insert title here

Bike bar party Amoeba, Ho!!

2009-10-24T15:36:00.003-05:00

One short hour until the bike bar party amoeba sets forth!
The excitement is palatable.
By that I mean that it is very tasty. It tastes quite like taco salad, in point of fact.

Why a bike bar party amoeba?
It's an amoeba because it may split, divide, or "mitose" at any moment. It may also absorb any smaller, lesser, weaker, parties that it comes across.

"Bike" because, well, we'll be riding bikes. duh.

"bar" because we plan to stop at bars. duh.

"party" because, well, just because. Because I said.

As a side note, I don't use the word "pecuniary" enough. I intend to use it in conversation today. Also "pulchritude" I don't under use Pulchritude.

Fixed Something Else!

2009-09-28T16:57:00.002-05:00

The utility sink in the basement has been cracked since we bought this house, it finally got bad enough that we needed to replace it.
Anne and I installed a new sink in our basement this weekend.
Horray! We can plumb!

Fixed!!!

2009-09-16T15:28:00.002-05:00

We (Anne and I) fixed our kitchen drain today!
Woo! We can do this stuff!
We found a big puddle in the kitchen cupboard this morning, and with two trips to the hardware store and one to the plumbing supply store, I think it's fixed. Took hours, and a long time with the hacksaw.

Final analysis is still pending, we might get home and find a mess tonight.

Still, it was good.

Letter to my Senators

2009-08-13T08:44:00.002-05:00

This is a copy of the letter I sent to my senators.

First of all, I would like to say that I am a voting Missouri resident.
Second, I would like to share with you my thoughts on health care.
We have a tough decision to make regarding health care. This decision cannot be put off any longer than is has already. We need to decide if we want to join the ranks of the preeminent industralized nations of the world or if want to languish in squalor.
Health care has become unaffordable for all but the wealthy in the United States. We must access to health care open to all citizens of the United States.
Our only alternative is to admit that we have faltered and that we are no longer a country of equals, but that we are stratified into a ruling bourgeois and a proletariat.

Really, That's all I have to say on the issue.

too much espresso...

2009-08-11T07:36:00.003-05:00

I've had too much espresso this morning.

The espresso has had a bit of a bitter taste lately which is not my favorite.
I blame an itenerant batch of Columbia. Not the usual stuff, it was organic instead of our usual excelso. Anyway, it's gone, replaced with a Peru. That has made the bitter taste dissappear.
So, when I got here I had a double shot. It was so yummy I had to follow it up with another one. Then a couple of people ordered drinks with odd numbers of shots, leaving one left over from each. Cant' let those go to waste.

So, I'm a bit jittery this morning.

July! July! July!

2009-08-07T06:24:00.002-05:00

Has never seems so strange?
Meh.
Anne and I went on vacation in July, and I took over roasting at Northwest.

And, I rode a bicycle across Missouri! Ha!
I will say that for an epic ride in July, it was not too hot, not too rainy and very nearly perfect.
I will also say that there are apparently mosquitos large enough to have stripes along the Missouri river. Seriously, I would have thought they were mosquitohawks if it had not been biteing me.

You can read more about the trip on my other blog. It's invitation only, so if you are reading this, just email me (Brian dot Romine at gmail) and I'll send you an invitation.

Busy Month!

2009-07-01T12:48:00.004-05:00

For obvious reasons, I tend to post less when I'm busy, and thusly should have more to say. Well, I have been Very busy this past month, so I have not posted at all.

First and most interestingly, I have taken over as the roaster for Northwest Coffee Roasting. Awesome. I've been doing all of the roasting for two weeks, and Eric (the soon to be former roaster) has a couple of roasting days left before he's gone entirely.

Secondly, we got rear eneded in our truck. The bumper was dented. The other guys car may be totalled. It's fixed now. The other guys insurance company seems to have done right by us. Who knew that ever happened?

Thirdly, Anne and I were in our first ever bike race. It was awesome. We were promised fun, and it was delivered. I will only divulge details on the bike race in person, so ask.

Fourthly, our garden has taken off. Crazy! We've got carrots, we'll have tomatoes eventually, we've planted some herbs, and our beans seem to be dieing. :( I spent a while weeding this morning. I pulled up about a bushel of mint. Lots of mint.

Fifthly, Anne's latin class has just finished. It is good. 5 weeks is not enough to learn Latin. Also, Latin grammer is stupid hard. Really. I found a page she conjugated a verb on. Just one verb. The chart spilled over onto the back. A Latin verb conjugated into like 70 forms. I'm not kidding.

Finally, We have jumped into high gear in preparing for our vacation in less than two weeks now. We're taking the train to Sedaila, and biking back. It's a long way. 225ish miles. We'll have a week. We might skip it if the weather is awful, but right now it looks like it will be good.

My sister got married

2009-05-27T08:15:00.004-05:00

My sister got married last weekend. It was good. For reasons that are not at all clear to me, she chose to get married in St. Charles, MO. If you aren't from around here, St. Charles is like St. Louis, but with more cars, no soul, and nothing of any interest. I had been in St. Charles last summer once, but not since. I forgot how much I dislike it.

But I digress. My sister's wedding was very nice. I got to see many relatives who I don't get to see very often. Why am I so bad at keeping up with people I don't see regularly? I don't know.

Our summer is filling up fast. We really hope to go to KC for a weekend in addition to everything else we had planned. I'm really looking forward to that trip, we'll just need to find a place for it. We also want to go to North English to see my grandpa. That will be good, too.

New Layout!

2009-05-13T14:29:00.002-05:00

Yay! A new Layout!
I think I like it, but the jury is still out. I'm using the new "blogger layout make things easier" thing. I kind of miss getting my hands into the HTML, but we all saw how often I did that. Sorry about all the broken links, btw.
My bloglist is shorter than it used to be. Not to name names, but many folks have given up posting entirely, or locked their blogs down (Wendy!)

I'm curious about feedback. There could well be more changed on the horizon.

5 star day?

2009-05-13T13:20:00.002-05:00

My horoscope tells me that I'll have a five star day today. Well, truthfully, some schmo wrote it in the newspaper, my coworker Joe read about it, and relayed the information to me.
So, to be more accurate, I have it on very poor authority via a game of telephone that I will have a five star day today.

So far, unexpectedly, this assessment seems thus far to be accurate.

It looks like it might thunderstorm, and a ride home in the rain is a good way to well, rain on anyones parade.

On the (very) bright side, according to the plan, Anne finishes her semester later today. She's grading finals even as I type. Hooray! Unbelievably exciting.

Not really too much excitment other than that, except we've decided on a time and place for our next bike tour. We're going to take the train to Sedalia and ride home via the Katy trail at the end of the summer session. So, we have a couple months to be excited and plan and train. Big projects = Good stuff. Should be more on that later.

conclusion of my project

2009-05-05T10:46:00.003-05:00

The communications project ended on Sunday. I still have some letters to write, but other than that it is finished.

I have some thoughts about it, and how it worked. The first (and main) conclusion that I came to is that, like it or not, human communications have changed. You can like it or opt out. Opting out leaves you sort of "out of the loop" in many goings on.
Many of our gadgets (cell phones, email etc) are tools. Phones in particular, I found to be difficult to go without. It made many of my operations much more difficult to organize.
Email likewise, a useful tool. There is something about a physical letter that is lost in an email, but email is certainly more useful for instant communications.
One aspect I did not miss at all was internet chatting. I don't do that very often, but I don't think it's a useful way to communicate with other people. I think I'll give that up.

The big things I think I've decided from this project are as follows.
1. I should try to get together with my friends more often. Based on that, I am going to make an effort to be "at home" to visitors more of the time. Mainly Monday afternoon and evening, Tuesday afternoon, and Friday afternoon and evenings, you should feel free to stop by my house. I'll generally be home (feel free to call to see if I'm home) but I really mean it, feel free to stop by.
2. Letters are good. If you write me a letter, I'll do my very best to answer it. I am going to try to write letters to my friends and family.
3. I have the best wife ever. Thanks for being so supportive, Anne!

As a side note, I drove 6 miles last week, and that was 100% because I felt like going for a drive. Yay, My team!

