....22 years. Jeesh! Some people aren't even 22 years old!
It'll be tough being away from my boys, but a break is always nice. AB has been awfully emotional for some reason (getting teary-eyed sad because I told him to dress nice today) and K-man is clingy as anything. He'll have a great big cry if you don't hold him. Pretty funny, but I like it better when he has that big gap-toothed grin and wrinkled nose.
Talk to you all on Monday, provided I don't get eaten by a mountain lion or a redneck.
Plus this'll be my first train ride in probably...errrrr....uh....22 years. Jeesh! Some people aren't even 22 years old!
It'll be tough being away from my boys, but a break is always nice. AB has been awfully emotional for some reason (getting teary-eyed sad because I told him to dress nice today) and K-man is clingy as anything. He'll have a great big cry if you don't hold him. Pretty funny, but I like it better when he has that big gap-toothed grin and wrinkled nose.
Talk to you all on Monday, provided I don't get eaten by a mountain lion or a redneck.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
running and golf
So maybe I mentioned that I started running a bit. Nothing serious, but thought I'd try something new. I ran 1.75 miles on Tuesday night, and then played in an all-day tourney at the Horse on Wednesday. We had a great time, and shot 15 under. But we still took 2nd place, by 4 shots! But that's ok. I wasn't playing too whippy, and neither were the other two guys, but our anchor played very well.
Needless to say, after all that thrashing, my body is tired and I'm pounding the water today. Kinda like I pounded the open bar yesterday. Ooooowah!
T-minus 29 hours until it's time for our Katy Trail trip. I hope I can recover before then.
Needless to say, after all that thrashing, my body is tired and I'm pounding the water today. Kinda like I pounded the open bar yesterday. Ooooowah!
T-minus 29 hours until it's time for our Katy Trail trip. I hope I can recover before then.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Why not
So I figure with this fancy new bike, I ought to do something with it, eh? Here is what I've decided to do...October 18th, Boulevard Cup, Wyandotte County Park, Kansas City, Kansas. Shelter D. The video below is of the pros, but you get the idea...
US Gran Prix of Cyclocross - Portland, Oregon from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.
Super sweet freshness
Well, I just finished my project of the last six weeks. She still needs a fine tune, but really is in pretty good shape. Now it's time to ride!
Friday, September 18, 2009
egg in the leg
So, here I was about 4:50am sleeping like a fat bear and then my calf decides to contort itself. Some pain is good, this is not. I bolt upright in bed and start massaging the hell out of it, and then throw my leg over the bed and start stomping my toes into the ground. Eventually it goes away and I passed back out for an hour.
Whoever decided that it should be called a "charlie horse" either gave birth to 17 kids while passing a stone or they uttered the final words "charlie horse" right after a bus ran them over because they doubled over in pain in a cross walk. Charlie Horse implies something friendly, like a pony you'd want to have over on your 7th birthday. It doesn't bring visions of someone digging into your calf/thigh/hamstring with a meat hook, twisting it around, and then trying to pull it back through your skin.
Maybe they should be called inter-muscular shrapnel grenades.
Whoever decided that it should be called a "charlie horse" either gave birth to 17 kids while passing a stone or they uttered the final words "charlie horse" right after a bus ran them over because they doubled over in pain in a cross walk. Charlie Horse implies something friendly, like a pony you'd want to have over on your 7th birthday. It doesn't bring visions of someone digging into your calf/thigh/hamstring with a meat hook, twisting it around, and then trying to pull it back through your skin.
Maybe they should be called inter-muscular shrapnel grenades.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Pics from the Tour of Missouri
The Fam went downtown on Sunday to catch a little of the Tour of Missouri as it was wrapping up. Me being a bike geek and all, of course I was beside myself and fidgety and had the hair on my arms standing up. Penny and Aiden were a bit more collected. So we get there pretty late since Kieran desperately needed his nap (as did AB) and we could only catch the last lap. That sucks, but it's better than nothing. We went down to the Power and Light (or Power and White, as it's affectionately known around here) to watch Those Whose Thighs Are Greater Than My Waist (and that's no small feat). We lined up about 100' past the Sprint line, and it was a lot of fun. I could tell Penny started getting excited when the lead out motorcycles and race officials were hauling ass past us and she couldn't believe how fast they were going for a BIKE RACE. I'm like, "oh yeah, they are moving this fast and this is going to be awesome" and then I melt into a pile of squealing girlishness.
