Commuting

I finally rode to work yesterday, and it was a pretty fantastic experience overall.  There was a strong headwind the entire way home, which kinda stunk, but that just made it that much better of a workout.  I can't wait to bike-it again.

AB had a great time over the last weekend with his birthday celebrations, and he has certainly enjoyed officially becoming 5 now.  He is growing up way too fast.  He still does some little kid stuff, but I think he's going to ease right into kindergarten.  Sometimes I think Penny and I get too anxious wanting him to grow out of things, or K for that matter.  I know we aren't wishing time away, but we have to be careful to appreciate the moments we have with our small children.  Time is really flying by...I was just emailing one of my fraternity brothers and had to mention my age.  That seemed to really put it in perspective...telling my bro that I was 33 was weird.  And the fact that I've known him for 15 years is even more weird.

So while I have been ruminating about the time-space continuum and the forces it imparts upon my soul, I've been getting some good sweaty workouts in too.  I weighed in at 200.2 this morning.  I cannot seem to break 200 pounds for anything.  I'm going to have to really start pounding the pedals/lap pool/pavement to crack through, but the end is near.  Well, at least the end of being a clyde.  I'm hoping to get down to around 180 before cyclocross season starts (early September).  I'm hoping to be solid mid-pack fodder next season, with another gradual increase in results and my perception of my performance.

I think that's all I feel like spewing out for now, even though the cognitive back burner is full.

Return salvo

Only KU grads may find this amusing, but I pulled this from my MU-educated sister's webpage:


quote:



Q. Why do KU graduates hang their deplomas on their rearview mirrors?

A. So they can park in the handicapped spot.


end quote.

I hope you didn't pay TOO much for that deploma.

I've been busy painting

and that's my only excuse for not posting anything useful.  I got a little crazy filling nail holes and sheet rock dings, and low and behold, I've made yet another 1-2 night project turn into a ginormous exercise.  I'm going to start velcro-ing pictures to the wall now.

K man was up nearly the entire night, which was great fun for Penny and I.  We really enjoyed our special time with K between 1:30 and 5:30 this morning.  And we both feel terrific today as well.  I think that one of the keys to life is sleep deprivation, and I highly recommend it.  Ok, that is all I have to say about that.

I'm saddened, yet not entirely surprised, that the Jayhawks made an early departure from the tourney.  I'm also not surprised to see MU fans leaping in joy to see KU lose, even though MU fared no better in the tourney.  I'd also like to remind certain individuals in my family that KU whipped MU both times they played this year, AND KU was Big 12 Champions, AND that KU won the Big 12 tourney, AND that MU got hard bounced by Nebraska (snicker) in the same tourney.  I'd also like to wave a hand in the air with ZERO fingers extended because that is how many times MU has been to the Final Four.  Ok, now that is all I need to say about that.

Don't prod the sleepy bear.

So this is why Jason Statham switched to Audi...

I thought this was a well thought out article, and pretty much summarizes my feeling about BMW and how they have been developing cars over the last decade or so.


http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2010/3/16/the-autoextremist.html

If you're a German car nut like myself, I think you'll readily see this guy's point.

Slow news days I guess

Blogging motivation is low, despite a surplus of agenda.  Not sure what is up with that.  It's not only me, but nearly every blogger I'm following is slumping right now.  Maybe it's the temptress known as "Spring" that is keeping us away from our keyboards, as we stare out the window waiting for small buds to develop into leaves.

So I'm going to try and hammer through a few updates, and I'll start with the low hanging fruit, ergo my tri training.  I haven't been putting in as much time as I would like to, partially due to flying around doing other things, and partially due to my poor sleep has me ready to go to bed at 8:30 most nights (more on that later).  Last Thursday I sucked it up and went up to Lifetime at about 8:30, and didn't get home until 11:15.  I started off working on my crappy swim technique, and then went to run.  Then I thought I should do some lifting, then some core.  And when I was doing core, it over looks the basketball court so of course I had to go shoot around for 20-30 minutes.  All that equals getting to bed at 11:30.  I'm glad I worked out though.

I rode on Sunday what felt like a good speed, and I came back with a SLOW avg. speed.  Although I was trying to keep my HR low, I guess that's ok, because there was some serious wind on the way back in.  Plus I couldn't feel my toes, but that doesn't really have any effect on my speed.  Nice try, Chris.

Last night I was going to run, but my back has been off so I went and visited the Chiro.  Feels much better today and I hope to get some more fitnessing in tonight.  I'll post back tomorrow and let you know how that goes.

I was going to post some typical randomness...

But I was driving into work today, listening to NPR (and trying to boost my IQ), and I was listening to an interview with Desmond Tutu.

Towards the end of a terrific interview, 78-year old Archbishop Tutu stated, "I am learning to shut up more in the presence of God," he said, with a laugh. One model of prayer, he acknowledges, is that "you have a kind of shopping list that you bring to God" — and even Desmond Tutu confesses that "I still do."

But more and more for him, he says, communion with God is about "trying to grow, in just being there."
"Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire," he says. "You don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you."

I kind of liked that.  So instead of my usual ramblings, you got precious insight from man who has experienced more than we could possibly imagine.

Dinner tonight

I tried to remake a Greek Chicken Pasta tonight, and it pretty much sucked.  No one died, which was good, but it was a solid D effort in the cooking department tonight.  The bread was good (pre-made, store bought), and the wine was spectacular.  Nice save, courtesy of my friends at Cellar Rat.  ;-)

One of the best youtube videos I've seen in a long time

This video featuring some beautiful scenery and a terrific soundtrack shows off some of the incomparable trial skills by Danny MacAskill.  It's just a beautifully shot video.  Hope you enjoy it.

Audi Wine Cheese

I picked up my "new" Audi A6 on Friday, and have been loving it.  It's a great, solid car, with room to move around.  It's kinda thirsty (4.2L V8) but then it's not too bad as long as I keep my foot out of it (which is no small task).  My M3 pitched a fit, and decided to have the battery crap out on Friday, so I had to get a couple of jumps that day to bring her in for trade.  The dealer (Molle Audi, two big thumbs up) had no problems with this, as another lady earlier in the day traded her BMW in as it was sucking up the last gas fumes in the tank.

Everyone seems to be enjoying the car, and I'm sure Penny's TSX will be glad to no longer be the default family transport.  I will miss the M3, as it was the best car I've owned to date.  It was solid, dependable, and fun to drive.  It did everything I asked for and then some, and then some.  Hopefully somebody deserving gets the car in her next life, and uses her as a track car or something like that.  It was a shame in some ways to use her as a daily driver.

On another bike-related note, I had a great time at our Colavita/Parisi party at Cellar Rat Wines Saturday night.  It was a terrific party, with top-notch wine, and great people to boot.  I can't say enough great things about Cellar Rat as well.  They have a great monthly case special, $100 a case, for some terrific wines.  Every month they change up the case.  I gotta pimp them a little bit, because A) they are a team sponsor and B) I really believe in what they have to offer:

"Cellar Rat Wine Merchants stocks over 800 wines plus a number of premium spirits and handcrafted brews, each selected by our knowledgeable wine buyers and staff. Nothing is sold unless we like it ourselves. There are a lot of great wines out there if you know where and how to find them. Unfortunately, there's even more wine that is not-so-great.  Our first duty is to make sure none of that lesser stuff makes it on our shelves or your table. For every bottle we select, ten get the boot."

Ok, that's all I have for now.  If you're in KC, and need a bottle or a few cases, please check them out.  80% of their store is under $20, and they have a great wine bar and private tasting room.  Plus it's a cool building.  ;-)