Tuesday ramblings

Here it is Tuesday and not much going except I am SWAMPED at work AGAIN! This recession is doing our construction industry some good I guess! I have 13 jobs to bid already for the month of May and that is a bit ODD! No, I am not complaining, just one of those things that make you go, hhmmmmm.

I have picked up another bug or allergy or something dang it. Got a stuffy nose and am tired. Back on decongestants for a bit and Zicam. Had a headache Saturday, scratch throat Sunday and now stuffy nose yesterday and today. I just went through the office again and cleaned areas that are the "common area" with antibacterial spray / cleaner. Will have to do this at least once a day to get the bugs out of the office.

Kris is heading to Phoenix for a one day course (Friday). She is leaving Thursday and coming back Saturday. I hope she does ok as this is a pretty big trip after her surgery. She has been doing really well and we do not anticipate any issue but she is packing smart in case. Abe (the dog) has been at home taking care of her. Not sure what kind of care he is giving. He pretty much sleeps and snores during the day. Wrigley the parakeet has been up early it seems and chirping away. Last night when I got home he was pretty noisy. Not sure what was up with that but it is funny.

I didn't meet my goal commuting last week and will not again this week, I fear. DANG IT. Might have to get out for a ride this weekend if we have good weather. Sure would be nice to have a nice week without snow in the forecast.

FAB was looking for people to help with a possible newsletter for the club and I threw my name in the hat along with it looks like two other people. Not sure how much I can bring to the table but I will try and help as much as I can. It should be fun and if anything a learning experience.

I better get back at it what it is God only knows, I think I just need to pick a pile and go through it until I meet the desk!

Weekend half recap and no biking kickoff

Had a great time last night. Headed to TOE (Touch of Europe) with Kris, her brother-in-law Jay and nephew Zach. Good food. Then it was off to Monk's for liquid desert. Couple of friends met us there to join in on the libations. MAN WERE THEY GOOD. The Young's double chocolate stout ROCKS! It was VERY GOOD! I had the Nogne (sp?) brown ale from Norway first and then had the Young's. If you like stout and stout with chocolate flavor Young's double chocolate is the ticket.

The weather was crappy Friday night and given the snow we had and the coooooooolness the FAB spring kick off was postponed for today (Saturday). We were a bit bummed but will be ready another day, hopefully we will not have a prior commitment on whichever day is chosen.

Today was spent doing a few shopping things and then meandering around Barnes and Noble after a raspberry creme soda...YUMMY! I ended up with a nasty headache so we headed home and vegged in the basement by watching episode #6 of the John Adams series. Let me say if you have HBO on demand and have not seen the John Adams series you need to! Then it was off to McNally's for supper a couple Guinness and a shot of Killbaggen Irish Whiskey. It was good. The shot was a bit sweet which was surprising and did not burn on the way down which is always good!

Not sure what tomorrow holds. I think supper across town with some friends but other than that maybe some cleaning and some work stuff.

Hi, Gene!

Ok, so big dilemma. There is the big FAB Spring Kickoff ride tomorrow and given the weather conditions (crappy, cold, wet and windy) I am thinking about not going sleek legged in order to stay warmer. My only worry is there goes the aerodynamicness of my svelte self right out the window or maybe it would be the added weight from thine leg hairs that would give me the biggest problem...whatever the fact...I am not sure what to do! It is kind of like having to go to the bathroom when you are playing softball. If you have to go bad, it makes you run the bases faster....but the flip side is that it can also weigh you down.

Keep in mind my leg hairs are FAR from getting caught in the chain length, so I might opt for not shaving and go all natural but then again I will be meeting new people for the first time and do I really want my leg hairs hanging out the bottom of my pants? Oh sure, I could always tuck them in my socks and no one would know...unless they read this blog!...oops

I think I will let the weather tomorrow dictate the shaving or not but right now I think I need to go clip my toenails so my bike shoes fit!

Remember - Bike to Work Day

Don't forget to join in on FREE pancakes during the Bike to Work Day...read about it HERE.

Tired.......

