Bike bar party Amoeba, Ho!!

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!

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!!!

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

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...

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!

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!

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

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!

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?

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

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.

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

Here's our ride from Saturday.



32 miles.
Good times.