Several seconds later I regain my composure and you can see a couple lead out guys trying to steal the stage, and about 10 seconds behind them is the peloton, probably 120 dudes tightly packed and trying to reel in the breakaway. This is all coming at us downhill, so a few more motorcycles and patrol cars going hauling past us, and then the breakaway guys ride by us, obviously suffering. Cowbells are everywhere and I'm giddy. I'm shooting my camera as quickly as I can, hoping for one or two great shots. Then the peloton gets to us. More like hits us. The wind from them is UNBELIEVABLE and feels like a semi truck just narrowly missed hitting us at 60 mph. These dudes were moving.
And then all the team cars came by and it was over. Yea, it goes by that fast. Next year, we need to try and get there for at least 4 laps. Speaking of next year, Missouri Governator Jay Nixon wants to pull the state support for the Tour. I think he could certainly make a wiser choice. And not just because I'm a cyclist and because I live here and think that the mundane Midwest needs exotic, international events like this, but because the state puts in about $1.5 million, and in 2008, the event generated $29.8 million in economic impact. How can you turn those numbers down? Anyway, here are the pics. Hopefully some of them came out ok!
Several seconds later I regain my composure and you can see a couple lead out guys trying to steal the stage, and about 10 seconds behind them is the peloton, probably 120 dudes tightly packed and trying to reel in the breakaway. This is all coming at us downhill, so a few more motorcycles and patrol cars going hauling past us, and then the breakaway guys ride by us, obviously suffering. Cowbells are everywhere and I'm giddy. I'm shooting my camera as quickly as I can, hoping for one or two great shots. Then the peloton gets to us. More like hits us. The wind from them is UNBELIEVABLE and feels like a semi truck just narrowly missed hitting us at 60 mph. These dudes were moving.
And then all the team cars came by and it was over. Yea, it goes by that fast. Next year, we need to try and get there for at least 4 laps. Speaking of next year, Missouri Governator Jay Nixon wants to pull the state support for the Tour. I think he could certainly make a wiser choice. And not just because I'm a cyclist and because I live here and think that the mundane Midwest needs exotic, international events like this, but because the state puts in about $1.5 million, and in 2008, the event generated $29.8 million in economic impact. How can you turn those numbers down? Anyway, here are the pics. Hopefully some of them came out ok!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Here's one of the videos of Kieran walking. He gets a little excited, and in the end, AB dumps K because K drools all over AB's eyes.
 |
| From Kieran walking |
Two weeks!
So yeah, it's been two whole weeks since we posted an update. I say "we", because I don't want to fully shoulder the blame.
The good news is that we have lots of pics/galleries to post, and even some videos. I'll have to figure out how to post videos, but it seems pretty easy here.
There is no bad news, so there's an upside, even if it is only Tuesday.
Kieran had a great party over the weekend and we were thrilled to have so many friends and family come share the special day with us. I say "we", and I mean Aiden, Penny, and I. K-man has been having a pretty rough time transitioning to the 1-year old room, plus he got a bunch of vaccinations (MMR/Flu/Pox) yesterday, he's fighting a cold, and maybe starting to get another ear infection. I think the reason kids get so sick in day care is that the drool all over the place with their teething and there's no feasible way that the day care people can wash their hands that much while juggling 4-6 toddlers. This is life I suppose.
I've often caught myself wondering about existentialism, specifically how much longer humans are going to be around this rock. I think that overpopulation (ergo, the Duggars) are causing us to a) tap out resources, b) exponentially increase the transmission of viruses, c) cause said viruses/bacteria to mutate more frequently and with more lethality. It has been estimated that the world's population will hit 9 Billion by 2040. For reference, when I was born, the population was only 4.241 Billion. That's almost 5 billion extra super-petri dishes walking around. I also think that as globalization is becoming more defacto, with frequent air travel and increasing importation/exportation, that this will only exacerbate any situation involving communicable diseases. Experts say we have a 50/50 shot between some sort of evolved, utopian society and extermination. I'd say it's more like 20/80, but I'm a pessimist. Ok, so this got way off topic, but it's been on my mind.
So, I'll try and get all the pics/videos posted before we die of swine flu (which is probably highly overrated). Talk to you all soon.
C
The good news is that we have lots of pics/galleries to post, and even some videos. I'll have to figure out how to post videos, but it seems pretty easy here.
There is no bad news, so there's an upside, even if it is only Tuesday.
Kieran had a great party over the weekend and we were thrilled to have so many friends and family come share the special day with us. I say "we", and I mean Aiden, Penny, and I. K-man has been having a pretty rough time transitioning to the 1-year old room, plus he got a bunch of vaccinations (MMR/Flu/Pox) yesterday, he's fighting a cold, and maybe starting to get another ear infection. I think the reason kids get so sick in day care is that the drool all over the place with their teething and there's no feasible way that the day care people can wash their hands that much while juggling 4-6 toddlers. This is life I suppose.