Show me the way to go home.

2009-04-26T00:17:00.002-05:00

I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

I had a little drink about an hour ago
and it seems to have gone to my head.

Anne and I had a great time tonight. We set out at five, planning to drink beers and eat burgers. About ten miles of biking, Seven hours, many beers, two burgers and lots of visiting friends later, we have succeeded. Very tired. But all in all, just what was needed.

Well, this is it. I'm signing off.
I hope you come to visit. or write.

See you next week.

Zero Miles

2009-04-25T15:43:00.001-05:00

I have had a zero miles of driving week. I know it doesn't end until tomorrow, but anyway.
Zero miles. I have actually not started the car since a week ago Monday.
Yeah! Success!

Earth Day and a game!

2009-04-22T17:40:00.003-05:00

First, it's Earth Day, horray! I guess. I'm pretty ambivalent about having an "Earth Day" It implies that we don't care about Earth the other 364. Meh. It's probably a good thing. And, yes, I did ride my bike to work today, but not because it's Earth Day.

Second, I ride my bike a lot. On the street. People in cars (or on the sidewalk) shout things once in a great while. Less than you'd think. Sometimes it's rude, sometimes it's nice. Sometimes it is mystifying.
So! I have a comments mad-lib kind of game for you to play.

This morning, I was on Vandeventer about to go under the 44 overpass. I had a red light, it turned green. The line of cars westbound still had a red light. Some guy shouted something out of his car. I'm about 90% sure it was directed at me. Unfortunately, I only understood a bit of it.

That's where the game (and you) come in!

So, what I gathered was "________ __________ (is or it's) a Car! Waaaaagh!!!" Imagine this accompanied with leaning out the window and flailing arms.
So! What do you think he said?

Mileage project update

2009-04-20T18:13:00.003-05:00

As you may know, I've been tracking the miles I drive my car for some time.
About 6 months. I stated in this post that I expected to have a zero mile week in the next month.
Well, that hasn't worked out as such. I have had no zero mile weeks in the past month. Last week was my best, twelve.

That's right. I drove 12.0 miles last Monday, and I have not started the car since. I'm pretty pleased with that despite not having achieved my zero mile week.

~Brian

Technology

2009-04-14T15:15:00.002-05:00

I have been thinking lately about communications technology. I think that it has fundamentally changed how we communicate with other people.
Is it more efficient? Certainly.
Is it faster? Yes, of course.
Does it provide more quality in our communications? No.

Bottom line: Is it better? I don't know.

I've decided. I'm taking it back.
I'm going to stop it all.

For a week I won't communicate with anyone electronically.
I'll turn off my phone. I won't post on my blog. I won't read blogs.
I realize that it may have to happen at work, but that cant' be helped.

This absolutely does not mean I want to be a shut-in. I like talking to people. I enjoy communication. So, please, that week, swing by where I work. I'll buy you a cup of coffee, my door will be open. Stop by my house. I'll show you what I've put in my garden and give you a beer. If you live too far away, send me a letter. I'll send you one back.
I would like very much to have an actual conversation. With you. Really, if you read my blog, take this seriously. Stop by. Or let me know, maybe I'll come calling at your house.

It will be April 26-May 2. I am going to tell my friends and family who don't read my blog.
I would encourage you all to do the same.

Coffee Roasting!! Go!

2009-04-01T14:03:00.002-05:00

Eric, the master roaster is out of town this week.
I'm in charge of the coffee in his absense.

If you drink some NW coffee purchased between Tuesday and next Monday, I roasted it. :) '8r)

Yeah!

Black Thorn

2009-03-29T11:07:00.003-05:00

We went to the Black Thorn Pub on Friday night.
Pizza and beer.

And darts!

The Black Thorn is a little neighborhood dive bar with (inexplicably) the best pizza in town.

It's only a couple miles from my place, so it's easy to get to.

And Fantastic.

Really, I can think of few better ways to spend a Friday evening.

also, I've finally gotten the terrible chocolate smell off my hands.

unspeakably vile

2009-03-24T13:43:00.002-05:00

I had to do something unspeakably vile today at work.
Awful.

Repackaging flavored coffee.
ghuah.
I was careful to not let any touch me.
I wore rubber gloves.
I packed up and threw out everything it touched.

I still smell like chocolate.
Probably, I will still smell like chocolate tomorrow.

Ghuahwar.

Do not support flavored coffee. Yuck.

Saturdays ride

2009-03-23T15:17:00.001-05:00

Here's our ride from Saturday.

03/23/2009 Route
Find more Bike Rides in St Louis, Missouri

32 miles.
Good times.

Well this doesn't happen very often.

2009-03-23T14:58:00.003-05:00

But it does sometimes.
I really want to make some armour.
I mean, look at this. It's fantastic. My tastes run a little more towards Italian export, but damn.

I'm not sure who made this, so I won't speculate.

To be perfectly clear -- I did NOT make this suit.

Chapter 5 Wherein Brian makes a prediction.

2009-03-18T18:26:00.003-05:00

I noted yesterday that gas prices have gone up to ~2.00 a gallon.
This only shows that we're on our way to $4/gallon again this year.
Really, I'm not joking. I think that gas prices are going to go right back up to where they were last summer.

Start figuring out how to use your car less now.

My mileage for the week right now is under 20. I'll probably end up around 50.
I'm planning to have a zero mile week in the next month.

... I've said it here, so now hopefully I'll be obligated.

I miss camping

2009-03-17T14:20:00.002-05:00

The weather could not be better today. Really, weather does not come nicer than this. I have been biking to work this week. Trying to get back into shape for some bike touring this summer.
In the meantime I want to go camping.
I've been looking through some old pictures.

Priceless

2009-03-14T09:03:00.002-05:00

I saw a great movie last night!
It's called Priceless. The original title was apparently Hors de Prix.

It was fantastic! I highly reccomend it.

The most fantasticest drink

2009-03-07T23:49:00.001-06:00

I had the most fantastic drink tonight.
A Sandinista. At the Upstairs Lounge.

It was great.

observing cyclists

2009-03-05T16:46:00.003-06:00

With my job, (one of them) I have a chance to watch a busy interscetion, where I can see many cyclists toing and froing and zooming about &c. I've not been keeping scientific list, but I've been trying to keep an eye on what people are doing wrong or right. The breakdown is not really as I expected. it seems to be something like
people doing things right - ~35%
people in the right lane but not stopping etc - ~15%
People on sidewalks - ~35%
Bike salmon ~15%
That looks better than I thought it would. My sample may be skewed, as I'm only 2 blocks from Forest park. I may be getting some number of "recreational" cyclists who only really ride in the park.

The thing that bugs me is the obvious commuters. There are a fair number of folks with bike shop bikes and baskets &c. obviously commuters, obviously doing this a lot, who are on the sidewalk. (today I saw a salmon with panniers and fenders) I mean, they should know better. and recognize that they could get where they are going much faster out where they belong.

... Okay that was weird. I just saw the serious bike salmon riding the other way, this time he was in the correct lane. ... Weird.

Bike Salmon -- A rider (usually in the bike lane if there is one) riding on the left hand side of the street.

Sumer Is Icumen In

2009-03-04T11:28:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite middle english poems.
It's about flatulent deer.

Also, I'm about ready to punch winter in the nose.

Spring!
Spring!
Spring!

It's like Hastur, you say it's name three times and it appears?

Ah, well. I wish spring would hurry up.

area cyclist killer charged!

2009-02-25T12:12:00.003-06:00

Check out this link: (safe for work &c.)

STL today article

The thing that really upsets me about this is that this jackass is only being charged with involuntary manslaughter. He was going 100+ miles an hour in the Wrong Lane, and blind drunk to boot. What the fuck did he think would happen?

The most notable aspect? The cyclist was in a car.
See, I told you cars were more dangerous.

I use a safety razor when I shave.

2009-02-23T16:26:00.003-06:00

I use a safety razor. The blades are much much cheaper than crappy disposable razors, and they're better, too.