Here it is Wednesday evening and I am TIRED. Sunday night we got home late, Monday night up late, Tuesday night took Kris to Vermillion to teach a physical therapy class at USD from 6-9pm got home at 10:00pm. Actually had a glimpse of Biking Brady riding his grocery getter while I was killing time in Vermillion. He was going to church and then to the grocery store. Had supper with Kris's nephew at Granite City for his 22nd birthday. It was fun. Ate toooooo much. Had their stout beer which was pretty good. Now we are home and Abe (the dog) is sleeping in the hallway and SNORING! It is pretty funny. Poor guy! He just can not seem to get with his regular nap schedule with us going at different hours of the day and I think I am in the same boat as the furry one.

Kris had some good news today. She is doing well after her surgery according the doctor. He has lifted restrictions off of her but until she heals she can not go back to work as it would not be good lifting patients at this point. The doctor has her off work another three weeks.

We are excited about the FAB spring kickoff ride on Saturday. It should be a good time. We have been talking a lot about it tonight. I am afraid I will not make my commuting goal this week. Today I just had to much stuff going on that it just would not work and the rest of the week looks crappy...remember I am made of sugar!..Plus I need to save my energy for Saturday. Kris has already started carbo loading for the ride!

Made of Sugar

Didn't ride to work today as I thought it was going to rain. Yes, I know that there are clothes that protect you from the elements but when you are made of sugar you have to be VERY careful! One drop of rain and body parts could fall off...maybe that is a good thing but I am sure not good for traffic. I can hear the nightly report....

"This just in....
Seems there was a car accident on Russell street today. It is unclear what happened but it was reported that someones fat ass or thunder thighs were in the middle of the road causing cars to go out of control when the drivers tried to avoid the body parts. Early reports coming in state that the body parts were from a women riding in the rain. The only conclusion is that she was made of sugar".

I hope to get my two days in this week and then Saturday hit the Spring Kick-Off with some friends for a little pedal around the bike trail. Not sure how far we will make it but hey, we will be out there. Kris is going to try a bit also not sure how well that will go but again at least she will be out there.

Cubs, Work, German Food

Had a great weekend and lot was accomplished. Got to Yankton on Friday night and hit Charlie's...Pizza was excellent as usual along with sharing a pitcher of beer with tomato juice....got to get those veggies in! Saturday morning up early and made breakfast then hit the patio. Swept it then disinfected it and then got the patio furniture out and ready for the season. Washed the outside windows that face the patio. Raked the front yard all of this while listening to the CUBS KICK BUTT and sipping on Old Style beer in honor of the butt kicking. Wiped out the bottom of the beer fridge, headed to the neighbors for a lesson on Guitar Hero (Wii) then back to shower and off to the Godparents for a GERMAN fest. WOW.. we had some great food! They had cooked up some homemade sausage from their son, Rose brought over another kind of sausage, we had homemade sauerkraut, and homemade kniffel (Sp?) kind of a dumpling boiled then dried off then fried in butter...OH MY, then desert was homemade cream puffs with real whipped cream. We sat and tried to solve the problems of the world and got home at 1:10am! Got up this morning and hit Minerva's for brunch. Headed to Obert to the cemetery to put spring flowers on my parents graves and then home....but not for long! Dropped the dogs off then off to Brookings we headed to met up with Kris's sister for supper. All I can say is enough road miles for a bit. Gas was CHEAP at the Coffee Cup at the Vermillion exit like usual. We paid $3.35 in Sioux Falls and it was $3.25 at the Coffee Cup. Given the windy conditions we sucked down the gas on the way to Obert and the way home from Brookings. Even though we use more gas with the Bravada it would have been like driving a toaster cover down the road if we would have taken the Suzuki Sidekick. That was the weekend recap. Now on to the busy week ahead.....

Oh ya, regarding all that work I did this past weekend....I can not be bought!...and of course I am not looking forward to hopping on the scale in the morning!

Important How-To........

Lucky and Blessed

Well, I am sitting here after I got the home computer hooked up. It is 11:00pm-ish and I am listening to Pandora the free online radio. Josh Groban song is playing and boy, have I mellowed out!

All I can think about is how lucky I am to have such a good life. Sure I have lost both of my parents and I am only 43 but somehow I feel they have left me with great tools to make the most out of my life. I learned love and most of all respect. I have surrounded myself with great friends and friends that are family not just friends. My health is good but of course like many Americans I am overweight but, I am working on that. What more can a person want really? Not sure what that would be except a cold beer and the remote...haha ...(I was getting to serious there for a moment!) No really what more can a person need?