I've often caught myself wondering about existentialism, specifically how much longer humans are going to be around this rock. I think that overpopulation (ergo, the Duggars) are causing us to a) tap out resources, b) exponentially increase the transmission of viruses, c) cause said viruses/bacteria to mutate more frequently and with more lethality. It has been estimated that the world's population will hit 9 Billion by 2040. For reference, when I was born, the population was only 4.241 Billion. That's almost 5 billion extra super-petri dishes walking around. I also think that as globalization is becoming more defacto, with frequent air travel and increasing importation/exportation, that this will only exacerbate any situation involving communicable diseases. Experts say we have a 50/50 shot between some sort of evolved, utopian society and extermination. I'd say it's more like 20/80, but I'm a pessimist. Ok, so this got way off topic, but it's been on my mind.
So, I'll try and get all the pics/videos posted before we die of swine flu (which is probably highly overrated). Talk to you all soon.
C
Monday, August 31, 2009
Back again.
Here we are, back at our jobs and schools. I'm going to have to put a thumbs-down on a Friday night-Sunday afternoon vacation. All that seemed to do was speed up the weekend! Well, at least we had fun.
I was quite proud that the guy at the dock was very impressed by my docking skills with the pontoon boat. I didn't have much room to maneuver and "landed" it on a dime. Hehe. I think that's the difference between a BMW driver and a Lexus driver. Oh snap!
Had to go there, didn't I?
I was quite proud that the guy at the dock was very impressed by my docking skills with the pontoon boat. I didn't have much room to maneuver and "landed" it on a dime. Hehe. I think that's the difference between a BMW driver and a Lexus driver. Oh snap!
Had to go there, didn't I?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Going on vacation...
We're leaving the great state of Kansas for the weekend for a nice little getaway. I'm quite excited, and think it will be good to get out of the house for a bit. I am hoping to get some more good pics to put up this weekend too. Have a great weekend, and don't forget, ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Ug.
I just wanted to get on here and whine a bit because my sinus headache is not much fun. It's making my teeth hurt. At least I'm not like Penny, who is hacking up lung butter every 30 seconds. Ick.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
ride on
My new bike is here! Yippee. I'm sure I'll be up all night building it.
Work performance tomorrow calls for cloudy with a chance of drizzle.
I've also added reactions on each post, so if something strikes you as particularly funny or whatever, feel free to let me know.
Work performance tomorrow calls for cloudy with a chance of drizzle.
I've also added reactions on each post, so if something strikes you as particularly funny or whatever, feel free to let me know.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I'm still here.
Some of you might have heard this story before, so forgive me.
Aiden, a.k.a. Nostrildamus, asked us on Saturday "when Daddy goes to heaven, will Mommy marry a new Daddy?". My response was a nice diplomatic, "if she wants too. I want her to be happy."
AB stewed on that for a day, and then on Sunday told us, "when Daddy goes to heaven, there won't be anymore Daddies for Mommy to marry."
I then replied, "you seem quite preoccupied with my demise. Am I going to die soon?".
"Yes."
"Oh. When?"
"In three days."
Thankfully, his predictive powers aren't much stronger than his bladder, and I'm still here.
Aiden, a.k.a. Nostrildamus, asked us on Saturday "when Daddy goes to heaven, will Mommy marry a new Daddy?". My response was a nice diplomatic, "if she wants too. I want her to be happy."
AB stewed on that for a day, and then on Sunday told us, "when Daddy goes to heaven, there won't be anymore Daddies for Mommy to marry."
I then replied, "you seem quite preoccupied with my demise. Am I going to die soon?".
"Yes."
"Oh. When?"
"In three days."
Thankfully, his predictive powers aren't much stronger than his bladder, and I'm still here.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Party Pics
Penny slogged out another half-marathon, making us all look bad yet again. The following day she was quite sore, but I'm not sure if that soreness can be attributed to the half-marathon or from the craziness that she participated in/led that evening.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Happy Friday
I've totally taken a vacation from blogging despite all the crap that has been going on. I say crap rather generically, not that much of the ongoings in our household have been negative. Take a deep breath, and now, let's begin.