So, Screw you, Disposable Razors!

print cartoons

2009-02-18T14:47:00.004-06:00

Print cartoons just aren't funny anymore.
I don't understand. I used to love the comics in newspapers, but they are not funny anymore. They're just dumb. Is it me? is it them? I can't tell. At any rate, it makes me feel old and sad when I read the comics in the newspaper.
On the other hand, I love a bunch of web comics. I think all of the good cartoonists are heading to the web these days.

A long ago promised update

2009-02-18T11:31:00.003-06:00

This post regards my milege project.
For a recap -- I am tracking the miles per week that I drive my car. Anne and I share a car, so it is the total miles we drive together or seperately. I would like, on that account, to divide all of the numbers herein by two. That, however, would be disingenous as the fact is that I drive more than Anne does. I will leave the numbers unaltered, please bear in mind that these totals are for two people.
These numbers have been tracked for a 20 week period from September 21 to Feburary 15.

Overall total miles driven: 2843.6
Gallons of gas burned: 142
Amount spent on gasoline (Approx) $400
Overall miles per week: 135.4 or 19.34 miles per day.
Miles per week when I worked at TC (the job I quit in October partially because of the long commute) 180.23 Or 25.75 per day.
Post quitting TC avg. 127 or 18 miles per day.
Post quitting TC on weeks we did not drive out of town 69.8 miles per week or 9.98 per day.

These are very interesting numbers to me. I expected the overall total to be lower, and I expected more of a difference between the TC and post TC driving. We did take more than the usual number of out of town trips during the past 20 weeks, betweenthe holidays (two 400+ mile weeks to visit relatives in Iowa) and not working weekends for the first time in years. I'm a little distressed by my non-trip miles of nearly 10 per day. I recognize that that includes the winter, and I have hardly biked anywhere in a couple months, but that still seems high. Must resolve to not drive more. My goal is to have a 0 mile week this spring. Ideally more than one.

Some working definitions
Out of town trip means any trip past the 270 belt or outside the greater Metro east I'm not splitting hairs with this one, pretty well all the trips have been Columbia or Kirksville.

A week is defined as from Sunday morning when I reset the odometer to the next Sunday morning when I reset it again It includes all of the miles my car is driven in that week, weather it is myself, my wife, or borrowed. (I don't think I lent the car out in that time)

I only worked at TC for three weeks of this project, so the numbers will reflect that only figuring lightly into the overall averages.

I roasted coffee today.

2009-02-17T11:10:00.001-06:00

I roasted some coffee today.
Wow! I'm learning to roast for work. I may well be the next roaster there.
It's hard. It also kicks ass.
I'm a bit stunned now, but I'll talk more about it later maybe.
~B

Back on it

2009-02-10T11:35:00.002-06:00

Now, I'm not saying that spring is here or anything crazy, but the weather has been very very nice the past couple of days. Anne and I went on a bike ride Saturday. It was great. about 20 miles, and it totally kicked my ass. I'm out of shape after not getting on a bike in like 2 months.

20 mile loop
Find more Bike Rides in Saint Louis, Missouri

I think map my ride is pretty cool, but they are always wanting your money. It offends me. I am so accustomed to things on the internets being free. Probably unsuitable, maybe I should send map my ride a little cash.

Enough, already!

2009-02-04T11:50:00.002-06:00

I am tired of it being winter.
I want to go on a bike ride and go camping. hurumph.

also, and more interestingly,
Last week was the semi annual (bi-annual? twice a year, anyway) roaster cleanup at Northwest. We took the coffee roaster apart, ground out all the accumulated crap, and put it back together.
It was like taking the ventilation system out of your house, using power tools to clean out 10 layers of paint, then putting it all back together. It was okay, but the clouds of dust nearly killed me. Better mask next time. *cough* *cough*

The Distant Future the year 2000

2009-01-10T13:10:00.002-06:00

Working in a bike shop in the winter kinda sucks.

God, I'm bored. The third 8 hour shift this week in which I haven't had anything to do.

Blargh.

At least things are busy at the other job.

So, have you heard this new guy speak?

2009-01-08T16:05:00.002-06:00

I heard a press confrence from the new guy, Obama, yesterday.

It was great! As I listened to the radio, I tried, but I couldn't.

I tried to imagine Obama giving the speech with a beer can in his hand.

I could not. Try it sometime. Try it with one of jr. speaking. Be warned, though, after you imagine jr. giving a speech with a beer can in hand, it's hard to stop.

It's pretty damn refreshing to know we're going to be getting a president who's not a drunk frat boy dumbass.

College and papers

2009-01-08T11:13:00.002-06:00

So, this post won't be about what you expect.
Some people, who shall remain nameless, are in college, but insist on using wide rule paper. WTF? Stop and take a moment to consider the poor college rule maker. He slaves and slaves so that college students can write on their own special paper. He knows that they deserve it, they have learned to write both quickly and smally. But no, by using wide-rule paper, his efforts are spit upon.

Use college rule paper! It's for America!

Consilium Callidum Est

2008-12-14T10:57:00.003-06:00

We went to the Harold's festivus party last night. It was a good time. The first Christmas party of the year. Always good times over there, always good food. The coffee, not so much. Not bad coffee, but I'm picky. I need to give Ed some fresh coffee sometime.

I was thinking in the car on the way home, and I realized something about having moved to the city. I moved to the city a couple of years ago.
I had a fantasy of living in a neighborhood where work would be a couple of miles away, the grocery store close, perhaps a fruit and vegetable stand, a baker etc. Somewhere I wouldn't have to drive or go to giant chain stores.

I realized last night that that is exactly what I've found. It took a while, but that's what I have here. It's good.

Consilium habemus.

2008-12-14T00:31:00.003-06:00

We have a plan.

My good friend Weneh accused me of never posting on my blog at a party tonight.
I will try harder to post a little more often. I don't have much to say, but I have a few things.

One of my places of employment has their website up. I either do or soon will have a bio up there. It is made of awesome.

In the meantime, here a few old pictures of me.

I miss the good bits of being in the SCA. I sure don't miss the crap.

how have we come to this?

2008-11-28T19:19:00.000-06:00

Really, What do you say?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?_r=2

WTF?

New (ish) project for me.

2008-11-23T20:06:00.002-06:00

I have launched a new project this fall. I have been keeping a log of my driving miles. With an eye to reducing my overall time in a car, and the amount of gas I use, I thought this seemed like a good first step.

I started a couple of weeks before I left TC, as a control as it were.

I dont' have the log here with me tonight, so actual numbers will have to wait.

Coffee bikes and juries.

2008-11-19T09:25:00.003-06:00

Many updates to be had.
I had jury duty last week. They kept me for a couple of days, then they let me go without being on a jury. The defendant beat up his girlfriend, including using a bat. (!) she wants to go back to him, so the defense really needs to appeal to the emotions of the jury. I think they threw anyone off who seemed smart. Ah, well. I served my civic duty anyway. Yay civic duty!

A new opportunity came my way last week also. I'm a barista at Northwest Coffee now. I'm working at Velocity part time on bikes, and at Northwest instead of my cafe shifts. This is awesome. I'll get to learn how to repair espresso machines, and Eric (the boss at NW) knows more about the science of coffee than about anybody. That will be great.

That's all for now. Really it's not, I have lots to say, but I'm busy. :P

best meme evaer!

2008-11-12T18:08:00.000-06:00

If you saw ME in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for?
Answer me, then post to your own journal and see how many crimes you get accused of.

I voted.

2008-11-04T16:59:00.002-06:00

So, I went to cast my ballot for Truth, Justice, and The American Way.
But I had to say "No, Mr. Nader, I voted for you once, and it has caused me no end of trouble!"

So, I'm sorry Mr. Nader, but I didn't vote for you this time.

As an old friend said "There's not always a Democrat to vote for, but there's always a Republican to vote against."

Go Vote, Bitches!

2008-11-03T22:19:00.001-06:00

that is all.

Halloween update

2008-11-02T07:31:00.002-06:00

I had a great Halloween!
I had to work until 9:30, but a gang of us went on a post-work bike ride. We wore costumes and drank beer. It was good. Fewer than the ideal number were there, but that was okay. We rode to get beer. I bought a can of Sapporo. Japans oldest brand, apparently. It was okay, and the can fits just right into a bottle cage. Cool!
We went to the Atomic Cowboy. They wanted a cover charge, and we paid it before I managed to object. It was really crowded, but fun. There is discussion of making this a regular ride. Like the FBC in miniature. Cool.

