Turkey, trainer & technology..........

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We ate turkey and then ordered a new trainer so we will have two and be able to ride together during the "off" season.

Not much going on. We bought new phones yesterday and so it has been quite the learning curve for me going to a Blackberry. WOW. I have been having fun twittering with it though.
Kris has a touch screen LG Voyager now and is trying to master the right touch it needs to scroll. It will take some time that is for sure.

I didn't hit any of the black Friday stores except Verizon and let me tell you 7:30am on black Friday is the time to go to that store. No wait and they even helped me set up a few things on Blackberry and did a small tutorial.

Last night we met up with an old friend at Stubbies for food and beverages and later hit Latitude 44. The live music was a bit to loud there as we wanted to talk so we went over to some friends house and got caught up. It was good to see Ms Allen. She has been through a lot and seems to be so happy.

We are going to brave the weekend Sioux Falls traffic to pick up a few more Christmas gifts and that might just finish it all out. We will have to see. We will be very close!

Happy shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving...........

(Pardon me?..haha)

What are your Thanksgiving weekend plans?

We will be meeting up with friends for supper tonight then off to Monk's for a FAB newsletter meeting. Thanksgiving will be not so traditional but it is the way it has to be this year. We are going to Falling Water. There have been to many things going on to warrant someone making a big festive meal. This will be great as no dishes to wash, unless it is a real expensive meal! After our meal we will head to Kris's brother-in-laws, the one with the broken shoulder, house to help them put up the Christmas tree. Friday, the usual household chores will ensue, laundry and cleaning. Kris has to work...hahahaha..although we plan on hooking up for lunch someplace. Friday night will be spent getting caught up with an old friend that will be in town, of course there is the parade of lights, not sure I am in the mood for this, this year, and supper at a local establishment.

I haven't decided on going out and about shopping on Friday. I did this last year and it was funny. I really didn't buy anything much. It was just fun to say, I did it and watched all the CRAZY people. I will have to see what is listed in the ads I guess.

I think this weekend we will be putting up our Christmas tree. Yes, this will be tree number 3 but not all at our house, that we will have put up or helped put up.

GOOD NEWS...Kris is interested in having basement races on bike trainers. I will have to get another one ordered up and then re-arrange a bit to set things up. Should be fun.

Remember that Lincoln HS band is leading the Macy's Turkey Day Parade, so don't forget to watch!

I hope you all have a GREAT & SAFE Thanksgiving and remember that nasty turkey tryptophan!

Room 302

A sweet grandmother telephoned St. Joseph's Hospital. She timidly asked, 'Is it possible to speak to someone who can tell me how a patient is doing?' The operator said, 'I'll be glad to help, dear. What's the name and room number?' The grandmother in her weak, tremulous voice said, 'Norma Findlay, Room 302.' The operator replied, 'Let me place you on hold while I check with her nurse.' After a few minutes the operator returned to the phone and said, 'Good news. Her nurse has told me that Norma is doing very well. Her blood pressure is fine. Her blood work just came back as normal and her Physician, Dr. Cohen, has scheduled her to be discharged Tuesday.' The grandmother said, 'Thank you. That's wonderful! I was so worried! God bless you for the good news.'The operator replied, 'You're more than welcome. Is Norma your daughter?' The Grandmother said, 'No, I'm Norma Findlay in 302. No one around here tells me crap.'

Dead Animal Bar and the Pit.......

Friday afternoon we had the opportunity to witness the adoption of a little guy by one of our friends. It was a fun time and I am so happy for all involved! Welcome Daniel!

We then headed to Yankton to the clubhouse for the weekend. Gilly and I took off the old thermostat at the clubhouse and replaced it with a simple digital type that was a hand me down from their house when they put in a set back thermostat last week. Everything WORKED! Dawn was reffing a game at MMC and Kris headed down after she was done with work. The gathering spot was Charlie's of course! The pizza was good as always.

Saturday was fun. We took Kris to the Walnut Tavern or some people might know it as the Dead Animal Bar. The four of us shared a pitcher of beer and a pack of cigarettes with the locals without a single cigarette touching our lips. Man it was smokey in there but I have seen it worse! I so do appreciate the smoke free bars in Sioux Falls! We hit some shops at the mall then out to Walmart for a few things.