Kieran had his surgery. This was very non-eventful, and he didn't have much fluid in his ears, so there wasn't any glorious draining of his ear juice or anything like that. He has done a fine job nearly tearing off both of his earlobes since he scratches at his ears so much. He sure likes to scratch at things. Just try and get in his face and he'll pull your eyeball out. With or without the eyelid.
Penny is running a half marathon tomorrow morning, then later that evening we are hosting the post-race party, our 2nd of three parties in one week. Good thing I like to party, otherwise I'd be dreading this.
I cracked my headtube on my road bike, so now I'm building up another bike. This is very exciting for the bike dork.
That's all for now. I gotta go play in traffic.
Cheers!
Kieran had his surgery. This was very non-eventful, and he didn't have much fluid in his ears, so there wasn't any glorious draining of his ear juice or anything like that. He has done a fine job nearly tearing off both of his earlobes since he scratches at his ears so much. He sure likes to scratch at things. Just try and get in his face and he'll pull your eyeball out. With or without the eyelid.
Penny is running a half marathon tomorrow morning, then later that evening we are hosting the post-race party, our 2nd of three parties in one week. Good thing I like to party, otherwise I'd be dreading this.
I cracked my headtube on my road bike, so now I'm building up another bike. This is very exciting for the bike dork.
That's all for now. I gotta go play in traffic.
Cheers!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Top 37?
So I thought I'd release a top 25 movies list of my favorite flicks of all time. Whittling a list that started at 130+ titles was way more difficult than I thought it would be. I tried to pick movies that weren't only well put together with solid acting, a great plot, and wonderful imagery, but movies that left an impression on my soul. That trimmed quite a few comedies off the list! I got the list down to 37. Here is what I have (and feel free to comment! Remember that all comments are moderated so it might take a few hours before I approve/publish your comments):
Amadeus (1984)
Bird (1988)
Braveheart (1995)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Dark Crystal (1982)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Dune (1984)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
The Fifth Element (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
The Goonies (1985)
Hook (1991)
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Into the Wild (2007)
Jaws (1975)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (2005)
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Ed. (2001)
The Matrix (1999)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Poltergeist (1982)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Rudy (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
Secondhand Lions (2003)
Seven (1995)
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
The Shawshank Redemption: Special Edition (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Three Kings (1999)
Tombstone (1993)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
V for Vendetta (2005)
Amadeus (1984)
Bird (1988)
Braveheart (1995)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Dark Crystal (1982)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Dune (1984)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
The Fifth Element (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
The Goonies (1985)
Hook (1991)
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Into the Wild (2007)
Jaws (1975)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (2005)
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Ed. (2001)
The Matrix (1999)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Poltergeist (1982)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Rudy (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
Secondhand Lions (2003)
Seven (1995)
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
The Shawshank Redemption: Special Edition (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Three Kings (1999)
Tombstone (1993)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
V for Vendetta (2005)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Another ear infection...SERIOUSLY!?!?!
K-man has landed himself yet another ear infection, so now we are back on anti-biotics. He has tube surgery scheduled in a couple of weeks, so that will be nice. Poor guy couldn't sleep for anything and was in a lot of pain, so I slept with him on my chest on the living room chair last night. Needless to say, Penny got the best sleep in the house (at least I hope she did).
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Nice weather, don't you think?
If I were to lament about nonsensical Kansas City weather is, it would fall on deaf ears. I used to think that KC got extra special crappy weather, but then I started watching the regional forecasts, and it seems that God has put a meteorological curse (or whatever God does) on the area roughly between Denver and Cleveland, and from Minneapolis to Dallas. KC just happens to be in the groin of that area.
This all being said, July hasn't been too bad. It's probably been about 15 degrees cooler in July than it was in June, which was the hottest June since the Great Meteor came and wiped out the dinosaurs. My new sod is finally starting to green up, but I don't know if that's because of all the godforsaken nutgrass or if there is real grass growing there. Looks like I'm in for about $200 worth of fescue seed for this fall, which I'm sure the CPA is dancing about after reading that.
Speaking of dancing about, we actually finished most of our painting, and it went pretty smoothly. I held my tongue (much gentler than biting it) and just put my head down, and almost 20 hours later most of the first floor was a darker shade of Johnson County beige than before. Sometimes I complain about some of our neighbors with GREEN or CAROLINA BLUE houses, but secretly, I admire them for painting something other than beige, tan, yellowish-brown, brown, tawny, or skin-colored.
I wanted to mention too, that our fellow blogger Heather Armstrong, of dooce.com, just got ranked #26 on Forbes for most influential women in the media. Heather's site has gotten huge, but I still recommend going out there and reading it. I recommended it to all of you probably 3-4 years ago, so I think that puts me on the leading edge of something. Maybe I can get a merit badge for that.