Brian

Velocity

2008-10-20T05:15:00.002-05:00

I've started my new job.
And they're open for business.
I'm going to be wrenching about 1/2 time and barista-ing the other half.
It will be good to change things up some.

There is a catch, though. It is currently 5:20 in the am. I have to be at work in about half an hour. I can count the times I've gotten up this early since I was in college on one hand. It hurts.

~Brian

Goodbye old job!

2008-10-03T15:12:00.002-05:00

My paycheck bounced today.
I got it on the first, but knew it was a little bouncy. They asked me to wait until this morning to cash it. At noon, I went to get the monies, and the bank declined to. The secretary told me to wait until Monday.
So, I quit. It leaves my direct co-workers in a bit of a bind, but the owner put them there, not me.

This gives me an unexpected few days off before I start my new job.

Other big news

2008-10-01T09:09:00.002-05:00

My other news: I'm changing jobs! I'll be working at Velocity, a new bike/coffee shop in the CWE. It means a cut in pay, but my commute will be about 5 miles instead of about 20. That means bike commuting. Lots! On my new LHT! Which is built up and awesome! In fact, it is the R0X0rs. I would like to post pictures. It may also have a name. More on that later.

Funny Stuff.

2008-09-25T14:14:00.000-05:00

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/765370039.html

ROFL!

Posted from Craigslist.

Manly Bike for Sale
Date: 2008-07-22, 10:18AM PDT

Bike for sale

What kind of bike? I don't know, I'm not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you're way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan's mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are. Not having a rear reflector is like saying "FUCK YOU CAR, JUST TRY AND FIND ME".

The bike says Giant on the side because it's referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler. When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

The bike has some rusted screws, but that just shows how much of a bad ass you are. Everyone knows rusted screws on a bike means that you probably drove it underwater and that's bad ass in itself. Those screws can be replaced with shiny new ones, but if you're going to go to that trouble why not just punch yourself in the balls since you're probably a dickless lizard who doesn't like to look intimidating.

The bike is for men because the seat is flat or some shit and not shaped like a dildo. If you like flat seated bikes you're going to love this thing because it doesn't try to penetrate your ass or anything.

I've topped out at 75 miles per hour on this uphill but if you're just a regular man you'll probably top it out at 10 miles per hour. This thing is listed as a street bike which is man-code for bike tank. The bike has 7 speeds in total:

Gear 1 - Sissy Gear
Gear 2 - Less Sissy Gear
Gear 3 - Least Sissy Gear
Gear 4 - Boy Gear
Gear 5 - Pre-teen Boy Gear
Gear 6 - Manly Gear
Gear 7 - Big Muscles Gear

I only like gear 6 and 7 to be honest.

Additionally, this tool of all immense men comes with a gigantic lock to keep it secure. The lock is the size of a bull's testicles and tells people you don't fuck around with locking up your bike tank. It tells would-be-thieves "Hey asshole, touch this bike and I'll appear from the bushes ready to club you with a two-by-four".

Bike is for 150 OBO (and don't give me no panzy prices)

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 765370039

Details

2008-09-25T11:00:00.002-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that the new bike is ordered. (that's not it, just a refrence)
That is the case. The parts should arrive tomorrow. Mine will be green rather than the slate blue on both of these. I'm getting a Surly Long Haul Trucker, and I'm really excited! It has wound up being slightly cheaper than I expected, but I haven't cut corners on parts. I've left some room for upgrading in the future depending on how I use it, but I think that the initial build will be rock solid. This is not the bike, but it is the same model. Note, I've put the geeeking out after the pictures, so skip it if you like. You've been warned.

I think I'm most excited on the wheels. They're going to be nothing particularly special, LX hubs with the alex rims that I really like. I'm going with 36 spokes, since I want to do touring. I'm also doing something funky with the shifters. I really hope I'll like it. I'm putting a STI lever on the right, but a bar end on the left. I'm a little afraid that the mis-matched levers will look goofy, but I think I'm really going to like the friction shifter for the front. I mostly use the rear, and STI levers are super-expensive. Even the Tiagra which I went with for the 9 speed. I've got a 9 sp mountain drivetrain right now, but I might switch the crank-set out for a road triple. I really wanted the super-low granny gear for now. it remains to be seen how much I'm going to be commuting and how much I'll be touring on this bike. (also, the difference between 48t and 53t on the big ring is not that huge)

Banner Day!

2008-09-24T17:31:00.001-05:00

Today has been notable in many respects!
Details to follow, suffice to say that my new bike has been ordered (well, the parts) and I may have a chance to ride it soon!

bad drivers

2008-08-31T13:13:00.003-05:00

Something somewhat refreshing happened to me today.
Some jerk yelled stupid things at me from his car. I don't really mind, I hope that he recovers from his road rage and feels bad. Maybe even that he grows up a little. Jerks yelling from their cars has never bothered me much when I'm on my bike. I dunno why, but they don't.

He was not even the jerkiest person to yell at me ever, or the most random. That goes to the guy in the old T-bird who yelled "get on the sidewalk you faggot!" at me one day as I was heading up a hill. I wasn't in his way or anything. I mean, top that.

Okay, I've dwelled on this jerk long enough. I'm done.

If you've got anything choice that someone has yelled, I'd like to hear about it.

misanthropy

2008-08-25T10:13:00.004-05:00

It's official.
I hate people.
Sort of surprising the number of persons I like individually. They fail to outweigh the sheer numbers of people ripe for my hatred.

Really, I should probably get out of retail.
I'm not sure if I'm just an introvert who works in retail, and I've been driven to misanthropy, or if my experience in retail has shown me the ugly underbelly of humanity. Currently, I'm leaning towards the latter.

Also, I haven't posted in a while. It's been a super-busy summer, I sold one of my bikes, and I hope to buy a new one soon.

This is so good. also an update.

2008-06-06T12:50:00.003-05:00

More Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip

This stuff is So good.

Seriously.

Also, I'm back from Canada. Many photos and stories to post. I would say that I'll do it in the next couple days, but I probably won't. I'll try to do it sometime before I die.
in the meantime, watch the damn video.
Also, you can download their album from Itunes. I did, you should too.

bike to work day=Fail.

2008-05-16T13:58:00.003-05:00

:(
I totally failed to ride in to work today. I saw a few commuters, but not me.

"why, oh, why didn't you ride your bike to work today, of all days?" you may ask. Well, I say, I had a decent excuse.
My commuting bike was at work already, so I couldn't very well ride it in.

Anne and I had the day off yesterday, so we went to Columbia to visit some friends Wednesday night, and spent some time wandering our old stomping grounds yesterday. I rode in to work Wednesday, then Anne picked me up so we could fly straight to "college town, USA" asap.
The original plan had been to spend a couple days bike touring and camping in the Columbia region, but it transpired that I would have to work on Friday. So, the plan morphed into taking a ride around Columbia on Thursday. Then it was going to be cold and rain on Thursday, so we wound up at the last minute not even taking our bikes with us to spare them the sitting out in the rain and not being ridden they would have been subjected to.

So, in the end, Stupid.

Hopefully, you managed to bike to work today, doing a better job of it than I.

Promised camping pictures

2008-05-11T09:08:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get around to posting anything here, I've been busy.
Anyway, Anne and I went to Marble Creek a couple weeks ago. It's part of the National Forest system. The National Forests are a Fantastic place to camp! Less built up than State Parks, and less crowded!
On the way there, we stopped at Fort Davidson, which was apparently an important battlefield in the Civil War.

Here's a picture of the walls of the fort. Really, it's just a redoubt, but even after 150 years, it wouldn't be a good time to try to storm it.

On to our actual destination, The Marble Head camping area!

There was a stream (the marble head creek) right next to our camping site, it was great!
We could hear it all weekend. We tried to go hiking, but the section of Ozark trail that is at Marble Head was too soupy. We wound up leaving a little early and stopping at Elephant Rocks state park. That was fun. It started raining just as we got back to the car.