When you go to bed at night think about how lucky you are, no, really, just think about it. Think about how bad it could be, think about how others struggle, think about how people rebound from tragedy, think about what gets you through the hard times, think about what drives you, take a good look at yourself and I am pretty sure you will find that you are lucky also. I know there are ups and downs...hey, that is life. That is what the journey is, but what is the destination? I guess only a few know this and they have a much clearer vision than most or is it they have had such a great loss that drives them to their destination? Not sure, all I know is that I am truly blessed and thankful for what and who I have in my life, what I have learned, what I will learn but most of all I will always cherish what I have lost and will continue to journey down the path to my destination............

Plans........

Weekend plans already coming together. Heading to the clubhouse this weekend for a little relaxing. Of course Friday night will be spent at Charlie's for pizza supper. Saturday going to clean up the patio with disinfectant (neighbor cats like to spray out there-UGH) and get the patio furniture out and ready for the summer! Saturday afternoon and night not sure what is going on but I do know at some point we will hook up with friends and I am guessing a little libations maybe at Ben's. Sunday hitting the road to Obert to the cemetery to take the Christmas wreaths off and put spring flowers on the family graves. Sunday night it will be spent watching the Tudors on Showtime and also getting caught up with the John Adams mini-series on HBO.

Next week there will be biking (to work and bike trail) and next weekend is the FAB-Spring Kickoff. We will be riding one of the rides...not sure which one yet but should be fun! I got some friends talked into biking also so it should be a fun time. The work load next week looks nasty but I might try and get some done during some free time this weekend. Kris also has a doctors appointment Wednesday which I am going to just in case they poke around a bit and she gets light headed.

At some point the new computer will need to get up and running. Might try doing some of that tonight. We will see......

Good Job

Adventure Cycling - Bike and Bits had a little chat about the great bike riding in SD with the Lewis and Clark Trail, mountain, road and rails-trails cycling and if these people (South Dakota Bicycle Coalition) have anything to say about it, it will only get much better. Then they had a link to the Black Hills News Bureau story about the SD Bicycle Coalition. GOOD JOB - SDBC, You are making people and organizations notice! (In case you have not read the Black Hill News Bureau story from August, you can read it here)

Take the Cliff Bar Challenge

See what the challenge is here.

I met my goal!

I drove this morning to work because the new computer was to be delivered...and it was! YEAH! Anyway drove it back home and hopped on the bike for the return to work. Of course heading north on Prairie I was going right into the wind! The only good news is that it is down hill most of the way so I can handle that. I guess this is kind of day two of commuting this week and thus I have met my GOAL kind of! I still need to mess with the derailleur. It works great in the middle or big chainring on the front but when I go to the little one it wants to shift me into a different gear.....any suggestions?

I think I will reward myself by eating pancakes tonight after work at the Lyons Pancake feed!

Commute home

The commute home last night was not as fun but I am not discouraged, I just need to tweak a few things to make it better. First off I need to get my derailleur adjusted. I had no issues on the way to work but I was in the big chain ring in the front but on the way home I shifted down to the small front chainring and .....ooooopppps....there went the chain right off the chainring so a few greasy fingers later I got it back on the ring but when I was in that chainring it kept thinking I should be in another gear and shifting for me. I got frustrated going up a hill into the wind so I walked a block to the house. Oh well. If that is as bad as it gets no big deal. The other thing is that I have a messenger bag that I use as a brief case and that was not fun to have on as it kept shifting to my right as I rode. I am pretty much done with that I think and will try and pair down to using just my trunk. So all in all it was an education and a good one.

I didn't ride today as the wind is REALLY bad (not really a good excuse) but the other is I had to take Kris to a doctors appointment south of town so in order to save time and until I get my stuff a bit more organized and my bike adjusted I drove today.

Computer update

It seems that Dell continues to LIE!...Those BASTARDS...it also seems that this is my favorite new word, BASTARD.....anyway. If you have read previous post, Dell had told us that our computer was to ship 4-2 then it was delayed to 4-9 then it was delayed until 4-16. I get to work this morning and it shipped 4-11! THOSE BASTARDS! Anyway it should be here on Wednesday at the latest so we can be hooked up to the internet once more at home. I guess technically we still are hooked up at home but our laptop is VERY SLOW so we upgraded to the desktop with all sorts of extras. Since the roomie works at Avera we got about a $500 break on it which is sweet so we got the 22" wide screen with the TV tuner. We do not have a TV in the den so we thought this was a good way to watch TV while in that room. Anyway the plan is once we get that up and running we will take the laptop in to get cleaned up and all the pictures off onto our external hardrive then the laptop will be used for travel and general farting around with. I think it is a good plan at this point anyway!

