So the Guerciotti I bought of craigslist showed up via UPS a couple days ago. Not bad, but not as nice as I had hoped. It's got a couple of really nasty patch spots, one on the back side of the seat tube that is horrible.
Overall it's a nice frame with a matching fork, and it's the correct size, but not totally sure I'm gonna keep it. I think I'll just offer it up on craigslist.
I'm really in search of a nice track frame, but since they are popular now they are super hard to find.
WOW
After watching your waistline very closely, scientist found that just a little jiggle around the middle can increase your risk of six different cancers.
“But the main thing to focus on is keeping your overall body weight down,” said Dr. Anne McTiernan. The recommendation is to shed those unwanted pounds. Weigh now what you weighed when you were 18 years old.
“If you are normal weight when you were 18 the goal is to stay within 5 to 10 pounds of that weight and not do what most Americans are doing which is gain weight over time,” said Dr. McTiernan
Do you? :) I do now. Plan to stay there
Nuff said twice. Big snow yesterday, big snow tonight.
Spent 2+ hours shoveling our driveway, and the sidewalk of the old folks home next door. First day was OK....today was tough.
Nuff said. Big snow yesterday, big snow tonight.
Spent an hour shoveling snow.
Heard back on the last interview that I did. Head count got pulled, just like previous roles. MSFT is clamping down and it's not gonna get better anytime soon. Damn.
Oh, I get this email.
Brother, We came across this group with an interesting story and great music we thought you'd enjoy. Here is a link to their website. We bought the mp3 album from Amazon today and really enjoy it. Check it out.http://www.sncmusic.com/ Sister
Wild on so many levels.
Got out on the singlespeed for a nice 4 hour ride today. I think the weather's gonna change and we're gonna see some big rain or snow.
Got my single speed Bianchi back from UBRDO today. James did a pretty good job of getting my rear wheel back into some reasonable shape...Now waiting on replacement bearings from WTB.
Sold my good old ride, Klein Palomino today. I just wasn't riding it, and I've got other project bikes in the works. Young guy who's wanted a decent bike and can't really afford something super pricey got a nice used bike for 725. I originally paid well over 2700 for that bike 4 years ago. It's still got lots of life in it.
Wait staff shook my hand. Head waiter said it was impressive. More impressive? I ate about 10 desserts @ the Xmas party 1 hour later. I found (what I think) is a 10 year old Guerciotti frame that is really clean and nice as a project bike. It's nice columbus tubing and hopefully is really nice and straight.
I've also started building out my Colnago Master. This was my first "real" frame, and although I had it repainted, it's still super sweet. I should have left it alone, but the repaint was at least 10 years ago.
Litespeed found a new home today. Guy's gonna use it as a rain bike. He got a fantastic deal on a really decent frame. Fix the paint gashes and she's a pretty decent looking bike.
All good things must come to an end. My favorite magazine, a monument to the climbing world and probably one of the best publications (for tons of reasons) has ended.
http://www.alpinist.com/
Alpinist LLC to Suspend Operations
Jackson, Wyoming — October 16, 2008 — Alpinist LLC, which publishes the climbing magazine Alpinist, runs the website www.alpinist.com and produces The Alpinist Film Festival, announced today that the October 2008 financial crisis has forced them to suspend operations.
Founded in 2002 by Marc Ewing and Christian Beckwith, Alpinist began in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as an archival-quality publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing. The quarterly quickly gained a reputation for both superior writing and beautiful photography; by 2004, Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner called it, "The best climbing magazine in the world today." Alpinist went on to win numerous awards; in March 2005 it was featured in a seven-page article in Outside Magazine ("The Purists") that explored its impact on American climbing.
Bummer.
Turkey day was so excellent. Me, Mrs Dirtbagger, and Dirtbagger's Mom. No 5 hour drive to Spokane. No horrible weather. OK, it was raining, hard but no problem with that shit.
Well, one month later, here is the drama.
My calorie difference didn't equal my weight difference. That meant that my basal rate, which was an estimate was incorrect. I initially had 2250, now adjusted down to 1983.
Based upon that, redid my spreadsheet. Here is the run down.