We headed to the big metropolis they call Wakonda to meet fellow bikers and bloggers at The Pit for supper. Amazing that the ground was white there and the streets were pretty slick. We found the place and headed on in. There sat Ride Vermillion, Biking Brady, Ed & Pat, the four of us and of course the ones that live in Wakonda, Cycling Cathy and her hubby, Charlie were not there yet! Figures the ones that live the closest are the last to arrive! Just kidding, I know you had a not so fun day. A few minutes later Ham(m)er and her hubby Nick joined us. Right away when we walked in I noticed that Biking Brady was drinking a Newcastle Brown Ale, my favorite beer, and Ride Vermillion was drinking a Leinie's Honey, Kris's favorite beer. This is not odd if you are in a bar in a bigger town or have been told that they have pretty much only standard beers, no fancy beers. Of course we had to order our favorite beers and got others to try Newcastle also. It was a nice surprise that was for sure. Kris and I ordered up the food special. 8oz sirloin with gorgonzola cream sauce, dirty jack mashed potatoes and a salad. It was wonderful! We also got to visit "the Throne" in the men's bathroom. I have never seen anything like it before. It is a toilet that is on a platform and has 4-5 steps to get up to it, just sitting on the middle of the bathroom with no walls around it. Pretty funny and glad the women's bathroom was fairly normal except they have women's stenciled on each side of the door. I guess it is so you know where you are going and once you are in there you know where you are...not sure...but funny! It was a great time, good food, my favorite beer, stories, jokes and all in all good people having fun and laughing.

Ed & Pat

Biking Brady aka Kevin

Ride Vermillion aka Craig

Cycling Cathy & Charlie

Ham(m)er aka Melissa & Nick

Dawn & Christi

Our FOOD!

The Thinker on the Throne!

A person sure does meet some great people biking....nothing like energizing the biking sole!

Thanks for a great time, everyone!

Bike club count:

Lane Hogs 6, FAB 2, (not sure if Nick is a Lane Hog or not, sorry) non-bike club people 4.

Sunday Kris and I decorated the clubhouse for Christmas before we took off for home. We did receive a phone call before we left Yankton that Kris's brother-in-law had fallen on the ice at the church parking lot and has a fractured humerus head around the neck area of the humerus. Poor guy. We got home and picked up his SUV from church, got his meds from the pharmacy and set up an area for him to sleep at his house. No surgery is needed per the ortho today but will re-evaluate in 10 days. Now he needs to sit back relax and heal.

Weekends go WAY toooooo FAST!

Where will you be Saturday night?

Busy week as far as work goes. Was a late night, early morning and will be a round trip of the same tonight and tomorrow morning!

Took tomorrow afternoon off for a special occasion! A couple of friends are adopting a little guy so a few of us are heading to the courthouse tomorrow afternoon. Congrats you two! We are then heading to Yankton for the weekend. One friend has to ref the MMC vs some team bb game then it will be on to Charlies for pizza. Saturday we are going to try and get the Clubhouse Christmas decorating done while enjoying a nice fire in the fireplace. Then it will be off to The Pit. You can read about it over on Cycling Cathy's blog. Join us if you wish! It will be fun to see the Lane Hogs gang again even though one of them was out on the loose last weekend and turned up at Monk's! I think the last I had seen of most of them was the Marg ride in September! Should be fun.

I am going to be busy the rest of the week so I am guessing this will be the last blog entry this week. I am sure there will be pics of the Pit event that will be posted next week. Check out the twitter thing on the right side of the blog for little up dates of my thoughts and whatever the next couple days.

Have a GREAT weekend...I know I will!

Need inspiration?

Looking for some inspiration? Read this. Go Wolves! (Yes, they won last night)

Feel the love?.......

Feel the LOVE in these pics?

These pictures were taken in Oct of 2005, me a few pounds heavier and mom still alive and fighting cancer. These pics, is this order just make me laugh and shows the silliness and love in each picture that both of us had for each other. This Saturday (Nov 22) will be the 2nd anniversary of mom's death. Hard to believe. I still think she will come walking around the corner at any moment or call and complain about what the heck the Cubs are doing with the team (yes, that is a Wrigley Field t-shirt she is wearing). She was a great mother that taught me a lot about life and how to live it even when facing death. Mom, you are still missed greatly.....

Starting to set 2009 goals.....

We sat at brunch Sunday and talked about some biking goals for the up coming year.

