Whoooa nelly. SO productive last evening: washed my doors, did some laundry, washed the car, cleaned and buffed the rims and tires, cooked some dinner, and talked to Robin. Man. Today I picked up my new and improved Trek 2000, with new-for-2004 Shimano 105 shifters and cables, plus my actual bill may have been a little less than the check that I got last evening from Amica Mutual, so yours truly might be getting some aerobars with the difference. Classic. Now if only I could have some decent amount of time before the end of DST to get back into shape.
posted at 4:09 PM - comments
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Somehow in the buzz of the weekend and the lapse in blogging, I seem to have glazed over the exciting boat-related news that arrived DHL from the southern hemisphere on Friday. My very first project ever, an 82' sportfish called Lanakai, made the cover of Pacific Motor Yacht magazine. Although my input was pretty limited (tanks, running gear, some minor interior structural details) it is still cool to see the first one on the cover of a magazine.
Meanwhile, back in real life, it was a quiet night at home last evening, watching some football, reading some Toni Morrison, doing some cleaning. I'm so ready for the weekend, for fall, for football season, and for the arrival of my furniture.
Turned out to be a darned good weekend, even with a blood-donation-induced lethargy that followed me around all day Saturday. Friday evening was spent at the Old Salty Dog, prior to which I got a tiny little bit of work done on my aging Oakley E-wires at Sunglasses Connection on the Circle. Saturday I was up early, off to the dry pits for about an hour, then donating blood, then Subway, then the beach at Siesta Key for some boat-race watching. In the evening I watched "Amelie" - quite good - and headed off to bed rather early so that I could rise and shine and go rowing with Drew and Kim in Osprey. After a few reps on "the erg" a group of 5 beginners got into an eight with 3 experienced rowers and we swept up and down the ICW. It was a fun way to spend a morning and a good intro to what appears to be a great sport. Sunday afternoon fizzled to some extent, with library and grocery shopping and cleaning and reading not really amounting to anything worth printing.
posted at 12:38 PM - comments
Friday, August 22, 2003
Dreary dreary weather this day to round out what has been another fairly low-key week. This weekend should see some activity as the APBA returns to town for some high-perf boating, but right now the weather may just get the last word. Last night I made myself some Szechuan noodles and read some about Spain and caught up with Robin and my Grandparents Irish, which was good. Robin is set to move into her new apartment and be all on her own in the big big world, which is exciting stuff - not making it any easier to be some 1300 miles away.
posted at 12:51 PM - comments
Thursday, August 21, 2003
It has only taken three weeks but my bike-repair crusade is finally over. Today the insurance company agreed to cut me a check for the estimate and now it's only a matter of time before I'm back out on my like-new bike. My only beef: why don't more companies follow in Chiba's footsteps and sew a little web between the fingers of the gloves so that you can pull them off in no time flat? I'm going to customize my new Trek Moby Gels with the tattered shreds of my old Chibas, but wouldn't it be nice not to have to customize everything?
posted at 4:21 PM - comments
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Holy schnickies!!! Today I spent USD227.95 for the priviledge of driving in the Sunshine State. Ugh. But, say farewell to MI tags and hello to FL #I11 KCM, Sarasota County, expiry 11/2004. Feels like a real turning point - ppphhhhbbbttt. Read my book on neology last night and enjoyed immensely (made me feel silly and like I was learning) and then had a fun phone call that made me feel the same. Good stuff.
posted at 1:52 PM - comments
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Caught up with some folks last night and made some stir-fry, but that was about it. Hopefully today Sarasota Schwinn will wrap up their repairs of my 2000 so that I can get back into the swing of riding: the fall from my bike was painful but nowhere near as bad as the fall from my routine. It's been 3 weeks now since I've ridden my pre-wreck total of 85 miles a week, and the lethargy that had been banished is now creeping back.
posted at 12:39 PM - comments
Monday, August 18, 2003
Woof. A weekend disintegrated into trying like crazy to recover from a nagging cold with only minor success. I cancelled giving blood, gave up on most forms of cooking, went to bed early, drank cough syrup like it was Kool-Aid, and still I have a scratchy throat. Son of a gun. Got some bad news about my camera battery and power mirror switch but good news about skiis, so all in all I'd say I'm ahead, but still sorta frustrated.