During this month of October I rode 19 times, for a total of 50 hours. Longest ride was 5 hours.
Calorie burn / calorie intake was about the same @ 86,000.
Job Front
So I'm not really making progress looking for a job outside of MSFT. It taught me several things.
1. I don't and have not networked well.
2. I've not kept up on what's going on in the business world like I used to.
3. Finding a job outside of MSFT channels is much much harder than I thought.
4. Contactor/Vendor jobs are pretty limited in their scope, scale and influence.
So about a week ago I sat down and reviewed all the positions I thought were of interest. I then asked Noah to email each of the hiring managers and send my resume. She sent a total of 22.
I got 3 responses all of which said they had filled the position.
HOWEVER, one shiny glimmer of hope. I did get a phone interview last Friday. I think it went well. This last Monday I received an email that I would be contacted by human resources to schedule a full interview loop.
Well, I hope it goes well as it's the only sincere thing I've got in the queue right now.
Back Fat
Oh, today I was @ 158.6 weight, with 7.1% body fat. My goal is by 10/20 be below 160. At the end of the month, I want to hold BELOW 160 and at Christmas still be below 160, and carry that through the new year into this next summer.
Bike Ride
I've been riding 2-4 hours almost every day. I let the air out of the tires of the Colnago and put it up for the winter, convinced we would not see any nice days. Then we had yesterday. Spectacular. Pumped the the tires and did a nice 4+ hour ride.
Oh yesterday, I got in an arguement with a CADMAN (local trucking company) dump truck driver and he pissed me off so much I noted is truck number, called his company and complained about his lack of professionalism. I had to leave a voice mail, but I basically told him, I ride a lot. I have a lot of experience on Washington roads, I encounter their trucks EVERYWHERE, and I have never ever in all my years encountered what I thought was such outside of the norm, extra ordinary, lack of professionalism, ever.
Less than 1 hour later, the supervisor's supervisor called me back took down the facts and told me he would follow up on the episode and then contact me this next week to let me know how it went. Wow.
Mom is Moving HERE!
Mom's moving over here and we've been helping her look at houses. Her qualifications are so rare that she has 3 companies (in this uncertain economy) wanting her to come for interviews. One place in downtown said that she should NOT accept a job with anybody UNTIL she interviewed with them. Wow. That has certainly NEVER happened to me! Way to go MOM.
Yep, 10/1 time to start tracking calories, again.
Gotta get sub 160 before the end of the month.
I learned lots of great things on lifting, methodology, training. Good session. Here I'm hauling around a 40 lbs medicine ball. I'm sitting here in the alphabetic district of Portland @ the Lucky Lab Brewery, drinking beer, eating pizza and chilling. Everything (except my wife, my dog, and my dorky cat) are here. Well, OK, I only have once bicycle, no climbing gear. But shit, I'm close....OK, not really even close, but it's cool, nonetheless.
Did I mention I have a buzz?
Me @ the Argentina/Chile border guard station, January 2004.
Prepped for 4 hours of surgery, July 6th 2004.
.
.
.
.
Two months later, second chemo session.
I got a huge gash in my neck, I've got a big ass needle poked into my chest. I have a plastic device embedded into my chest about the size of a chestnut, my whole face is puffy from chemo. Oh and I suspect I puked up my lunch from earlier today.
What a horrible experience.
Today, I weigh about the same I did 4 years ago, after 4 rounds of chemo therapy....Therapy....that word makes me laugh when used in conjunction with chemo.
Just like when people say "when you got sick." Funny...I felt fine.
Cancer is full of funny contradictions.
Being alive vs. being dead is one, I guess.
9/11 - 160 - But that was after a four hour bike ride.
If I can hold it for a week then, I really did it.
My professional career is over. I couldn't even get hired here:
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:15:36 -0400
> From: VirtualEdge@safeco.com
> To: xxxx
> Subject: Safeco Insurance – Proj Mgr Sr, IT #3806
>
> xxxx,>
> After carefully reviewing your qualifications for this position, we have decided to pursue other candidates. Our Career Center is updated as new positions become available. I invite you to visit Safeco.com frequently to apply for opportunities, maintain your profile, check your application status and set up job agents to receive new job postings by email.