My biking goals:
1)I want to ride more than I did last year. That was the whole purpose of me keeping track of
my miles. I know there will come a point that it will not matter how many miles I ride but I think it is a good gauge for me getting back into biking.
2) Commute more.
3) Do some area rides: FABRAD, MS150, Margaretta Ride. These rides for sure and maybe a couple others...we will see.
4) Finish the MS150!
5) Loose more weight. This should be easy with riding more.

Kris's biking goals are similar:
1) Commute some. (She does not like to ride on the city streets much. We will try and find her a good safe less traveled way to the Avera Mother Ship)
2) Do some area rides: Margaretta Ride (Oh, yes), FABRAD (?), MS150 (Volunteer-if not her weekend to work)
3) Make it all the way around the bike trail.
4) Loose more weight.

They are goals that are really reachable for both of us but not too lofty that there is no way that we could not achieve them. We are looking forward to a fun biking year next year, that is for sure!

Made it.....

Busy weekend.

We made it to Monk's along with, the Mayor, the kErnEL, Double g but confused as there are three g's in his name, the Muscle and Biking Brady. Talked about all of the up coming rides in the area for 2009. A calendar will be released SOON for this or watch the next FAB newsletter!
Also found out that double G or triple G (whatever it should be) tough school with Kris's sister in Pierre. Small world, but as triple g stated, "South Dakota is not that big"! Had a good stout from Schell but one was enough.

Made it to Waussa, NE to clean out our meat locker. Amazed at how much meat we had left in there.

Made it to Obert and have the graves decorated for Christmas. Noticed two new graves there. One I knew about but the other I didn't go look at as the wind was kind of biting and it was in the old section (north west corner) of the cemetery.

Made it back to the Clubhouse in Yankton for cleaning and such. Got ALL the outside stuff done and Christi and Kris tackled most of the inside stuff. I also made sure the beer fridge was fully stocked for the upcoming weekend!

Made it back to Sioux Falls without any issues. Gas was kind of spendy in Yankton at 1.93 and then in Vermillion 1.89 but in Sioux Falls we filled for 1.79 / gallon!

Made it over to a couple friends house for supper and football playoffs. Glad Lincoln won, sorry kErNel. Was a good game to watch.

Made it home just fine last night and now it is off to do more running around today. I was going to make breakfast but after messing around this morning surfing the web, I have decided against it so we are going some place for brunch. We have to pick up Kris's moms new TV from Karl's and deliver it to her place. We are meeting Rose for supper and drinks at some point this afternoon / evening. BUSY BUSY!

I have been surfing the web gathering information on a 2009 Disney trip we are planning. Yup, almost a year in advance. Never to early to plan in my book. We might also be going to DC in a few months but that is still kind of up in the air. Still have some planning and such to do on that.

We have decided on the camera Canon 40D with the Tamron 18-270 VC lens. This will be purchase in the next month or so. Good to do some of the leg work on it early. The lens is new on the market so not so many deals on it at this point. Found the lens and camera in town and really like the fell of it. We would like to buy it in town but it would save us around $300 at this point to buy on-line. We will see what happens with this and maybe the sales around Christmas time or rebates or maybe the in town store will match but that is a LOT to come down to try and meet.

Christmas wreaths....and beer

Starting to receive Christmas presents ordered for family delivered to the office....kind of fun!

Tomorrow we are off to the Yankton area. We are buzzing down to Waussa NE to pick up the rest of our cow from the locker, then over to the Obert cemetery to put the Christmas wreaths and flowers on my parents, grandparents and uncles graves for the winter. That will be good to have done when it is not ICY on those back roads. I picked up the fresh wreaths today over lunch. The truck smells like Christmas! They look really nice. Baumgartners just got them in this morning and I was their first customer. The clerk gave me a pen for being the first customer. They didn't have the bows on them yet but I am pretty sure I can manage that. After that we are going to head back to the Clubhouse and do some dusting, cleaning and beer fridge inventory so we do not have to do so much of that next weekend and can sit back and have fun. We have to be back in town by 5:00pm since Kris has the after hour pager.

Heading to Monk's tonight for a few beers at some point....maybe! There is rumor that this guy will be in town.

Have a good weekend everyone and stay SAFE!

Another gray day...Do we live in Seattle?

