Pouring rain and an abundance of work to get done prevented any cycling last evening, which was a drag since I committed to riding when, at 16:00, I ate a PowerBar. So instead it was home - to leftovers and a promising book about the overseas railway from Miami to Key West. Reading just didn't appeal, though, so I wound up rotting my brain with too much TV instead until Jenelle called. We talked for way too long and it was way too enjoyable. No matter how long we talk or what about there's always more to say and more to talk about next time, which I'm taking as a good sign. Then the alarm this morning rang at truly a cruel hour and my Friday was underway. Fabby. Under a week now, though, so if I can just ride and cheer and skate through the weekend I'll be home (or away, as it were) free.
posted at 1:38 PM - comments
Thursday, April 29, 2004
The other night I saw a commercial for Yahoo's new 'engine' platform and was surprised to hear the word "yacht" about a dozen times. No screwball phone calls yet, but I'm just waiting. And what of the engin politik? Can Yahoo afford to take a corporate stand on anything so touchy, and how can they promote without endorsing? Seems like very troubled waters to me. Correspondence galore last night to graduates, businesses, and the like filled much of my evening. Took in the West Wing, which heralded things to come and perhaps mirrored history before the original image exists. I've also tracked down a free online guide to better ice skating called "A Faster Way to Skate," so in the lean minutes of my lunch hour there has been self-improvement on that front. Last night was also significant in that I announced my intention to resign my position at MPYD effective in late August, thus completing the stacking and toppling of the dominos whose presence here has been thick for the past eight months. Finally, despite all that is going on it's good to be reminded to be thankful for the basics: health comes to mind on the one-week anniversary of Anthony breaking his ankle. No matter how good (or bad I imagine) you've got it, you've always got it great if you can walk and run.
posted at 12:54 PM - comments
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Even though Sunday's skating wasn't that smooth, last night's rain-threatened ride certainly was. In a group of about 8 relaxed riders I got up to my best average of the season - 25.0 - and felt pretty strong the whole time. With a group of that size sharing the work and hardly any wheel-suckers it's fun to be out blasting along and not feeling like the lead horse or stuck in the pack. Then home to collect the Webb pin that arrived via post from West Sayville and eat the last of the pasties that made the journey south with me over the holidays.
posted at 12:42 PM - comments
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
One of the things I enjoy most about weekends is non-fiction. This weekend it was a most interesting tome about the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable; a story of the hardships of working in a group but also of the politics behind the venture, and, ultimately, a story about how the largest ship makes the toughest tasks more achievable. There was church on Sunday, laundry, sleeping bag washing, much financial aid number crunching, and the now-obligatory skating adventure to JP Igloo. For whatever reason the skating didn't come as naturally this weekend, even after a sharpening of the steel on the bottom of the Super Tachs.
posted at 9:09 AM - comments
Friday, April 23, 2004
Good night last night, but I'll come to that. Day at work cruised by with designing something for the Victory Team/UIM guys that makes their lives safer - the test dunker for the circuit racers. Then a well-calibrated, well-led group B ride up and down LBK. It was interesting because two of the best riders really steered the group in terms of pace and decorum - a pleasant change to say the least - and that corresponded to a good average and an easy, fun, safe ride. I clocked a total of 23.7, but for the first time I carefully monitored my average speed through the turn at the top of the island and watched as 0.4 mph fizzled away just in the 180-degree loop and subsequent 1/2 mile acceleration. So, I'll keep posting my averages as my VDO 10+ cyclocomputer tells them...but consider this the asterisk. At home, I cranked out some dinner, ate, then headed to the fitness room to watch some of the first game of Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Jenelle called later and we talked into the wee hours and even at some length about this very forum. Turns out that, per usual, we agree up and down on the issues surrounding weblogging: writing is good, a journal of thoughts and events is good, and the spread of communication outside the standard channels is good. No common ground was reached on the issue surrounding her identification here, although we agreed that a symbol might be fun and that a number would be apropos (although choosing 24601 would be not so much). In the meantime, she's Jenelle and I'm just glad to be able to bring these things up and not sweat it.
posted at 2:09 PM - comments
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Home last night to work on details and get a ton of sleep - Wednesdays are good for that for some of the studio audience, not so much for others. Talked to Anthony on the occasion of his 24th birthday, watched the West Wing (which is picking up again), and did some cleaning, some corresponding, and that was just about a wrap.