> Thank you for participating in our process and for considering Safeco as an employer. Best wishes in your job search.
> Safeco Recruiting
Turned down by a machine at a lame insurance company.
Got the agenda for our weekend mountain athlete lifting seminar....Looks painful.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
0730-0900 Strength Training Session
In this hands-on session attendees will experience first hand a training session which includes a 1-RM strength test, complex work and strongman training.
0900-0930 Mountain Athlete Training Philosophy & Goals of Gym Training
Our approach. What we feel is important, lessons learned, and the drive for continuous improvement. The transferable goals and attributes of gym training as they relate to mountain, industrial and tactical athletes.
0930-1000 Basic Training Concepts
Fundamentals of strength and conditioning will be explained and discussed: Adaptation, Progression, Accommodation, Specificity, and Individualization.
1000-1130 Periodization Basics
Discussion of differences between Linear, Undulating and Conjugate periodization, periodization cycles (macro, meso, micro), and applying periodization principals to a yearly calendar. Periodization for hybrid gym training, and integrating hybrid gym training with program design for sports and activities outside the gym will be covered.
1130-1200 What athletes need. How we train it.
A nuts and bolts discussion of how gym training can complement the performance and out-of-the gym training and practice for mountain, industrial and tactical athletes.
1200-1300 Lunch Break
1300-1400 Training Strength
Different types of strength, types that are important for mountain/industrial/tactical athletes and how to train them will be covered.
1400-1430 Core Strength
A strong core is key to durability, especially in mature athletes. Discussion will include static versus dynamic core training, loaded core training, and strength endurance.
1430-1500 Power Endurance & Metabolic Conditioning
Power endurance - or the ability to deliver power over extended periods is perhaps the most important physiological attribute to hybrid athletes. The principals behind power endurance will be discussed. Training sessions to train and evaluate power endurance will be demonstrated and discussed.
1500 - ?? Programing Basics (Lecture)
Conjugate periodization to train in the gym for maximal strength, explosive power, power endurance, strength endurance and metabolic conditioning will be covered. Lecture will include programming for an example month.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
0800-0900 Core Strength Training Session
In this hands-on session attendees will experience first hand an intense, core training session.
0900-1000 Sport Specific (Climbing) Training & Periodization
Physical attributes and how to train them for climbing will be covered, including how to incorporate sport specific training with hybrid gym training.
1000-1100 Training Session Design
This is where the rubber hits the road. Designing daily workouts which meet conjugate periodization goals, yet take into account athlete physical and mental fatigue, movement and muscle balance, and time restrictions is as much art as science. Learn the approach we use.
1100-1130 Professional Development Strategies
Developing a strategy for continuous learning and professional development which pays attention to time and cost restriction will be discussed.
1130-1200 Final Q&A
An open question and answer period to address any lingering questions.
My friend Tim is back from living in China for 4 months. Now somebody to go run with. He's a good guy and helped me a bunch when I was sick...
We went for a 40 minute run. Back felt OK. Legs felt really good. I think I need some new running shoes.
I rode 4.5 hours today, on the new bike of course. I really like that bike.
So after 8+ weeks of 2x a week chiropractor, and 2x a week naturopath, I'm done. Time to take the situation into my own hands.
Go the the gym and pulverize my back until it gets in line!
i said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop,
a you dont stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie, say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat
now what you hear is not a test--i'm rappin to the beat and me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet
see i am wonder mike and i like to say hello to the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow
but first i gotta bang bang the boogie to the boogie say up jump the boogie to the bang bang boogie
let's rock, you dont stoprock the riddle that will make your body rock
well so far you've heard my voice but i brought two friends along and next on the mike is my man hank come on, hank, sing that song....
Getting Skinny
165.0 - 5.6% body fat. I need to try much harder if I'm gonna get to 160 by the end of the month.
Didn't work out as I expected. Not really what I wanted to do. Oh well, time to start looking again.
So, how do you prep for an interview with a company that has NO public information? Uh you don't, really. That's OK. My answers are the same as they always are.
Blah Blah Blah.....
I get my references updated. Print a couple extra copies of that and my resume.