posted at 12:42 PM - comments
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Crrrrrrazy - Blogger looking fresh yet again. Shopping for skis today and nursing a tiny bit of a sore throat, but stoked for (hopefully) a ride up and down LBK later. Then home for more reading about Alfred P. Sloan and some stir fry and early to bed again trying to recover from the weekend that was. Tomorrow is Friday, incredibly, and then a weekend for giving blood and taking it easy.
posted at 12:58 PM - comments
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
What a weekend it was! Saw many an old friend and made a couple new ones, too, sandwiched around Karyn and Rob's wedding. Saturday we hung out at Anthony's, then Gram, Nick, and I went into DC to see some sights before meeting the big group for a Live on Penn concert featuring Everclear. From there, it was off to Adams-Morgan for a wild wild night at Tom-Tom's, wherein we boosted the economy and partied 'til we could party no more, then it was back to the Metro and into Nick's car and south to Crystal City for a brief overnight at some of the new friends' palace in the sky apartment. Sunday we drove north to DE, took in the ceremony and festivities, then busted our collective moves on the dance floor. It was good to see so many of the '02-ers back together, along with some old standbys: Chip, Mr. & Mrs. The Dean, some other assorted Webbies, and Steph and Cody. After the party wound down, around 10 of us headed to a local watering hole for a pretty laid-back after party. Yesterday was home, with breakfast and goodbye's at a Waffle House in Maryland, then a free plane ticket in exchange for 90 minutes of my time. More weekends like that would be cool.
posted at 12:46 PM - comments
Friday, August 08, 2003
Last night Mom and I went to Burns Court and saw "Winged Migration" an excellent documentary about the (you guessed it) migration of birds. Filmed over four years on all 6 inhabited continents, the film is truly a spectacle. We also ate on new placemats at the table, which was fun, and used the my new blender to make daiquiris apres travail. Tonight we both pack up for an 8:00 AM departure from TPA in the morning - she to GRB and me to BWI. Will be a great weekend as friends from Webb convene on the mid-Atlantic seaboard to party it up in celebration of Karyn & Rob's wedding.
posted at 1:00 PM - comments
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Went to Myakka River State Park last evening, saw some gators, got eaten alive by some tiny transparent bugs, and went on the canopy walk. It was a fun evening of Florida wildlife, but still a bit of a departure from the normal summer Tuesday.
posted at 12:41 PM - comments
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Pork chops roasted with peaches and yellow potatos last night for dinner, then a trip to Cold Stone for cheesecake and raspberry and graham cracker ice cream. It's nice to have somebody else around, especially when supper is already smelling good when I walk in the door. Good stuff.
posted at 12:46 PM - comments
Monday, August 04, 2003
A good, busy weekend here. Mom and I enjoyed a dinner at Le Chang on Friday, spent much of Saturday prepping for quite a bit of sewing that she is going to do on my behalf, but also got some good groceries and poked around in some neater shops in the Sarasota area. Sunday we headed out for a late-morning cruise on LBK - I rode my still-damaged 2000 and mom rode my 800, and it was a pleasant trip. Then a relaxed afternoon: reading, library, New Pass, St. Armands, and "Bend It Like Beckham." Some excitement after the film, as I noticed (much to my delight) that Sarasota now has its very own Cold Stone Creamery franchise. What fun!
posted at 12:44 PM - comments
Friday, August 01, 2003
Got hairs cut and the apartment straightened for visitors last night, but that was about the extent of it. Yet again a Webbie comes through big-time, though: Karyn sent EZCD and now I'm rocking to new tunes in the Jimmy, which, by the by, has stopped smelling of rot and rainwater after last weekends' rains came in through open windows. Now a week with company and then a long weekend on the eastern seaboard....I could use a few more recuperating and getting-back-to-normal days after this week's soreness and terrible inactivity, but I'll manage.
posted at 1:59 PM - comments
Thursday, August 28, 2003