posted at 1:30 PM - comments
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Last night's ride was a "blue" ride to support spousal abuse or some such thing - I fail to see how a free ride for essentially elite cyclists raises awareness for much of anything, but hey you can't put down the cause so I should probably just put a sock in it. The long and the short of it is that I only really cranked up on the way home, which got pretty scary since everybody had fresh legs with the wind behind them. I was in a scary-big group going 29 and finally just had to take it down a notch out of concern for life and limb. Wound up with a 23.1 mph average, not at all bad considering I only paced half the ride. Then home for szechuan noodles, some Photoshop-ing, a conversation with Jenelle, and that was that. Oh oh oh and got big news from the Big House as the work day wound down. Nothing like free money...it is the best kind.
posted at 3:35 PM - comments
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
It was Monday. I cooked some szechuan noodles (but green onions got left at Publix), baked cookies (from a tube and still nearly burned), and put tires on my bike (and ruined my thumbs in the process). The new tires should make a big diffy tonight, so I guess that hour of not-fun paid off. Talked with my girl, too, although she is just slammed with work and it's painful to be so helpless. Then relatively early to bed to sleep off the sluggishness you get from eating too much raw cookie dough. Finally, in a programming note, today a search feature made its way to BrownCow, courtesy the fine folks at tripod.lycos.com. It is good for the hobbyist webmaster to have a useful ISP.
posted at 2:16 PM - comments
Monday, April 19, 2004
A delightful mix of activities this weekend: from productive errand-running (including the acquisition of new Specialized Armadillos for my trusty 2000) to hockey watching to dinner with friends to apartment researching to bike-riding to ice skating to family talking to girlfriend missing, there was a satisfying amount of stuff going on. Kinda sad news from Ann Arbor regarding my dream of an apartment in a house, but promising news on other fronts that could be really good too. The Wings advanced, which is a relief, but I find that I'm really looking forward to fall for football season. Skating was good and continues to get better...I'm getting pretty smooth on the Super Tachs but still skating hard enough for a blowout approximately once per session. As with skiing, if you don't biff you haven't dug deep enough - "No Guts, No Glory: Most Difficult."
posted at 1:51 PM - comments
Friday, April 16, 2004
Somehow the locomotive never stopped for the caboose last night, so one other guy and I had to do the work of 10 men getting to the top of the island in a brisk headwind. The toiling paid off in a major way, though, with a 27+ mph ride home. With a dozen riders on the pace and speeds near thirty the wheels whir and the gears click, wind whooshes by your ears and through the vents in your helmet, but all else is basically still. Great stuff. Then, for once this playoff year, the Red Wings looked mighty and impressive, putting together a win that they can build off of and hopefully tear into round 2. Talked with Jenelle, too, who is busier now than I'd wish anyone to be, but always nice to hear what shapes her world.
posted at 12:58 PM - comments
Thursday, April 15, 2004
The week is cruising by, which is good news. Lunches have been filled with working on details hither and yon, evenings have gone by quickly even without any rides because of the wind and rain. Tonight, though, it's back on the train for a tour of LBK. In thoery the NHL playoffs are blogworthy, but with the Wings struggling and the Lightning buzzing I'm just not that inspired by the whole scene. There was also a fair amount of politics to comment on the other night, but let's face it: picking on the President is like beating up little kids. I took in a few moments of his speech on Tuesday and I think I can safely say that that was worse television than "I'm With Her" and was far more painful to watch.
posted at 12:43 PM - comments
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
The Monday after a great trip is always brutal: the empty fridge, the messy suitcase, the uninhabited-but-still-air-conditioned apartment smell, and the reminder that when I open the door it will close behind me - no holding it open for pretty girls. So, I fought forward with some iPod-age and spaghetti. I diligently cleaned up from the trip, tended to mail and groceries, looked deeper into apartments, and made some VHS tapes for work. The littlest things always turn into the biggest pains in the neck but go unappreciated. The man has his thumb on my neck......
posted at 3:51 PM - comments
Monday, April 12, 2004
Felt like the kick-off of a new era this weekend. Saturday started with a visit to Jenelle's freshly-painted apartment, continued with a daytrip to Ann Arbor - walking around the town looking for apartments and enjoying the company - before dinner with Robin & Ryan at Robin's place, then too much ice cream at the parlour, meeting roommates' parents, and talking shop about what can be broadly termed as "the future." Sunday morning was Easter meal time at Jacqueline's with Robin, Ryan, Jenelle, and Jacqueline in attendance. After the meal there was a canoe outing on the Grand River, complete with candy (courtesy Robin & her pre-sorted zip-locs), cold hands and plenty of reminiscing. Then off to LAN to take departures...slept pretty much all the way to TPA, put on "The Dance" and drove home.