My buddy Matt says, "there is a game @ Safeco today, which means NO parking." Ouch, I better go early.
The offfice is in pioneer square, so I head out super early to scope it out and make sure I know where I'm going and where I can park.
OK that was much easier than I thought it was gonna be. I now have 1.5 hours to kill. Hmmm. How about the world famous Elliot Bay Books? What are all these people doing in pioneer square? I guess this is the place you hang out if you don't have a job. Oh well....Off to EB books!!
I find an interesting book. I look through it. It makes me laugh. I buy it.
OK it's interview time.
I walk through the door. 10 or so people all sitting @ desks.....somebody in the back behind a desk gets up.
I get an email mid day.
"Hi Alan, you're confirmed with your interview with _____ at 2pm, tomorrow August 6th. Here are directions to our office."
Cool.
Later in the day, I go for a late afternoon ride with my friend Roger. It ain't so cool. In fact it's fucking hot. Real hot. I hope we don't ride too hard. Roger's done STP in one day, and RAMROD this year. I've done NOTHING.
He takes me on a tour of the Kenmore/Lake Forest Park area. We ride lots of hills. Good thing I had the 34 on front. Damn. 2 hours later I get home and I'm pretty blasted. Not from the ride but really the heat. Remember hotter than 80 is REALLY hot here.
I decide I need to start looking for a job.
http://www.dice.com/ - Not bad but mostly contract positions. Contract jobs aren't all that bad, but when you know the contract company is billing you at twice what they are PAYING you, ya gotta wonder......
MS.com - Too much crap. Do I really want to work @ MS again? Maybe I should consider somewhere new?
Hmmm....I'm a pretty huge fan of ol craigslist. I've sold good shit, I've bought good shit. My friend Brian says all the hip kids are using craigslist.
So I do some searching. I see a listing. Description looks interesting. Kinda vague, not much detail. No doubt I can do it. I'll send of an email off Monday AM and see what happens. It's a legit company (or at least they have a website) so....
Monday. Send off the email. Say I'm interested in the job. Attach my resume. Expectations. NONE.
Weather looks really nice today. I think I'll go for a longish bike ride......
Damn, I forgot my phone.....No biggie....I'll be home in a couple of hours.
Huh, somebody called and left VM.
"Hi Alan, My name is ______ and I would like to talk to you about what kind of role you're looking for, blah blah blah. Please call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx."
Holy Shit. Did I even expect a response? No.
I collect some notes and prepare to call her back. We chat and long story short, she wants to know if I would like to come in. Of course I would. She'll send me interview details tomorrow (Tuesday)
We leave in 2 hours. Excellent!Long story short, on Saturday I fell while climbing. Brian carried me out. Compound fracture of the L2 vertebrea. Totally my fault and I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.
Since I walked up to the emergency room, I guess I wasn't an emergency, therefore I got to wait 3+ hours before I saw a doctor. Better yet, we were there a total of 8.5 hours. I can't wait to see what the bill is.
For the first couple of days, I've been in some pretty good pain. How to you spell relief? P-E-R-C-O-C-E-T!!
It's healing fine, thank you.
In 2008 Melanoma will be diagnosed in 62,480 Americans and will kill 8,420, according to the American Cancer Society.
6/10/2004 = 4 Years Ago.
So, before I started actually tracking my weight via a spreadsheet, I blogged that I was @ 182. Today, I'm @ 165. 17 lbs..... http://midlife-dirtbagging.blogspot.com/2008/04/im-fat-for-me.html
So on Sunday I decide to go for a ride. As I take off up Market street, I cannot believe the difference in how much lighter I feel. I don't feel super strong, but I certainly do notice the difference in weight. In just over 7 weeks, I've lost 17 lbs and now am at 8.5% body fat in the morning (worst time to measure) and about 6.5% in the evening. Crazy.
For comparison....
6/7 - Stereo guy came and worked on my truck. Fixed.
6/6 - Get invited for a informal interview. Good.
6/5 - Swap road Dura Ace cranks and put in a 118 BB. Solid.
6/1 - Geek Dudes replace hard drive and get Vista Ultimate installed. OK.