This all being said, July hasn't been too bad. It's probably been about 15 degrees cooler in July than it was in June, which was the hottest June since the Great Meteor came and wiped out the dinosaurs. My new sod is finally starting to green up, but I don't know if that's because of all the godforsaken nutgrass or if there is real grass growing there. Looks like I'm in for about $200 worth of fescue seed for this fall, which I'm sure the CPA is dancing about after reading that.
Speaking of dancing about, we actually finished most of our painting, and it went pretty smoothly. I held my tongue (much gentler than biting it) and just put my head down, and almost 20 hours later most of the first floor was a darker shade of Johnson County beige than before. Sometimes I complain about some of our neighbors with GREEN or CAROLINA BLUE houses, but secretly, I admire them for painting something other than beige, tan, yellowish-brown, brown, tawny, or skin-colored.
I wanted to mention too, that our fellow blogger Heather Armstrong, of dooce.com, just got ranked #26 on Forbes for most influential women in the media. Heather's site has gotten huge, but I still recommend going out there and reading it. I recommended it to all of you probably 3-4 years ago, so I think that puts me on the leading edge of something. Maybe I can get a merit badge for that.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Cancer dedication to our dear friend, Allie.
I wanted to put this up on my blog so that everyone who was been touched by cancer in some way and see this page and perhaps sign the dedication page. Thanks from the bottom of my heart... Chris
Hi,
I just dedicated a page to Allie Marshall at LIVESTRONG Action.
This page is a part of the world's largest dedication book that LIVESTRONG Action will use to pressure world leaders to do more to fight cancer. Can you add your name to my dedication page? It'll only take a second, and you can help me reach my target of 25 dedications.
Please click here, it only takes a second:
http://www.livestrongaction.org/node/20305
Right now, Lance Armstrong is dedicating his ride in the Tour de France to the fight against cancer. And after the race, he'll send this dedication book - with your signature - to world leaders and pressure them to make cancer a priority in their own countries. It's our best chance to push for better treatment, more funding for cancer research and access to care for everyone around the world.
But if people like us don't stand up, these leaders won't pay attention.
Will you check out my dedication page? Allie Marshall inspired me to take action - hopefully they'll inspire you to do the same:
http://www.livestrongaction.org/node/20305
Hi,
I just dedicated a page to Allie Marshall at LIVESTRONG Action.
This page is a part of the world's largest dedication book that LIVESTRONG Action will use to pressure world leaders to do more to fight cancer. Can you add your name to my dedication page? It'll only take a second, and you can help me reach my target of 25 dedications.
Please click here, it only takes a second:
http://www.livestrongaction.org/node/20305
Right now, Lance Armstrong is dedicating his ride in the Tour de France to the fight against cancer. And after the race, he'll send this dedication book - with your signature - to world leaders and pressure them to make cancer a priority in their own countries. It's our best chance to push for better treatment, more funding for cancer research and access to care for everyone around the world.
But if people like us don't stand up, these leaders won't pay attention.
Will you check out my dedication page? Allie Marshall inspired me to take action - hopefully they'll inspire you to do the same:
http://www.livestrongaction.org/node/20305
Monday, July 13, 2009
Whooped
I am whooped. So is Penny. We did tons of landscaping this weekend, and while it looks nice, I'm tired. That is what a desk job will do to ya. We still have a bit more to do, and I have some hostas I need to get in the ground before the wind tips them over for the 30th time.
AB had an exciting day yesterday, first waking up at Grandpa D and GJ's house, then going to a birthday party, followed by Sunday school, and finally wrapping up the day with a little baseball. I nearly had to use the cattle prod to get him out of bed this morning.
I am starting to get a tickle in my throat, so I have to gargle some hot salt water to try and minimize any infection. I hate colds, especially in the summer time.
Kieran turned 10 months old yesterday, and his 2nd tooth erupted last night too. I'm glad he's not a biter, since he loves to gouge people with his razor sharp fingernails (I have one such gouge on my eyelid). He really wants to walk, but I think he's a solid month away from that. He's still pretty wobbly but I can certainly see some progress.
He was having a tough time sleeping yesterday, so I took him upstairs and through a blanket over him and rocked him for a bit and he finally konked out on me. I just had to hold him for awhile because I know these days are soon coming to an end. Sweet little baby!
To carry on the soppy tone of this post, Penny and I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this weekend. That was the best movie either of us had seen for a very long time. I really enjoyed the plot and all of the little life lesson's that were revealed throughout the film. Two big thumbs up!
