Whoa nelly! Must have been a busy work week here full of lunches out since the blog got neglected for four days. Rode on Thursday in rather disappointing fashion - a 23.2 average doesn't even begin to cover it. Not a terrible lot going on other than that. Got caught up with some folks near and far and took care of some housekeeping and book-keeping....not the stuff that exciting entries are made of. Now it is just one more quick 4-day week and I'm off to New York.
posted at 12:54 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Good holiday here....plenty got done but without much fanfare or hooplah. I learned the better part of Macromedia Flash, so expect a new facelift for this site in the near future. I also took in a pair of independent films: "Bend It Like Beckham" and "The Gods Must Be Crazy," the latter of which I'd seen before and both of which were intensely funny. I also rode 65 miles, swam, and ran over the three hot days, got some shopping done, and experimented (successfully) with cooking a roast. Gooood stuff.
posted at 4:54 PM - comments
Friday, May 23, 2003
A good ride last night, but slower on account of the wind. Made 23.6 over the flying island, not bad considering the smaller pack I travelled with and the stiff SW'erly breeze. I'm hoping to ride on my own this weekend, to get the feeling of what it is like to really work and and really go slow again.
At home, the new A/V equipment rocks out...Yamaha seems head and shoulders above the class. Why don't Sony & Sharp have amber displays? SO much easier to read from the sofa. The sound quality is darned good, too.
At work, a new project to fill my hours. I've started prelims on the Cabo 57. Got to hear some horror stories about shipping yachts by truck - a moderately over-beam sportfish left on the side of the highway in Florida with no means of retreiving it, etc. It's fascinating to me how many areas there are where a person can develop expertise. So much knowledge out there, so little of it in my head.
UPS humbug me, massah! No receiver yesterday as a rookie UPS driver apparently didn't know to stop into the office and leave my package. What's the sense in having a butler if the butler doesn't get a chance to do his job? And why is it so hot? Watched the CBS mini-series about Hitler last night....what a raving lunatic. I thought that the Edward Burke quote and the end was most fitting - hopefully good men are standing up and being counted during this day in age.
posted at 12:47 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Today is the day, I'd say. After nearly 4 years of waiting, my new receiver will arrive this afternoon and I'll be setting it up in 6 hours. What fun. I think the rainy season is upon us, too, so upgrading the AV around the house is a worthy cause. Wrapped up Graham Greene's "Heart of the Matter" last evening...sometimes even good books are just tortuous reads.
posted at 12:42 PM - comments
Friday, May 16, 2003
What an amazingly busy week. Trips to the bank filled lunch hours, work filled working hours, riding and reading filled after hours, and the blog sat somewhat empty. Thursday would have to be the highlight: achieved my New Year's resolution of riding LBK at a speed of more than 25 mph, and, despite a poor week training-wise leading up to it, I rode 25.63. I also tested my pure sprint speed Monday night over the home stretch and, with about an 8 mph tailwind reached a top speed of 35.26 - scary fast but just enough to keep up with the riders in the back of the Tour de France peloton.
Got my income tax return, too, so at long last the AV receiver that I've coveted for years and years, the Yamaha HTR-5550, will arrive at my door sometime very early next week. I'm tres excited about that...consumer electronics are just TOO much fun.
posted at 6:21 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Another pleasant and relaxing weekend. I overslept for the Sunday morning ride, but got up in time to get to church to run the soundboard. Later I went to the surf shop and got some more wax and some surfing duds, so now I'm extra rad to go. Now a long week of house composite details at work and hopefully some riding in there and some reading, cleaning, and laundering at home.
posted at 6:57 PM - comments
Friday, May 09, 2003
A week of strenuous bike rides in the growing summer heat and of work on the house of Radley's boat comes to a close on the eve of what should be a fine weekend. I'm hoping to surf, although not really believing too strongly that that will take place. I want to go on a long ride Sunday morning - thinking of doing 60 with the BnJ group - because I've noticed my stamina wanes towards the end of each ride and each week. Today at lunch I finally got a pedal wrench and spoke tightener, so it looks to be a bike-tuning evening in 511 tonight, probably with The Roches singing me along. This morning also proved productive from a furniture standpoint: I bit the bullet and ordered a dresser and nightstand from Cretens Brothers. They should be done in 3 to 6 weeks, then I will fight the battle of how to have them shipped down.
posted at 3:54 PM - comments
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
The happy news just continues to roll in, with wedding bells getting set to ring now for another friend. Somehow the excitement of the whole thing is just too much - is it fair to just go on a bunch of honeymoons and never get married? Back on the ground in reality, I improved my flying island average to 24.5 mph last evening, an increase of 0.9 mph over my previous best. This puts me within striking distance of the A group, but the kick at the end of the island wore me down last night and makes me nervous about taking it up a notch. So I'll ride B again on Thursday and take my chances next week. It's fun to improve, so I'm not in any hurry to be the best I can be right this instant.
posted at 12:48 PM - comments
Monday, May 05, 2003
Interesting weekend, to say the least. Friday I celebrated the arrival of my table, Saturday I added some leather bistro chairs and made a connection at the store, and Sunday I made myself a nice meal and ate at a table, sitting on chairs, like a normal Western human. All is good. Sunday I also tried to surf, but the surf was very much not up - you might even say it was down - and so I sat on the beach in my folding chair and read that timeless passage from "Islands in the Stream" when Dave hooks the broadbill. Finished "Greene on Capri," too. It's funny to learn the impetus for a book such as "Travels with My Aunt" but at the end of the day I guess Shirley Hazzard made me want to read more of Graham Greene's works.
posted at 12:34 PM - comments
Friday, May 02, 2003
An unusually calm whirlwind week. Rode LBK 3 of 5 weeknights, boosting my two-way average over the "flying island" to 23.6mph. Next week, depending on how my Monday ride goes, I might try to ride with the fast pack on Tuesday...bring on the pain.
In other news, while I'm at work a table has arrived at home, which has me stoked. Also got more surfing gear which has me stoked. Hopefully this weekend I'll actually GO surfing. There's been plenty of reading too, including the learning of a new life's motto not suitable for printing here. I've been bridging the gap between non- and fiction with some non-fiction that doesn't matter and, accordingly, might as well be fiction - call it what will, it reads like a novel. Me talk pretty one day too, I hope.
Made travel plans to jet north for Webbstock as well. Get to ride in a B717, my first, on the way up. Should be a grand old time.
Got a pair of wedding invitations this week, one a standard take and one a unique twist to the old classic. It's strange how the invitation to the party can be such an indication of who'll be there and who's throwing it. I guess other things are strange, too, but that was the one that stuck out this week.
Saturday, May 31, 2003