I just noticed something.

2008-04-23T10:22:00.002-05:00

Nobody has ever commented to me on my sub-title.
Maybe nobody gets the joke. Maybe my blog readers are a bunch of smarties who do get the joke, but see it as the only very slightly funny pun that it is.

Maybe nobody reads those subtitles, and nobody reads the blog except a very few friends.

That seems the most likely.

Read the subtitle on my blog! It's right up there ^^

...and it's a clever joke.
or, it was once.

Friends visiting and camping

2008-04-23T10:14:00.002-05:00

Last night, our good friend Shaun came to crash on our couch!
We hadn't seen him in a while, and it was good to catch up. He had what was basically a 11 hour layover in St. Louis, so we only got to visit a little and sleep, but it was good.

Also, Anne finishes her Masters exams tomorrow (!!!!) so we're going camping this weekend!
We haven't decided where yet, but we're going!

Hopefully (unlike usual) I will manage to take some pictures this time. Our big ride this past Sunday including the Riverfront trail, Laclede's landing, and Earth day? We took the camera, but nary a photo. Really, I need to figure out a better plan.
It happens all the time, I'm riding, and I say "wow, that would be a good picture, but I'm having fun riding, I don't want to stop."
Thus, No pictures.

Well, maybe I'll do better this time.

Nice day off!

2008-04-18T10:56:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I had like the second nice day off of the year. It seems that no matter what the weather is all week, my days off are crappy. But, there have been a couple nice ones. The first we went on a long road ride, and I got to shake down my new road bike. I got a Roubaix pro (pronounced, I have on good authority, rue-bay)

This time (Yesterday) Anne and I went to Bayers and bought ourselves some poop and some bedding plants! Then, we tilled up a section of yard (henceforth to be known as "the garden") mixed in the poop, then planted! Woo! That's about all of note for this post.

Oh my god, Yes!

2008-04-02T10:41:00.003-05:00

I am continuing to get my commuting operations suitably adjusted. I am commonly displeased at the amount of stuff it seems to involve buying. I don't like buying things. On the other hand, every day I drive in to work, the ostensible (but slightly outdated) $0.50 per mile that it costs to run a car would cost me ~$18 to get there and back. The train tickets cost me $4 round trip, so I'm saving $14 every time I ride in. I'm sure that's not quite accurate, because I'm putting wear on my bike, clothing, probably eating more, etc. On the other hand, I would much rather give my money to TC or Quality Bicycle products or Local Harvest Grocery than Exxon-Mobile, or Ford. But I digress. I was posting to talk about the spiff new stuff I'm using.

First, I finally got around to getting some SPD pedals and some mountain shoes last week. These are cycling shoes with a metal cleat on the bottom that clips into your pedals. It's like toe-clips, but much, much better. It is in fact, Awesome. The shoes are comfy, and don't have laces to get caught. They are velcro shoes, but I'll forgive them that because it's for a good reason. Don't let that dissuade you, they are totally awesome! My coworkers have been telling me for months and months that clipless pedals are the best possible way to go, and now I believe them 100% (I still don't like road shoes, though)

A nice thing about these shoes is that they're well designed to vent air in between your toes so you don't get so sweaty. My feet sweat a lot when I'm wearing shoes, because I don't when I can help it. So this will usually be a great feature. The downside, is, not surprisingly, that they will blow air in between your toes all the damn time. These days it seems that, no matter how nice it's supposed to be during the day, it's 35 deg. out when I leave for work. This means that my toes first sweat, then the frigid air blows on them, then they go numb. Brrr! The first day this happened, last week, As I was riding, worrying a bit about the condition of my toes, I thought to myself, "self, all you really need is some sort of plastic barrier to stop the wind. Perhaps a cheap plastic bag of some sort, you had better use that on the way home" Within 10 minutes of arriving at work, as I was massaging the life and blood back into my toes, one of my co-workers asked me if I was familiar with "The bread-bag trick" It seems I am not the first clever fellow with cold toes. Stu!

The second point, I finally got around to buying a thermos that I can use for commuting. I have a green Stanley thermos, which is the bestest thermos ever, it will keep coffee too hot to drink for 8 hours. Unfortunately, it is fairly big and fairly heavy. Not perfect for backpacking or bike commuting. My former co-worker, Chris, had a very cool REI thermos which was smaller and lighter than mine, in fact, designed for backpacking.
So, this morning, I pulled in, stopped sweating, warmed up (yes, I know, but that's how it works) changed, then? I had a piping hot cup of joe! Kick ass! There is a coffee maker here at work, but I'm the only coffee drinker, and I won't make it just for myself. Also, I like milk in my coffee, and it's too much trouble to keep milk in the fridge at work. On the other hand, the little REI thermos is perfect for a couple cups of coffee, where I can add whatever I want at home.

Really, few things in life beat a nice hot cup of coffee after a cold ride. Really, it's as good as a cold beer after a hot ride.

Bikes and rain!

2008-03-31T10:30:00.003-05:00

The weather is improving, the birds are singing, the gears are turning.
I've been getting my bicycle commute dialed in at the new store. I had it pretty well figured out nearly a year ago, but then I spent most of the intervening year working in other stores.

I managed to ride one and a half times last week in between the days of raining. On Friday, it was splendid. I got off the train early, took an extraneous lap of Forest park, then stopped at Vitale's bakery for some bread to take to my in-laws on Sunday. It was really good. (both the ride and the bread)

Tonight we are going over to an unusual location for nerd-night. Normally, this would mean organizing such that I could pick Anne up on the way. It turns out that my friend Ed lives very near Midland Drive. Huh! That's only about 6-7 miles from the store! I thought I might ride to work, then just ride to Ed's. Then I looked at the forecast. 90% chance for heavy thunderstorms this afternoon Esp around 3-5. When I would be riding. Damn! I don't really mind a little rain, but I'm not really up to plotting a new course in a downpour.
It occurred to me belatedly that I could have ridden up, then had Anne pick me up from work if it was raining hard. but, by then it was too late. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

I hope it's nice the next day I get off earlier than the now usual 8:00. I might ride home on Midland/Delmar. It's like 17-18 miles. Maybe I'll have the road bike dialed in, and it will be a good day for that.

Update! working title

2008-03-31T10:16:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated here in a while. I've been busy. I got to go visit my family for Easter. It was good. I hadn't really gotten to see some of them since July. Others since October. They are all well. My grandfather was stronger than he was last July. That makes me happy.

We managed to carpool with my parents from KV to North English, IA. It would be a ~6 hour drive straight from St. Louis, so that was good. It saved us about half the driving we would have had.

I gotta say, working retail kind of sucks. It's really hard to get two days off in a row, so it's hard to visit people. Being in the SCA would be nearly impossible, so in a way I'm glad that I don't miss it too much. I do miss it some, though.

Other than that, work is going well, we're getting busy, and that's nice. I have more to say, but maybe another post is the best place.

Unending rain!

2008-03-18T18:27:00.003-05:00

Well, for an update; I drove to work last Wednesday, then it did Not rain on Thursday. Anne and I went on a lovely ride, going many places. Among others, we went to the Delmar loop, and stopped to get bubble tea!
I loves me some bubble tea.

...
Unfortunately, it has rained pretty much since then. Bleh!
I find it to be pretty difficult to get organized to go bike commuting to work when I know it's raining before I leave. :P That means I've been driving more than I like this week.

Also, this week we go to summer hours here at lovely TC. That means a return of the 10 hour days I love so much. So much. Or not. bleah. 10 hour days.

bike commuting and a conundrum.

2008-03-12T07:59:00.002-05:00

I managed to bike up to work yesterday. I took the metro part way, but that's fine, and nice. It's supposed to be really nice today, and I want to bike in again. On the downside, I really want to barbecue tonight. If I bike to work, it will get me home too late do cook out in the light. I could either barbecue tomorrow or go on a ride, but it is probably going to rain. Oh, what to do?

My adventure!

2008-03-05T10:13:00.003-06:00

So, yesterday between 8:30am and 3:00pm, we got about 10" of snow here in St. Louis.

I had quite the winter adventure yesterday.