Now, I hope FEDEX does not delay the shipping......if they do you know what I will call them.....YUP, bastards!

First day commuting...kind of

I did it...kind of. I drove to work this morning and back home for lunch then biked to work after lunch! It took me a bit to get all my stuff together and pump up the tires but I hit the road at 12:21 and made my telephone phone that will guard by bike by 12:29. Of course it is all downhill from where I live and work so the way home will take a bit long being mainly uphill but HEY, I DID IT! This is the first time I have been on the bike this year...UGH. I can tell I need to wear my bike shoes as I can feel it on the bottom of my feet. I can also feel the not wearing bike shorts. I know that I just need saddle time to take care of the butt thing. I think the bike shoes will need to be worn on my commutes. My goal is AT LEAST TWO TIMES a week to start out with the commuting. Of course there will be days that there is no way it will work for me like when golf league starts on Wednesdays in Brandon. Anyway the goal is two times a week so it can only get better from there!

Kris is doing well after her surgery. I am just amazed. She has a little pain but all in all she is doing fine. She had an overnight in the hospital but was ready to break out on Friday morning. I think they are thinking she will be off work 3-4 weeks. Since she is doing well she will be taking care of Abe (our dog) in the afternoons so I will not have to commute with him in the trailer for a few weeks. It would be good to get him out in the trailer to get use to it before the commuting.

It sure felt good to get on the bike and ride a bit.

Paris-Roubaix

Don't forget to watch a great bike race Sunday on Versus. The Paris-Roubaix! Watch the riders punish their bodies riding over cobbles, VERY narrow farmland roads, usually crappy weather and then finish in the Velodrome in Roubaix. I sure hope George Hincapie (Team High Road) can pull it out this year!

BUSY WEEK & misc. crap

I have been very busy with work stuff AGAIN this week. I have been trying to cram five days of work into three. Kris is having surgery on Thursday and so I took Thursday and Friday off. So the blog will be silence for a few days up coming.

Kudos to Mackie for starting off biking this week to work! GOOD JOB MAN!
I plan to start on Monday....I hope the snow will be gone by then. Yes, I said snow..AGAIN..I heard at one point 8-10 inches but do not know if that has changed (not sure if they even know how much we will get-damn meteorologist!). It will be HEAVY wet stuff again as we are to have rain before, then turning to snow tomorrow night with temps in the 30's. Next week I think Tuesday or Wednesday they are talking upper 60's...YEA-HAA!

Congrats Kansas on winning the NCAA tourney. I will have you know that I even picked the total points for the Championship game (pool tie-breaker)!

GO CUBBIES! Even though they played TERRIBLE against the Pirates Monday they still won 10-8 in extra innings. I can only hope they keep on the positive side of .500! They are now 4-3 for the year.

We ordered a new computer March 18 from Dell. It was suppose to ship April 2 and it was delayed. Then it was to ship April 9 (TODAY) and now it has been delayed until April 16....Dell bastards. (Sorry for the profanity but this frustrates me!)

If you get HBO then you need to watch the John Adams mini series. It is REALLY very well done and really good. They are on episode #5 with a total of 7 episodes. Very good cast, costuming and set design. This mini series should win some awards, I would hope! Tom Hanks is one of the executive producers. I had forgotten about some of the early history of our nation. It was an amazing time that is for sure.

Have a good rest of the week and don't put your snow scoop away yet!

Silliness - Crazy Frog

All is right in the universe

Today is suppose to be a beautiful day and the Cubs won their first game yesterday. The world can keep turning and life can go on!

Turning the corner

It seems I am turning the corner on this darn bug finally!

Ok, so all the bike bloggers are so down because the weather has been CRAPPY! Lets face it, we are really ready for spring to hit anytime now. None of the teasing 40-50 weather to be followed by snow showers.

Come on Mother Nature.....BRING ON SPRING!

FREE HOUSE! (not an April fools joke)

Can you find it in your hearts to give this old lady (no, not the writer of this blog) a final resting spot? Read about it http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/LIFE/803250304 (sorry could not get the hidden link thing to work dang it!)