Had fun last night with supper at the Attic with some friends, even though the jalapenos kicked my A$$ on my taco salad! Then off to Monk's for a FAB newsletter meeting. Sure felt good sitting by the fireplace at Monk's. Lots of fun biking conversation was had. Bald_N_Surly recapped his fun day for us. You can read it here.

I started out this morning knowing there was a 50% chance of rain but thought what the heck, there might be a window of no rain around lunch time so I decided to take the old trusty Fisher out for the commute. The weather was not bad just a little damp feeling. I think the temps are in the 30s. About mid morning it started raining and continues to rain...UGH! Looks like I am going to get a bit wet on the way home for lunch.

One good thing is that I will loose weight if it is raining when I bike home for lunch as all of you know I made of SUGAR and will melt!

Shadow dancing....amazing

Christmas shopping.........

Yup, I have started Christmas shopping and I am almost DONE! We learned this last year that it is so much better to get the shopping done early so the holidays can be enjoyed! The goal is to be totally done by Thanksgiving! Make out your list, hit the internet or stores and get it done! Then sit back and enjoy! It really works!

Dreaming and wishing............

It seems we have some weather heading our direction. I can't wait! I want a good old fashion snowstorm but we are not going to get that much snow. Maybe 1-3 inches is all. I heard at noon that Deadwood had 39" if snow! COOL!

Other news, I had a meeting down on the south part of town today at a jobsite so decided to take a longer lunch and head to the Crow Bar. Every Thursday they serve a hot meal. Pretty good deal for $5.oo. It is usually beef, pork roast or ham. They alternate the three and have beef every other week. Then of course all the fixins. Mashed tay-ddies, veggie, and relish tray. YUM! I washed it all down with a chilled beer glass of MILK! Years ago I played softball for the Crow Bar and some of the team used to go there for lunch on Thursdays. Now it is down to three of us that go there for lunch. It is good to get caught up with everyone!


So I had a bit of time to kill before I headed to the Crow for lunch so I hit one of the LBS just to look around. I walked out with three cable guides I needed for my old Cannondale and the cable end caps. I am such a big spender...$1.86 later! Anyway I did talk to the sales person about a Cannondale tandem just to check on prices and educate myself. Kris and I have thought it would be fun at some point to get one. I was surprised at the price. I thought it would have been more. $2499 and $1799 I think were the prices. The other big thing would be trying to figure something out to haul it. Anyway that is down the road a long way but good to educate ourselves.


I hope everyone has had a good Thursday and beginning part of the week...only one more day of the week left. Wow, this week went fast!...what am I saying?...this YEAR has gone fast!

Wednesday humor.........

It was entertainment night at the local Senior Center .

Claude the hypnotist exclaimed, 'I'm here to put you into a trance; I intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience.'

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful antique pocket watch from his coat. 'I want you each to keep your eye on this antique watch. It's a very special watch. It's been in my family for six generations.'

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, 'Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch . ...'

The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light gleaming off its polished surface. Hundreds of pairs of eyes followed the swaying watch, until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist's finger and fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces.
'S#*T!' said the Hypnotist.

It took three days to clean up the Senior Center .

GREAT DAY!

Great commute to work this morning. The temp was almost perfect. No need for wind pants, skull caps, winter gloves or face mask. Heck, my coffee was still pretty hot when I got to work. Just regular work clothes, pull over and regular cycle gloves. GOTTA LOVE IT....alas it will be short lived this week. We are expecting snow the end of the week but it is November and we are suppose to have snow!

As I was biking to work all I could think about was, what a great day it is, no, not just because I was out there biking to work, but it is the day the United States picks a new president. All registered voters get to exercise their rights as US citizens to vote for who they want in the White House. I am not going to tell you who to vote for as I know everyone has their own opinions. The important thing is to get out and vote. Exercise your right. A lot of people in the history of our country fought for your right to vote! So make them proud. It will make you feel good in return!

Monday afternoon humor....

One day Lena's car broke down on Highway #38 just outside of Sioux Falls, SD. Lena eased her car over to the shoulder of the road. She got out and opened the trunk. Two men jumped out ... Lars and Sven who were wearing trench coats. They stood at the back of the vehicle facing oncoming traffic. They held their coats open and exposed their naked bodies to the drivers who were approaching. This scene caused one of the worst pileups in history. It was not long before a police car showed up. The policeman, enraged, ran toward Lena's vehicle yelling, "What is going on here?" "Ya, vell my car broke down," Lena said calmly."Okay, so what are those perverts doing ?" asks the cop. Lena replied, "Vell, officer....... dose are my emergency flashers!"