I lost my weight tracking spreasheet on my failed laptop hard drive. So I took a two day break and started again.
Climbing @ the end of the summer in July!!
Amazing Man....Amazing
The Wikimedia Foundation has received a copyright infringement claim from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon Church or LDS Church. The infringement claim is in reference to a URL used as a source in a Wikinews article about Mormon Church documents leaked to the website Wikileaks, titled "Copy of handbook for leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints obtained by Wikinews". The URL was originally cited as a link in the sources subsection of the article. The Wikimedia Foundation is a donor-supported non-profit organization which runs Wikipedia and Wikinews. This is the first time that the Wikimedia Foundation has received a copyright infringement claim regarding an article published by Wikinews.
The Mo's bring the heat.
So on 4/26, I started tracking everything I ate, with the goal of losing 10 lbs by the end of the month. For example an egg is 74 calories. A large avacado, 300, a tablespoon of my favorite salsa, 20. Non fat milk, 110, a cup of museli, 440.
Here is what I learned:
1. If you track everything you eat, and write it down each and every day, you really begin to pay attention to each and every thing you put in your nasty little mouth.
2. Calculation your basal rate is kinda hard because it's how much it takes you to be alive, plus some extra wild ass guessing factor. I originally estimated I burned 2250 calories a day. Three weeks in, my weight loss was much more than my calorie loss, so somewhere my calc was screwed up. So, I now think my basal rate is more like 2500 a day.
3. If I ate well (no ice cream or cookies or stuff like that) I was pretty easy to stay below 2500. I averaged a net 900 calorie difference.
4. On big exercize days, I allowed myself another 300-500 calories. Big days were in excess of 2500 calorie burn days.
5. I averaged 400 calories @ each meal and another 400 calories in snacks.
When I started working again a year ago, I was 172 ish. A month ago, I was more than 180. Today, I weighed 167.7, with less than 10% body fat.
In another month I plan on being below 160.
Day 1 Rome
Days 2-3 Florence
Days 4-6 Lucca and Pisa
Days 7-8 Cinque Terre
Days 9-10 Piedmont
Days 11-12 Milan and Italian Lakes
Days 13-15 Venice
5/24 - XM radio in truck stops working. Bummer
5/25 - Cranks fail on Bianchi bike. Bummer
5/26 - Hard drive fails on laptop computer. Bummer.
5/26 - Bail on 7 Hills of Kirkland. Bummer.
5/27 - Get told they probably won't renew my contract. I gotta look for a job. Bummer.
Mrs Dirtbagger sends me this.
General influence of Mercury retrograde
Mercury rules over the mind's processes, studying, communication, businesses, travels and the like. When Mercury reverses its direction, all these areas are affected as well.
This is an excellent time to work on old projects that never got to be finished. So, think about the things you started and never finalized.
Next, you might wish to prevent any bad things to happen to you: so double-check your agenda, call your business partners to confirm that everything goes as planned, have everything ready before the deadline and leave some extra time for unexpected events. Make copies of your important files and documents, save your work more often.
The other solution is to go on vacation or at least slow down the pace of your projects. You will find that going slowly during the Mercury retrograde period will spare you many efforts of redoing the same action that wasn't performed right the first time.
So I've wanted to ride this damned thing on my singlespeed so bad. Last year I couldn't because of my stupid ritchey cranks kept giving me problems. Read that is the damned left crank arm kept falling off. Fucking thing.
So Fabien helped me a ton by getting it replaced on warranty and Ritchey sent me a brand new pair. Excellent. We got the bike in his shop and we install the 2nd set of cranks 9 months or so ago.
All was just fine and dandy until about 6 weeks ago. I had gone off on a 5+ hour ride on the single speed. Left foot felt squirrely. Hmmm...Cleat? Pedal? Nope left crank arm.
So I have Mrs Dirtbagger come get me in the super Toyota. The 7 hills is only a couple of weeks away. I've ridden a little so I can do the 62 easy. If I take it slow I'm sure I can do the 100.
I take the bike over to Sammamish Valley Cycle. They will do a good job. I've got a week to go.