Against my better judgment, I set out for work (leaving extra time) at 9:00. Normally the drive takes me ~20-25 min. The roads were slick, snowy and getting slicker. When I saw that the highway was going under 20 MPH, I should have cashed it in right then, but I stuck it out. At 10:30, after 90 minutes of driving, I got the truck firmly stuck on the I-70 on-ramp. This held up traffic until a cop showed up, determined that I really was good and stuck, and called a tow-truck. The tow-truck (actually a rolloff truck) driver was nice, he pulled my truck up onto the back, and away we went.
After some sliding on the part of the truck (with my truck on the back) We eventually made it to the garage. Nothing was wrong with my truck, and I wasn't given a ticket, so that was all good. On the other hand, I couldn't really get anywhere. The driver offered to drop me off at the metro station on his way to his next pickup. (in fact a USPS truck stuck in a ditch) I got onto the train at the North Hanley Station.
Strangely, there were about three people waiting for the train, and about eight employees shoveling the platform. They were not shoveling the walk, stairs, or bus platform. Just the train platform. Over and over as far as I could tell. (it Was snowing really hard, but one or two people shoveling it over and over might have been enough, imo) Once I achieved train-dom, I saw that all the platforms had a similar surfeit of employees. Mysterious. At length, the train stopped at the old familar CWE station. Yay! My travails were almost at an end.
After a 30 minute wait for a bus, I secured a position of the number 93, which would take me the remaining 2.5 miles home. I spent much of that time standing under the canopy, watching the snow come down as hard as I think I ever have. It was nearly a white-out. The roads were getting slicker all the time, and the bus I was on had started to slide around more than I was comfortable with.
So it was, with some relief, that I disembarked by Anthino's Taverno, and trudged the remaining couple of blocks home. Anne greeted me with dry clothes, hot tea, hot soup, and fresh biscuits. Have I mentioned lately that she's the best ever? Thus, at 1:00 pm. My aborted trip to work ended. Four hours, and my car was still in Edmunsun, MO.
This morning, I got on the bus early to catch the train up to N. Hanley so I could pick up the car. The roads are much much better today.

Have I learned a lesson? Yes! St. Louis is blessed with a mediocre public transit system, but when the weather is awful, for god's sake, take it! it will save you hours and hours.

Spring is not come.

2008-03-03T10:53:00.002-06:00

:(
Yesterday was beautiful!
Today is cold and foul. It is supposed to snow and sleet. Again.
I want it to be spring so I can ride my bike.
There are many things I want to do when it warms up.

Manchesterin' it

2008-03-02T12:12:00.002-06:00

Hehehe!
I made up a verb.
I'm doing a favor for my buddy, Matt, the Casey Ryback of team Segal fame.
Working in the Manchester store today. Fun Fun!
As a side note, it is the most beautiful day EVER! I really really want to be out riding my bike. There is some chance that Anne and I will manage a ride after I get off work. I hope it's not getting too dark and cold at 5:30. Though there is a certain appeal to riding in the dark when it's not too cold.

The moving in goes well. we overcame the stupid combination of a dual key deadbolt (you need a key to open it from either direction) and not having the key to open our back door this morning. We also bought new locks for house so we can change them out. Yay!

It is done.

2008-02-27T10:12:00.002-06:00

Well, mostly.
We have all of the boxes and junk in our house.
Now begins the long slow uphill struggle to find each of our pieces of junk a place in the new house.

Additionally, it has been a remarkably busy week at work. I may be getting a promotion to be the manager of the store I work at. Certainly, Chris, the current manager is leaving. He put in his two weeks notice on Monday, but has apparently been told to go by this Friday. Woah! Alarming.

Troubles seem to come in packs. Not that these things are necessarily troubles, but they are certainly big stuff.

It's official.

2008-02-19T10:09:00.002-06:00

Anne and I are homeowners.
We closed this morning, then we both had to rush off to work.
Grrr. I want to go over to my new house.

My faith in humanity died a little today.

2008-02-18T12:27:00.003-06:00

How can so many people act so dumb? Are they drunk? Are they really as stupid as they act?

If that is the case, how did they manage to live so long?

They seem to not hear you unless you tell them what they want to hear. I got a phone phone call from a customer at the bike shop today.

Him: Uh... Yeah, do you guys uhhh fix uhhh hand brakes?

Me: yes, we do.

Him: how much would uhhh, it uhhh, be to uhhh, fix my hand brakes? Like it uhhh, doesn't work. (at this point, I've edited out the stammering, but it continues)

Me: Well, I can't really say for certain without seeing it. There are a wide variety of things that could be wrong. The best thing to do would be to bring it in, so I could have a look at it. Estimates are always free.

Him: well, like, how much would it be to fix?

Me: It's hard to say. I'd really have to have a look to say for certain. It would be about $10 to adjust them, or about $15 if you need to replace the cable and housing. That is a fairly common problem.

Him: well, like, the if you squeeze the lever it doesn't stop. How much to replace the cable and the back part?

Me: Well, the cable and adjustment would be around $15, and new calipers (the "back part") are around $20, though that depends some on the style.

Him: Uhh, I dont' think it's, like, the caliper. Like, when you squeeze the handle, it doesn't stop.

Me: Well, I really should have a look at it. If the caliper is not moving, it could be that your cable is seized up, and you would need to replace the cable and housing. Though I can't say for certain without actually looking at your bike.

Him: But like, how much would that cost?

Me: the cable and housing? That would cost right about $15.

Him: $15? thanks.

I mean WTF? Do people call car mechanics and say things like “so , my car doesn't run, what would it cost to fix?” ...Well, come to think of it, they probably do.

If provided with some actual information, I can make an educated guess as to what's wrong with a bike. Given a description of symptoms which are vague and possibly contradictory, there's not much I can do.

Why are people so dumb?

my fantasy conversation:

"uhh, what's it cost to fix my bike, so like when you push the thing the other thing goes "click" then it like goes thump and stops"

Me: Oh, that's the very common "thing, click, thump, stop" That's twenty billion dollars. then there's a lubrication surcharge of $1.50.

House buying joy!

2008-02-18T10:10:00.002-06:00

We went on the final walk through yesterday morning, and we have the closing on the house tomorrow morning. Wargh! or something.

It's extremely awesome! Very small. The upstairs is actually somewhat smaller than our apartment. The full basement makes up for that, but we're apparently getting a ping-pong table. (!)
There are more pictures on my flickr account. (see side bar)

Big doin's.

2008-01-24T16:32:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in a while. I plan to have a more comprehensive post soon, but for the moment suffice to say that I've got big doin's.
Anne and I are buying a house, and the store I work at is closing. Like now. I'm going to (yet) another store in the company.

More later, I think.

candidate poll

2008-01-10T08:10:00.000-06:00

91% Mike Gravel
91% Dennis Kucinich
85% John Edwards
81% Chris Dodd
81% Barack Obama
79% Joe Biden
76% Hillary Clinton
72% Bill Richardson
31% Rudy Giuliani
23% John McCain
21% Ron Paul
19% Tom Tancredo
18% Mitt Romney
17% Mike Huckabee
9% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Who is Mike Gravel? I seem unlikely to get my way exactly. On the other hand, I'd be pretty okay with about any of the Dems. running this year.
Thanks, Wendy for the link!

Busy Busy Busy!

2008-01-04T18:53:00.000-06:00

My family is coming for Christmas tomorrow!
Yay! I can hardly wait to see them. I haven't really gotten to see Amanda in quite a while.
So, I've been very busy. Not much to report; cooking, cleaning, and wrapping.