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I can get rested up to finish the egress window fence tonight or tomorrow, because we're going to start painting on Thursday. I'm pretty sure you can't hear my cheering because I'm not doing anything of the sort.
AB had an exciting day yesterday, first waking up at Grandpa D and GJ's house, then going to a birthday party, followed by Sunday school, and finally wrapping up the day with a little baseball. I nearly had to use the cattle prod to get him out of bed this morning.
I am starting to get a tickle in my throat, so I have to gargle some hot salt water to try and minimize any infection. I hate colds, especially in the summer time.
Kieran turned 10 months old yesterday, and his 2nd tooth erupted last night too. I'm glad he's not a biter, since he loves to gouge people with his razor sharp fingernails (I have one such gouge on my eyelid). He really wants to walk, but I think he's a solid month away from that. He's still pretty wobbly but I can certainly see some progress.
He was having a tough time sleeping yesterday, so I took him upstairs and through a blanket over him and rocked him for a bit and he finally konked out on me. I just had to hold him for awhile because I know these days are soon coming to an end. Sweet little baby!
To carry on the soppy tone of this post, Penny and I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this weekend. That was the best movie either of us had seen for a very long time. I really enjoyed the plot and all of the little life lesson's that were revealed throughout the film. Two big thumbs up!
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I can get rested up to finish the egress window fence tonight or tomorrow, because we're going to start painting on Thursday. I'm pretty sure you can't hear my cheering because I'm not doing anything of the sort.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
It's not like tubes sticking out of his ears!
K-man is heading to the ENT today to get his ears checked out and possibly arrange to get tubes put in. These are little flanged pieces of rubber, a little larger than the diameter of a pencil lead, that are inserted into the ear drum. This allows all the fluid to drain out of the middle ear, and allows the little one to start hearing a LOT better. Which should be good, since Kieran loves to scream in the house. He thinks it's pretty neat.
Speaking of pretty neat, I had a particularly neat morning today. Penny got back from her morning run and was pounding some Gatorade to try and rehydrate a bit. Aiden happened to be watching her, and thought that seemed pretty cool, so he went to his sink and drank probably a liter or so of water. I didn't know he did that, so I didn't think much of it when we were downstairs, and he is sitting on the floor looking like he wants to rattle off a big belch. No big surprise there, the kid has obviously been raised by wolves. I go into the pantry just in time to hear water hitting the floor. I turn around just to see AB dumping his water on the floor, and then I tell him to go to the toilet. He then barfs again, so I cup my hands over my mouth and yell "GET TO THE TOILET". Sometimes I think he needs tubes in his ears again. By that time, he's fully purged and I get to spend the next 10 minutes cleaning up puke. At least it was only water, I guess.
So then we all proceed with our mornings and eat breakfast, yadda yadda yadda, and then I go upstairs to put on my socks and shoes. Penny and Kieran follow me up there, and Kieran gets all excited, crawls over to me, and I let him stand on the floor in front of me and then he pukes all over the place too.
I should have just called it a day and gone back to bed.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
short and sweet...
Coffee is one of the top 5 inventions/discoveries by mankind. Air Conditioning is up there too. So glad I wasn't born in the 1700's. I'd have to lay around on ice blocks all summer. Or move to San Diego, which I probably would have gotten scalped.
/rambling
AB and I played golf at the par 3 course yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and he played every hole. He hit the ball pretty decently. If I could just get him to hold still, he'd probably pound the ball, just like his old man.
/rambling
AB and I played golf at the par 3 course yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and he played every hole. He hit the ball pretty decently. If I could just get him to hold still, he'd probably pound the ball, just like his old man.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Working like crazy isn't fun when the weather is PERFECT.
One of the guys is out this week, so somehow I am picking almost his whole workload, which isn't much fun. I'm managing, but I'd prefer a not-so-frentic pace, especially after working nearly all last weekend too.
The patio should be finished today, as should the retaining wall as well. Now Penny and I have lots of landscaping to do. At least the dirt shouldn't be too compacted, which should be a big bonus. I also have about 2000 sq ft. of sod now, which should be fun trying to keep it alive through July and August. Hopefully we'll be done with 90+ stuff for awhile, but I doubt it. All I know is that my water bill should be astronomical for the next few months.
I've also been working on lengthening my golf clubs and putting on some mid-sized grips. I'm excited to work on that project, as it's pretty fun and should yield some good results. I'm hoping that slightly larger grips should help tame some of the right-to-left action I'm putting on the ball.