Work was busy as hell and I didn't get to ride the bike at all. Saturday comes, the 7 is in 2 days. I get on the bike and it sounds like the bottom bracket is gonna totally explode. SHIT.
I blast over to Samm Cycles. Alvin was there and super helpful....We talked about options, and he was willing to fix the bike right there. I eventually decided to by the tools and tear apart my litespeed 9 speed dura ace and use that crank since I knew it was bomber.
I get the Ritchey off the Bianchi, and get Dura Ace off the Litespeed. Oh guess what, the first generation of bearings on the Dura Ace is a round bearing and a needle bearing. Take them apart and bearings go everywhere. Great, guess I'll be using the Shimano Bianchi bottom bracket, since the Dura Ace one just became toast. One of the mechanics said "Oh they don't make that bottom bracket for that crank any longer." Now I sure as fuck know why.
So i proced to use Saturday and most of Sunday trying to get the bike together. When all is said and done, I'm not happy. I destroyed one crank arm to put together another and in the end wasn't even confident about it. So that night, the bike was together and I asked myself? Was this worth all that? Isn't this trying to tell you something? What do you need to learn here? I could easily imagine being in Carnation or MONroe or some craphole like that and having the Crank arm spin off, wondering how many hours it would take the sag wagon to get to me. Shit.
So what did I do? I bailed big time. 7 Hills got my 70 bucks. Oh well.
So 2 years in a row, 2 missed 7 Hills for 2 Ritchey Cranksets is just 2 fucking much.
Next year, I'm gonna ride 7 Hills on a Unicycle.
I see a new bike in my future.
This one is quite nice. I dig the blue.
This one is super nice. Neuvo-retro. Very cool...
three pink plastic lawn flamingos, the momma, the daddy and two
babies. in good shape except the momma has a bullet hole. will
trade for a good dog or weed eater, will also consider any kind
of alcohol as long as it ain't been opened up.
Went for a little ride today.
Kirkland
Juanita
Kenmore
Puddinville
Snoqualmie Valley
Ames Lake
Marymoor
Old Red Road
Kirkland
Yet another reason to hate GOLF. What a self absorbed horse's ass. I outta mail this fucker a letter bomb.
Yahoo Link
Another Link
Another Post
Kinda fitting since his goose is cooked. :)
So my keyboard in Husband Land aka Cubby Land quit working. Bizzare....Think about that one for a while. Take off a punctuation from your keyboard. What would you miss. The question mark. Everything else you could just get by if you just spaced between words folks would get it Eventually Right Maybe Not.
So what do I do with a keyboard who's question mark doesn't work.....question mark...
Try it. Take a key off your keyboard and they write around the fact that you don't have that letter. Where would you get so furstrated that you couldn't communicate
You're at work. On email, How long would you function with no question mark
.....question mark........question mark........question mark...
Now take that a step further. Can you think of someone who if their keyboard question mark quit working, how long would it be before they even noticed.....question mark........question mark...
You think wild stuff when you're high. I guess this counts. The Rastafarians believe that the smoking of ganja puts you closer to your true self as you question many things. Do you need to be high to be aware.....question mark........question mark........question mark........question mark........question mark...
Think THAT. Could you train your brain to achieve the feeling from being high.....question mark...Is that possible.....question mark...Bizarre.....question mark...
AND NOW...Think THAT. Holy Shit, I just forgot what I was going to type.
How could that be anymore beautiful.....question mark...
Last weekend, I noticed my upper gluets were really sore. That night I went to bed and was in pain. I couldn't figure it out why or how. I hadn't gone for a ride, or a run in a couple of weeks. Certainly wasn't unloading a truck load of floor dry....college....long ago.
I just realized...I smoked a joint and ended up dancing to reggae music for a couple of hours easy. I guess dancing for two hours is hard. Now. For Me. Weird.... I'm pretty sure I've never had those words come across my vocabulary. Ever.
Think about it. When is the last time you danced for an extended time period. Seriously....
I could run 5 miles tomorrow and not be as sore as I was two hours of dancing. Dancing is harder. Dunno. Whatcha think......
I'm trying to build a table in blogger. Wow....I don't know how to do this. Something probably pretty simple. Maybe this is this a sign of my age, and that technology is passing me by...
