Git R dun.

I am forced to conclude that medium brown is somehow a superior color for the letter "R" than the more common black. At least in rural America.

LOTR party

Last Weekend Anne and I went to a LOTR theme party. It was fun, but grueling. We watched all three movies intersperced with slide shows from the host's trip to New Zeland this summer. The party went from ~1pm to ~2:30am. There were some (really) annoying guests, which was okay I guess. Anne had to work, so we had to rush home in the morning, but that was okay.
Yay party!


....
As a sidenote, I just got onto Mybookmarks.com. It seems really cool. Now I can store bookmarks to access when it's slow at work. Yay!

Auction...

I have finally gotten around to listing a bunch of my tools and misc. armour on the Armour Archive. This has been a very melancholy experience. On one hand, bigger and better things. Bicycles certainly pay a lot better than armour ever did. I'll get free trips to places like Europe rather than KC or Pennsylvania. On the other hand, we fear change. I miss making armour. I can't take as much pride in my work. I'm not making something out of nothing. So, some good, some bad. When you open one door, you can't help but close a different one. I'd like to make armour as a hobby. Maybe someday I will.

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted.

So, I have lost track of my blog I guess.
I have been busy, but that's really no excuse, is it?
Anyway,
I went to visit my relatives on my Dad's side last weekend. There were 31 Romines there. That's a whole lot of Romines. It was pretty fun until the cops showed up. Work at the bike shop goes more or less well. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes enjoyable, it beats working in a cubicle.

Our van had some malfunction, so I've been riding my bike to work this week. Whoof! Two days this week I went 15 miles round trip, and today I went ~7, then got a ride home with Anne. Between the ride, and working on my feet 8 hours, my legs are pretty tired.

Bubble Tea!

I had bubble tea yesterday for the first time ever!
It's good, except that you have to be careful because the boba will shoot up into your mouth. Shocking! I got tired of chewing before I was done, but it was good. I'm going to look for some boba so I can make my own. The only place in St. Louis that sells bubble tea is far away. :( also it's expensive.
On the other hand, I could totally make some milky iced tea. Which, except for the boba, that's what it is.

Also, I got to visit with my friends Shaun and Miranda who had many stories and presents from their trip to Toronto. (They brought Anne and I some Miranda cheese :) )

Bicycle commuting

I took my first bicycle commuting trip yesterday!
In the interest of not knowing how long it would take, and being on time to work, I got a ride out to work, then biked back after.
It's over 20 miles to work, so it's outside my abilities to bicycle all the way. On the other hand, there is a metro (the St. Louis light rail) station an easy ride from our house, then it's five miles from the end of the line to work. That's pretty do-able for me. It took me ~90 minutes to get home last night, but was pretty fun. It's too bad it takes so much longer. I would like to do it all the time, but the drive is only about 30 min. The savings via public transit are significant, though. The Metro pass would cost me $60/month, and the not driving 40 miles/day would save me about half the gas I burn, which would be about $20-25/week. Or, if you use the old equation for 32.5 cents per mile, it's $292.50 per month to drive a 40 mile round trip to work five times a week. Wow! That's a lot of savings. The difference in cost there would buy you a new commuting bicycle EVERY MONTH.
I think if I stick with it, I'll be able to shave my initial five mile ride down to taking less time, and possibly catch an earlier train. I'm going to try to stick with this, do my part towards using less oil, and save myself some money.

Maybe we'll be able to make our old van last a while longer after all.

So in short, "Yay, my team!"

weekend visitors

We had some friends, Miranda and Shaun over last weekend. It was really fun!
We went to parks, did some cooking, visited a lot, and generally just had a good time.
With my new job, I've been working Saturdays. It's not my favorite, but I have been getting Sunday and Mondays off. I have to work this Monday, which is not my favorite. I would like to have a Memorial day. Alas, it is not to be.

On the other hand, Anne and I have a fun plan for Sunday! We're going to ride the metro downtown, then ride our bikes around, and look at cool architecture. Maybe we'll pack a picnic lunch.

I am going to buy Anne a slightly early anniversary present today. I'm going to give her a new bicycle. I can get a good deal on bikes and such now that I work at the bike shop, so I'm going to give her a good one. A sunfire 3.0 I would look into the 2.0, but I am not very familiar with those, and I would have to order one in her size. I know we have a 3.0 in the store which is her size.