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.
23 April 2008
Friends visiting and camping
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.
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.
18 April 2008
Nice day off!
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.
02 April 2008
Oh my god, Yes!
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.
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.
31 March 2008
Bikes and rain!
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.
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*
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.
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.
18 March 2008
Unending rain!
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.
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.
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