More gear to buy?

This past weekend I took some time to do a little cool weather clothes looking. Mainly base layer type stuff.


It sure is hard to know what to get. I know some of you think Merino Wool is it and some swear by Under Armor or as I slipped up and call it Armor All to Kris at one point this past weekend. The weather will just slide right off your clothes with the new armor all cycling gear! Not sure what I was thinking when I called it Armor All, anyway, it seems the people that like the Merino Wool are more of the commuter type and the people that like the Under Armor (there I said it right....but I had to think about it before I typed it) are more the type of bikers that just go out in any weather and ride and not necessarily to work but some do wear it for commuting also.


So, having thought about it and looking at the price, I am opting for a couple Under Armor shirts for colder riding and then maybe next year get a nice wool base layer. We are a causal office so having Under Armor on is not a big deal, plus our office is usually on the cold side so layers are ALWAYS better. The Ibex shirts are so nice but at around $140 each that is a bit steep for me at this point. The Under Armor is a little more reasonable but still the thermo shirts are around $56 each. I am hoping to commute in cooler weather and yes even if there is snow on the ground but only if the streets are semi good. I am guessing I will have to purchase some knobby tires as I have the invert treads on my mountain bike now. Not sure how they will handle the snow and not sure I am truly ready to make the investment for studded tires yet.


MORE STUFF TO BUY!....hahah......in the future anyway.

Weekend recap

Buzzed out of work a bit early on Friday to finish the Halloween decorations in the yard. It was a good time with all the kids. We think we had around 75 stop. One little guy, about 3, who was a Werewolf, got so excited and was jumping up and down as he picked out his candy! It was cute. Then one of the last kids about a 3 year old little girl puked on the sidewalk. Never had that happen before. I felt bad for her. After we tore down all the decorations I had remembered that I had not "picturize" our fun evening Oh, well, another year, I guess.

Saturday we dropped stuff off at the hazardous waste area from cleaning out the garage. If you have never used it and live in our city you should use it! They dispose of your household chemicals properly and it is FREE for residents of Sioux Falls. It is a nice facility. They unload your chemicals so you do not even have to get out of your car! It is the right thing to do for our environment. We then hit the Phillips Ave Diner for breakfast..YUM. The other cool thing was we went to the Kitchen Store on 10th and had our knives sharpened. We heard about this event while watching the news Saturday morning. It was a fund raiser for the Banquet or the Food Pantry, I can't remember. Anyway they sharpen your knives for $1.50 each. We took in eight of them. I understand they do this a couple times a year. It sure is a good thing! Saturday evening was the golf banquet in Brandon at the Brandon Golf Course for the association members. We had a fun time as always. The entertainment was a bit to be desired. It was a magic show. We sat in the back of the room so could not see a darn thing that was going on.

Sunday we hit Cafe 334 after church. Not sure I will go to Cafe 334 for a while. I ordered a spinach feta omelet. The wait staff came back and said they were all out of spinach and said I could have whatever else on the omelet so I said, "like what?", of course she had no idea and looked VERY perplexed at me so I ordered a egg, bacon, ham, cheese scramble. It was noisy, not just with people talking, which you can't control and is what you would expect but the kitchen noise was not good. Lots of banging of plates, silverware plus the food was average. The wait staff has all changed and seems to be young kids in matching t-shirts paired with faded tight jeans. The wait staff dress code seemed a bit lax than what we have been used to there and of course our wait staffs t-shirt was REALLY dirty looking. Then we witnessed one of the host type people pick up some menus from the floor that covered the heat registers and just put them back in the pile of menus without wiping them off. UGH! That topped it for me.

Sunday we headed out to Kris's moms place to blow out the eaves for the year. The pods hadn't all fallen from the locust trees yet but with the forecast saying rain then snow this week, we needed to at least get what had fallen, blown out of there. She lives in a ranch style house so it is easy getting up there with the blower vac and blow it out. The hardest part for me is getting back on the ladder to get off the roof! Kris's mom was busy on the lawn mower chopping up leaves,a she called it. We got a few more things done for her anyway before the weather this week. We headed to Pizza Ranch in Hartford for supper, took Joan home and then we headed home.

All in all a good weekend even though no riding was done. Some things just take precedence this time of year.