That's all for now, now go outside and play.
The patio should be finished today, as should the retaining wall as well. Now Penny and I have lots of landscaping to do. At least the dirt shouldn't be too compacted, which should be a big bonus. I also have about 2000 sq ft. of sod now, which should be fun trying to keep it alive through July and August. Hopefully we'll be done with 90+ stuff for awhile, but I doubt it. All I know is that my water bill should be astronomical for the next few months.
I've also been working on lengthening my golf clubs and putting on some mid-sized grips. I'm excited to work on that project, as it's pretty fun and should yield some good results. I'm hoping that slightly larger grips should help tame some of the right-to-left action I'm putting on the ball.
That's all for now, now go outside and play.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
That was fast...
The weekend has now come and gone. That was a blur! As nice as today was, I wish I took off all week and could just putter around, play some golf, and spend some time with family and friends.
At least we did get to hang out with some of our neighbors on the new patio Saturday night. We had a few people over and then we had some more neighbors migrate over and we had a nice little party going. That's one of the great things about our neighborhood.
Today I got out and practiced chipping and putting up at Ironhorse, and then we all went to the pool this afternoon. That was pretty nice indeed. Too bad Monday is right around the corner, but I guess it's time to pay the piper, I suppose.
My A/C is out in my car yet again, so I'll be dropping it off at the shop tomorrow and getting one of the owner's spare cars. It was pretty dang hot last week without the A/C. Hopefully this can be placed on the accident and I don't have to pay for this repair, but we'll see. It's an awful slow leak and I'm sure the squeaky-a$$ insurance company will try and get out of it. Good thing we pay them all those juicy premiums.
On that sunny note, I hope everyone has a great week. Talk to you soon.
At least we did get to hang out with some of our neighbors on the new patio Saturday night. We had a few people over and then we had some more neighbors migrate over and we had a nice little party going. That's one of the great things about our neighborhood.
Today I got out and practiced chipping and putting up at Ironhorse, and then we all went to the pool this afternoon. That was pretty nice indeed. Too bad Monday is right around the corner, but I guess it's time to pay the piper, I suppose.
My A/C is out in my car yet again, so I'll be dropping it off at the shop tomorrow and getting one of the owner's spare cars. It was pretty dang hot last week without the A/C. Hopefully this can be placed on the accident and I don't have to pay for this repair, but we'll see. It's an awful slow leak and I'm sure the squeaky-a$$ insurance company will try and get out of it. Good thing we pay them all those juicy premiums.
On that sunny note, I hope everyone has a great week. Talk to you soon.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Bringing the Heat
It's way too hot way too early in the year. I'm almost ready for snow. Almost.
Penny has been feeling better, but still fighting off the infection. Hopefully she'll get back to 90% this weekend. She seems better but still has to take it easy and keep the fluids in her.
The patio is nearly done and looks great. I'm quite excited to get some furniture back there and start trying to resuscitate our grass.
K-man is a maniac. He is crawling everywhere and is in to everything. We've gotta watch that kid with two eyes! I think he has a followup appointment with the doctor this week to check his ears out. I hope we can get this kid some tubes because between the antibiotics and new teeth, this kid is a super-pooper.
Penny has been feeling better, but still fighting off the infection. Hopefully she'll get back to 90% this weekend. She seems better but still has to take it easy and keep the fluids in her.
The patio is nearly done and looks great. I'm quite excited to get some furniture back there and start trying to resuscitate our grass.
K-man is a maniac. He is crawling everywhere and is in to everything. We've gotta watch that kid with two eyes! I think he has a followup appointment with the doctor this week to check his ears out. I hope we can get this kid some tubes because between the antibiotics and new teeth, this kid is a super-pooper.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
oobgolf
Well, I'm a little behind the curve here, but I just found oobgolf.com, and I love it! I'm very impressed with the quality of the site and think that the stats trackers are phenomenal. I'm going to have to start taking better notes now!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Happy Tuesday.
Not really. It's average. Penny was home sick yesterday so I stayed home to take care of her and watch our poor patio guys sweat like nothing else. Penny and I went to the doctor and it ends up she has a severe kidney infection. They gave her a shot that had lidocaine and kryptonite in it and she's feeling a bit better. The doctor is going to rerun the blood work and see how she's doing today. At least she feels a bit better. She felt pretty awful, but not as bad as I would think given what she had. Of course, she is a tough German broad and probably didn't let on how much she was uncomfortable.
The patio is moving along pretty well, although I feel for those guys working on it. I wish I had some bigger trees around the house. I think we'll be getting some of those in the upcoming year. All these estate trees suck.