I didn't manage the 3 out of four days commuting last week, only two. This week between being very busy and Very cold days, I've only managed a couple days, also. Though, I rode in today, and it was good.
The weather was really nice today, so nice that I under-dressed. brr. This is the first winter I've bicycled much, and I'm trying to figure out a good balance of clothing at various temps. I think it will take a lot of trial and error.

this mornings commute

2007-12-26T14:44:00.001-06:00

I was delayed this morning by first a flat tire, then by a freight train. The flat tire was not mine, but I wanted to stick around a few minutes to help Anne change her tire.
To be clear, she is perfectly competent at changing a bike tire, and did it just fine herself, I was only around for moral support.
The freight train was more of an adventure than the flat tire ever hoped to be.
I was stopped on McCausland, and there' s no easy way around when you're on a bike, so I waited. The train went more and more slowly, and finally stopped. Ugh! I could see the end, and my impatience defeated my better judgment, I thought I'd just go around. There was a nice path on each side of the tracks, after all. After becoming very muddy, nearly wiping out on the semi-frozen tire ruts, and making it nearly to the end of the train, it started moving again. D'oh!
I headed straight back to the road, and made it back only shortly after I would have managed to cross had I just waited. Except for the covered in mud bit. Thank god I've got fenders!

So, the moral of the story?
Don't be a dumbass. be patient instead.

In other news, last week was the first week of my new resolve at commuting. I rode in two of five days. This week, I hope to ride three out of four days. I need new shoes, my toes were cold this morning. Brr.

Christmas cheer

2007-12-26T08:26:00.000-06:00

Due to work schedules and family schedules, Anne and I found ourselves at loose ends on Christmas day this year. That was okay. We slept in, went on a bike ride, watched movies, and went out for Chinese buffet. It was a good day.

What stuff! I absolutely decline to hear any more on the subject.

2007-12-19T18:05:00.000-06:00

The Treadmill bike.
Actual Ad copy:
"When the weather's nice, the last place you want to be is cooped up in some stuffy gym. Imagine running through evergreen forests or strolling down country roads. All of this is possible thanks to the rugged design and all terrain tires on the revolutionary Treadmill Bike."

WTF? This is NO GOOD!

Why would a person buy this thing?

Protects your feet from dirt and other contaminants commonly found on the surface forsooth.

See the actual ad here

Back in the saddle!

2007-12-18T18:32:00.000-06:00

To quote Laminator_X, that is.
Today was my first day at the store location which is a reasonable distance from my house. More to the point, the new store is not located in an area which can be reached without putting my life into the hands of west county duchebags in 8 ton SUVs they can barely control.

I was on a pretty good program back when I worked in Bridgeton, and I was doing allright when I could get a ride with Wendy (I would bike to her place) Unfortunately, I just never worked up to biking out to Ballwin. I'm not going to make an excuse now, I just didn't.

On the other hand, I biked into work today. I hope to do a lot more of that in the future. Go my team, getting off on the right foot! I think it's about 4 miles each way. The next time I'm driving in, I will try to drive my bike route and clock it.

It went well, but something should happen differently with my shoes. My toes got wet and very cold. brr.

Bill O'reilly bingo!

2007-12-08T16:53:00.000-06:00

Put a marker on the squares when he does these things!

Yesterday's ride

2007-12-03T11:55:00.000-06:00

Inspired by my friend, Gina,(who is a much better photographer than I) I went on a ride around the Central West End yesterday. It was really nice out when I left, and I was having such a good time riding around that I mostly forgot to get around to taking pictures. I posted what I did take on my flickr page. At one point, I watched yesterday's cold front coming in. I foolishly stood and looked and toop pictures when I should have been rushing for cover.
Needless to point out, I got teh soaked!1!
Once I was totally soaked, I sought refuge under a bank awning. When I thought the rain had let up a little, I decided to rush to the safety of home. I had been enjoying my ride, and wandering a bit, and I was in the "Fountain park" neighborhood which was quite a bit further north than I had really intended to go. (I was at about Boyle and Page)

But! As Bilbo Baggins famously pointed out, "Adventures can't all be spring time pony rides."

It was all in all a good time. It's good to be remided once in a while that a little rain and cold won't hurt anybody. Also, a little adversity makes you appreciate your post-ride coffee all the more.

Picture of me seeking shelter under a bank awning. the picture doesn't convey my cold misery very well, but I kind of like it anyway.

Feastday

2007-12-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

Today is the feastday of Saint Eligius of Noyen.
He is the patron saint of Metal workers, farriers, and mechanics.
Cool, huh?
He was my patron saint back when I was armouring, and I can still claim him now that I'm a mechanic.
Cool.

More Good Times!

2007-11-29T13:19:00.000-06:00

It's a theme. :)
We went to Trivia Night at our local bar last night. It was great!
I got so see some friends that I havn't seen in a while (specifically, Gina). I may have to update my little ad in the sidebar, as I suspect she's about to start reading my blog.
I also met a new friend. The more Trivia nights I go to, the bigger the group seems to get. We only sort of fit at one table last night, but, upon reflection, that's probably the smallest sort of quibble. I'm feeling slightly wretched today from a surfit of cheap PBR last night. Only very slighty wretched, though, so I'll count it as a win.

What is it with PBR? I use dto hate cheap beer, but I really like Pabst Blue Ribbon. Maybe the blue collar nature of my new job? It seems like mechanics (bike or car) ought to like PBR.

A mystery for the ages.

'sall for now, I guess.

Good times!

2007-11-29T10:06:00.000-06:00

We had a totally unexpected bonus thanksgiving dinner on Sunday!
I really wanted to make the pie that Anne and I didn't get around to making on Thanksgiving itself, but I didn't wnat to eat the whole thing. I decided to call our friends Jon and Wendy so that they might share in our pie bounty.
As soon as I got Jon on the phone, he counter-invited us over for turkey.
An impasse.
We decided that the course of least resistance was to make the pie, then transport it to the vicinity of the turkey.
That we did.

And a good time was had by all.

Also, we got to meet Wendy's old roomate and friend. She seemed very cool.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T14:10:00.000-06:00

So, I'm working today (Wednesday) and Friday, so Anne and I can't go out of town for Thankgiving. At least, we can't go to visit my family in IA. Anne's family isn't getting together, so we can't go there, either.

I am going to make a turkey. And cranberries.
Not really a full blown th"Thanksgiving Dinner" but all of our favorite things.
Well, my favorite things.
Turkey, mashed potatos, and cranberries. :)
I'm making some good cranberries, not the foul stuff that comes in a can, and looks like red translucent dog food. The kind that starts with actual cranberries.

I might make pumpkin pie. I have not yet made up my mind on that front.

It will be a good time. I'll make turkey, and make Anne quit working ~2, then we will eat, and retire to the couch for a nap. Good times.

I can hardly wait. :)

Free rice!

2007-11-21T12:12:00.000-06:00

Visit www.freerice.com!
It is at once a chance to be snotty about your vocabular, a good way to wast time, and a chance to feel as though you are doing good, without any actual effort on your part!

The best of both worlds, huh?

So, it's the day before Thanksgiving, and I'm bored at work.
Why are we open until 8 today?

Nobody knows.

Post number 100!

2007-11-14T09:56:00.000-06:00

Here I have the 100th post in my blog!
I've been keeping it nearly two years, that's about one post a week on average.

However, many posts have nothing to say. Like this one.

Never

2007-11-13T14:04:00.000-06:00

Umm... Happy Halloween?

2007-11-13T09:09:00.000-06:00

These two links are much scarier than... Well, they are scarier than much else.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/08/5093/

http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&id=20071111/47368c50_3ca6_1552620071111-1867809218

The first one is long, but the second short.
Really, read them both. It's making me consider that move to Finland I was wishing for in 2004.

Downtown ride, pt. 2

2007-11-12T11:00:00.000-06:00

Read my previous entry first!!

After we got finished downtown, Anne and I decided that we didn't want to be done. We rode around aimlessly for a bit, then we decided to head up to the Delmar loop. I enjoy the loop, the only downside is that it is full of hipsters. I have little patience for many of these hipsters.
However, I do enjoy the loop. We rode to the far end and got some bubble tea. Yum, bubble tea. It's like drinking sweet iced tea, but big chewy lumps periodically shoot up your straw and try to kill you. Really, it's a good time. I'm pretty glad that the bubble tea joint is so far from home, as it's expensive, and I would want it all the time if it was handy.
Not much is harder than riding a bike one handed in crowded traffic while negotiating with an open drink in the other hand when that drink is doing it's best to kill you, so we parked our bikes. Adequately armed with our semi-lethal drinks, we felt ready to venture to the den of hippies surrounding the drum circle in a small plaza. There were some folks dancing around, and some hippies drumming. About like you might expect from a drum circle. We watched a guy dancing with flaming batons, which was pretty cool. The pictures turned out Very cool.