"The river goes on and on
but the sea that divides us
is a temporary one, and
the bridge will bring us back together."
~Fleetwood Mac
"It's Friday."
"What did he mean by that?"
"I'd say come Monday there'll be hell to pay."
Good day here, all told, with lunch on the boss and plenty to keep mind, body, and spirit distracted. Just 90 long minutes now separate me from departing to Tampa, a 70 mile drive often littered with accidents and crazy motorists. The drive, no matter how placid, always reminds me of a fall Friday when a football game was on the line...weeee! Vacations are fun. Riding is fun too, but it is too group-dependent, as evidenced by my 23.2 average last night. With a 16-mph cross wind the whole time it just seemed like C group never really got settled, which wore me down to the point that I joined the lowly ranks of D group, which never did seem to get uncorked. It was frustrating but still fun.
posted at 3:57 PM - comments
Thursday, April 08, 2004
During riding season there is a single mid-week evening that has enough spare hours with enough spare energy for me to get stuff done: Wednesday. Since this is cycling season and last night was Wednesday, I made hay on as much as I could. I did a thorough job of cleaning and vacuuming, got through most of the packing I needed to do, stocked up the iPod with some new tunes for the trip, and watched a chunk of the Wings' game in the workout room. The downside of the bustle is that today feels like Friday and isn't, which is the equivalent of a really nasty April Fool's joke. But, got a new tube today and I'm ready to rock with the Thursday crowd tonight and roll home one last time for the week.
posted at 2:34 PM - comments
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Into the swing of cycling again with a 2004 inaugural average of 23.3, right where I was shooting. In point of fact in felt pretty good, which is remarkable given that on the wind-assisted southern leg I felt like I was really working, only to discover upon my return to the Mira Mar parking garage that my rear tire was all but on the rim. Hoowah. Twenty three plus on a nearly flat tire....who's the man now, Ricky?
Caught up with parents last night (and was briefly interrupted by Ben Folds via mobile phone) and got the rundown on the events there. Then after the concert Jenelle called and I got the rundown on what sounds like was an awesome show. Today I got email updates from friends to the north and east; always great to hear what others are up to. Crazy bordering-on-bizarre news from a former life, though, reminding us of where we are in the world, where we want to go in the world, and that timing means the world. Also makes me (for reasons unknown and unquantifiable) miss my other current life in the biggest way. But, just a few more days to kill - tonight there's no West Wing, so it looks like some packing, a heap of cleaning, and probably a relatively early bedtime, then it'll be Thursday and then Friday. Bliss.
posted at 3:45 PM - comments
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Last night was the first BnJ-sanctioned ride of Daylight Saving Time, and it was a mixed bag getting back in the pace line. On the one hand, it was good to carry nearly twenty miles per hour over the island and not even be winded back at the Chart House parking lot 70 minutes later, but the flipside is that I'm really looking forward to riding with the more experienced, more consistent, less squirrely riders of le peleton du mardi et jeudi. Then back home for some rather hurried laundry, my first-ever burned-rice fiasco, and a very tasty stir-fry that just might last the three remaining dinners at home this week. Hmmmm leftovers.
posted at 1:06 PM - comments
Monday, April 05, 2004
This was a weekend about fitness and charity and wishing it were next weekend. Friday took its sweet time moving along, but in the final analysis the $7100 (plus a 100% matching gift) raised for Habitat makes a long evening worthwhile. Saturday was a late start, but a strong bike ride in the heat and wind of the day none-the-less. Wished for a pace line and still got up to 19.3 average, so now I'm feeling ready to roll with crowds this week. The rest of the day was apartment hunting, a tiny bit of clothes hunting, and some basketball watching. Sunday was AV duty, chores around home, then skating at JP Igloo where I felt pretty comfortable despite a bone-crunching wreck. I don't remember ever hitting boards before, and it isn't an experience I'll forget. Then home for dinner and to catch up with my girl, where I feel pretty comfortable and pretty eager for next weekend.
posted at 1:42 PM - comments
Friday, April 02, 2004
Blam. That's the sound of my week, full of momentum and enthusiasm for getting stuff out the door, hitting a bridge abutment on Thursday afternoon. Stuff is leaving in an un-fire drill, which means that I'm stuck with barely enough to do and time is drawing out like a blade. I've been walking the park loop during lunch hours but today I skipped in favor of talking to ED Jones and several Ann Arbor property managers, all of which turned out to be just this side of fruitful. Hopefully I'll be able to get an answer or two out of some of these people eventually, but today isn't looking promising.
posted at 1:34 PM - comments
Friday, April 30, 2004