That's all for now. Enjoy your balmy Tuesday (if you're in the Midwest).
The patio is moving along pretty well, although I feel for those guys working on it. I wish I had some bigger trees around the house. I think we'll be getting some of those in the upcoming year. All these estate trees suck.
That's all for now. Enjoy your balmy Tuesday (if you're in the Midwest).
Friday, June 19, 2009
6-19-09
You know it's trouble when I title a post with the date. That usually means some rambling is about to ensue, and it's going to be particularly pointless rambling. The kind where I complete my thoughts in 1.78 sentences then move on to the next topic with no transition. My dear English Comp, Dr. Carter, would definitely give me a D. She wouldn't give me an F because she liked me. I'd have to say she was one of the best teachers I had in high school.
So on with the butchery of the English language!
The patio is coming along nicely. Those boys are some sweaty dudes when we get home at night. Just about the time they are wrapping up is in the breeze picks up and the patio is fully shaded. It feels at least 25 degrees cooler back there than it does up front. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the mornings have been so muggy, plus our tinted windows are giving them a double dose of sunlight. This is why I didn't take on this project. NO WAY. I'd finish 3 basements before I did one patio.
Today is Donuts with Dads at AB's school. That should be a lot of fun. I know he's quite excited. We've been having a tough time with his endless energy (over the top) and the bathroom problems. Plus he's been lying a lot. Not sure what to do about that. At 4 years old, it's easy enough to catch him, but it's just frustrating and I hope that we're not doing anything to encourage that behavior.
At least Kieran is 100% fun. Except for the blowouts. He's back on antibiotics for his ear, so I'm hoping that his ears will clear up, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing an ENT soon to talk about tubes. Penny and I are pro-tubes, since they seem to be very effective and it's better than hammering down antibiotics all the time (and super-pooping).
That's enough for now. Post at you later.
So on with the butchery of the English language!
The patio is coming along nicely. Those boys are some sweaty dudes when we get home at night. Just about the time they are wrapping up is in the breeze picks up and the patio is fully shaded. It feels at least 25 degrees cooler back there than it does up front. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the mornings have been so muggy, plus our tinted windows are giving them a double dose of sunlight. This is why I didn't take on this project. NO WAY. I'd finish 3 basements before I did one patio.
Today is Donuts with Dads at AB's school. That should be a lot of fun. I know he's quite excited. We've been having a tough time with his endless energy (over the top) and the bathroom problems. Plus he's been lying a lot. Not sure what to do about that. At 4 years old, it's easy enough to catch him, but it's just frustrating and I hope that we're not doing anything to encourage that behavior.
At least Kieran is 100% fun. Except for the blowouts. He's back on antibiotics for his ear, so I'm hoping that his ears will clear up, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing an ENT soon to talk about tubes. Penny and I are pro-tubes, since they seem to be very effective and it's better than hammering down antibiotics all the time (and super-pooping).
That's enough for now. Post at you later.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Various Pics
Thought you all would enjoy some pics. I think there are some pics of AB's and my campout in the backyard, lots of AB and K pics, and even a pic of the big project at the house. Well, maybe just a sneak peek.
I'm on twitter too, mperfct is the name. I'll apologize in advance if you follow me and expect some great and profound utterations.
Yes, I did just make that word up. I think it'll do for now.
Yes, I did just make that word up. I think it'll do for now.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Trying to be a good boy
And keep some interesting things on here.
I'm hoping we get Penny's car back today. having just one car is a bit tiresome.
I also just started following a few of the ladies on the LPGA around on twitter. It kind of fascinates me to have world-caliber athletes so accessible. If only I had as much game as them...
<30>
Just got off the phone with our auto body shop, and one of their techs died in a motorcycle accident this weekend and they were shut down yesterday as they were all at the wake. Nathan left two kids behind, and it's just an awful tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and co-workers during this difficult time.
I'm hoping we get Penny's car back today. having just one car is a bit tiresome.
I also just started following a few of the ladies on the LPGA around on twitter. It kind of fascinates me to have world-caliber athletes so accessible. If only I had as much game as them...
<30>
Just got off the phone with our auto body shop, and one of their techs died in a motorcycle accident this weekend and they were shut down yesterday as they were all at the wake. Nathan left two kids behind, and it's just an awful tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and co-workers during this difficult time.
Friday, June 12, 2009
We'll give this a try.
I'm hoping that this site will let me upload videos and such a bit easier than my current website. I' don't know if I'm quite ready to give up swiii.com yet!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)