Feeling peckish, it was decided that Thai soup was the better part of valor. Boba were chewed, cups discarded, bikes recovered, traffic braved, Thai restaurants located, and soup ordered. Hot Thai soup is brilliant stuff. I must learn to make it.

All thing must eventually end, and the dark and cold finally drove us in the direction of home. We took Skinker over to Lindell, then cut through Forest Park some distance. Anne decided our lights were inadequate to cut through the park fully, so we took a more typical route homewards.

All in all, it was a great (and impromptu) time. I'm glad that I had the camera, as it spurred on the blog entry.

Downtown St. Louis

2007-11-12T10:26:00.000-06:00

Anne and I rode downtown yesterday.
It was a really good ride. I don't expect it to be 70 degrees out in mid-November, but it was beautiful. We really didn't want our (putatively) short ride to end, so we just sort of kept going. The plan had been to go downtown to look at the cool old buildings. And to laugh at the homeless people. (just kidding) On our way there, Anne pointed out of all things the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily circus train!

They still have a train?!

Less than fully impressed with the train itself, we decided to ride on. Shortly after that, we came upon a much more impressive sight. Some Elephants!! Being paraded along Taylor! This was adequately impressive, that we were forced to stop for some photos.

So, after our unplanned adventure, we eventually made our way downtown, it was beautiful. We looked at City hall, the Christ Church Cathedral, the Central Library, and the WWI memorial. They were cool. It was the perfect moment of late afternoon, where everything is golden.
I think that the City Hall is Really cool. All third empire looking and ornate. They don't build buildings that cool anymore.
Something I noticed in downtown, there are lofts, and there are people, but there are no shops that sell what people need. We saw nary a grocery store, or general store, or pharmacy. Maybe those will follow the people. Right now, that seems to me to be the biggest obstacle to living downtown.

We saw the Christ Church Cathedral. I remember years ago, Anne and I went to an SCA event there. I remember how cool it was, and how sketchy I thought the neighborhood was. Huh. How our ideas change. What made us think that? Sure, there are homeless people around there, but they're mostly harmless. It seems like a fine area to me, now.

There is so much cool old stuff. I love the WW memorial. It looks so art Deco, it's just fantastic. Doesn't this guy look like something out of "Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow"?

More to come, as always, my Flickr page has many more pictures.

I don't normally do these sorts of things but...

2007-11-07T18:26:00.000-06:00

INTJ - "Mastermind". Introverted intellectual with a preference for finding certainty. A builder of systems and the applier of theoretical models. 2.1% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

I have always been facinated with the Meyers-Briggs typology. Mainly, that it tends to really describe people and is very re-testable. I've hovered between an INTP and an INTJ since I have been interacting with psychology. Most notable, I've always scores between 45-55% on both the perceiving and judging, so the test would seem to indicate that I'm borderline between those two.

Something I finally got around to

2007-11-06T13:22:00.000-06:00

There is an abanodoned church in (slightly) North City, which I have driven and ridden by many times. I kept saying I should go and take some pictures of it. I kept meaning to, but never got around to it until yesterday.
well, I finally rode up to get some photos. It's at once very cool, and not as neat as I had imagined. Some work has gone on there, so there was less cool old debris, and more construction debris than I had hoped. On the other hand, it was a pretty decent building, and it looks like it might be something again one day.
And, without further ado, here are some pictures.

Fuck them!

2007-11-03T09:13:00.001-05:00

I should keep this cartoon in mind. I'm too much of a homebody.

Also, check out XKCD!

The Old Crow Medicine Show

2007-11-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

Our friends Stephen and Stacey invited us to a concert last night.
It was Awesome! With a capital Some!
They had sprung for better seats at the pagent than Anne and I normally would, as we're so cheap.
Seriously, it was really good. I'm glad we went!

Also, Anne is in the process of getting organized on something she's wanted to do for a while.
I'm proud of her for rushing out to have adventures.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T14:40:00.000-05:00

I planned to write a big post about the decline of common courtesy, huge D-bags, and my country being systematically dismantled by criminals. And possibly throw in something about peak oil.

But all that's too scary, and I suspect that it's just West County getting to me again.

So, I'll settle for this.

Happy Halloween!

These guys give men everywhere a bad name.

2007-10-30T18:57:00.000-05:00

So, I've been bored at work today.
I was reading some of my old blog posts, and I Have a couple of things to say.
First of all, I'm a funny guy. I never realized before.

Second, well not really. Anyway, I saw this ------------>
and.... Goddam.
I apologize to any femists I may have ever upset in anyway. Apparently, boys really are stinky. I hope that you all think of me as some sort of less stinky boy.

What the Hell would posess ANYone EVER to put FAKE TESTICLES on his damn truck?
WTF? I'll say that again. WTF? what makes you think that it's cool? are you so insecure you have to pretend your unnecessarily large vehicle is some sort of surrogate penis? Are you entirely devoid of taste?

I have some advice for anyone who owns "truckicles":

It is not too late for you to get a girlfriend.
Good luck and god speed, I hope your ungodly swelling goes down soon.

Dancing in St. Louis

2007-10-30T13:48:00.000-05:00

Are there good dance clubs in St. Louis?
I dont' want to go to Illinois. Or watch hipsters who are too cool to dance.
Mainly, Anne watn to dance and I want to listen to loud techno.
Unfortunately, most of the night-life hangouts in my immediate area are gay.
(no really, apparently I live in the GLBT nexus of Missouri)
There are some cool places within a couple miles, but I have not found one with dancing.
Laminator_X has suggested a place to look, but I have not had a chance to explore that.
I've been looking online, and asking friends.
Ah, well. The hunt continues.
I'll have to call up the places I have found to make sure they are still open before I go. Apparently, clubs around here have a short working-life.

Also, the new (different) couch came yesterday. It's nice. I never realized how broken down my old couch was, until I sat on the new one.
Funny how it seems to go that you dont' know what you've got until it's gone.

Dirk Gently's couch.

2007-10-28T10:52:00.000-05:00

You know that sounds bad.

Anne and I picked up our new couch yesterday morning. It was bigger than expected...
In fact, too big to go up our stupid stairs. We tried everything we could think of. We got some helpers. (thanks, David and Aaron!) but, alas, to no avail.
I guess its our own fault. We really wanted a couch we could lay out on, but for some reason, most couches are 5' 11" long. This one was ~6'4", which was great. But it made the whole thing 8' long, and a bout 3" too long to ever fit inside.

In the end, we were forced to return the couch. We moved the old one back into the living room and lounged around for a couple hours before the party we wanted to go to.

The whole couch episode took ~6 hours, and we have the old couch here in the living room.

Stoopid.

On the other hand, the parties were great! We saw lots of people we don't see very often. Anne went as "Tank Girl" which was awesome. There was another girl dressed as Strawberry Shortcake, which was also splendid. My favorite though, one girl dressed as Hwy 40. It was very good.

I have work today, but then, we're going over to Jon and Wendy's for supper. I'm looking forward to that. They're good people and cool.

Boogie nights!

2007-10-25T18:20:00.000-05:00

Not actually.
Trivia night, though.
Anne and I went to play some bar trivia last night at Lewellens. It was awesome.
When you win, you get a pitcher of PBR. Which was awesome.
We won a round. It was awesome.
The real reason we go, however, is for the happy hour special. $1 pitchers of PBR.
That's right. A pitcher of Pabst Blue Ribbon. For a dollar.
It won first of best beer in 1894. Thus the aforementioned blue ribbon.

We met up with a bunch of friends. There was Stacey, our neighbor Eu nice, Anne, her co-worker Dax, and of course, your narrator.

We wound up drinking more than intended, thus I was feeling sligtly wretched this morning.
I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time, and I think we'll go back.

It was actually very cool, except for Anne, everyone there had someone that they did not know, but beer and trivia are great icebreakers, I guess.

In other news; it's been raining all day, and has been really really boring here at work. 10 hour shift and little to do. :P

*insert title here*