6:07 am - Awake. I was worried about getting out of bed early enough. I guess that isn't a problem
6:21 am - Out of bed, but my brain is a litte foggy
6:25 am - Feed the best dog in the work, Fish Sauce
6:30 am - Put in contact lense
6:42 am - Get CD's ready for drive to Portland
6:45 am - Sit in hot tub...Hmm...
6:55 am - Exit hot tub...Brrr....
6:57 am - Get dressed
7:05 am - Get truck loaded
7:09 am - Leave house, Fish Sauce and I are Big Tundra Riding Dirty
7:12 am - QFC donut purchase :)
7:18 am - Starbucks non fat double tall latte
7:20 am - Southbound Road Bound
10:30 am - Hillsboro area
10:45 am - Arrive Beta bike house
10:47 am - Leave Beta bike house for auto parts store for receiver hitch pin
11:08 am - Reciever hitch pin purchase. Met Richard @ the auto parts store. He liked my truck.
11:25 am - Return to Beta bike house, meet seller
11:35 am - Chitty chat motorcycles
11:55 am - Quick 20 yard ride on Beta bike. Looks good. No blue engine smoke, starts right up.
12:10 pm - Load trailer into receiver
12:25 pm - Load Beta bike onto trailer
12:30 pm - Chat motorcycles again, and buy Gary's trials boots for 20 bucks
12:40 pm - Have no cash, return from Well Fargo ATM
12:42 pm - Chat motorcycle straps
12:45 pm - Say Goodbye
12:50 pm - Arbys Turkey/Swiss sandwich order
12:55 pm - Northbound road bound
4:00 pm - Kekland
4:15 pm - Unload stuff from truck
4:30 pm - Clean up Gaerne http://www.gaerne.com/ boots. (pronounced gah-earn-ah)
5:20 pm - Power nap
6:00 pm - Animal feeds
6:04 pm - Dinner prep begins
6:25 pm - Eat Dinner
6:45 pm - Watch movie http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Yes_Men/70000103?trkid=222336&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1742694367_0_0
8:30 pm - Watch DVR recorded HBO show, Flight of the Conchords
9:02 pm - Tub time
9:35 pm - Exit tub time
10:10 - Lights out
10:15 - Post movie blog http://suckymovies.blogspot.com/2008/03/yes-men.html
10:23 - Blog about movie blog
So overall, not a bad drive to Portland. Met some really nice people who've decided to get rid of a couple of their motorcycle toys. Mostly hers not his. Fish Sauce always loves a road trip.
The Beta bike is nice. It started right up and is in really good shape. I gave them their asking price as that was more than reasonable. What benefit to I really gain in haggling? None.
Loading the bike was pretty easy, and even with my cheapy straps (not really heavy duty motorcycle straps) the bike sat back on the trailer really well. That trailer is another great Craigslist purchase!
The boots were a total surprise. I didn't really even know what I was buying, as I'd never seen a trials boot. They appear softer and more wearable than an MX or Road boot. Nice rubber platform for your feet. Honestly they looked as if they've only been worn a couple of times, max.
Once I got them home and really inpected them, it was clear they were a little dried out (since they had sat from unuse) but with some light Simple Green scrubbing and a good application of mink oil really cleaned up nice. All leather Italian made trials riding boots? What a huge score! They are the balance oiled model. Very classic.
Well, we're @ over 2 months since Fish Sauce got her knee worked on. I am happy to say she's not limping anywhere NEAR what she did, and frankly we're a little bummed since her attitude is much much improved. She plays more, runs more and is much more active. Obviously she was really in pain.
Go Fish Sauce, Go. You're the best dog there is, and ever could be.
I'm pretty sure Mom's healer isn't supposed to be up to her knees in snow. .JPG)
Me at advanced base camp, 21,000 feet, Everest in the background. So I just talked to the shipping company. He's in Connecticut right now, he'll pick up the bike tomorrow.
Making plans for a localish climbing trip.
More details later
OK, somebody built an enduro-ish Monster. Very cool
But this is super hawt.Kuri had surgery, it went well and a week later, she's only limping a little. Here is a pretty representative picture of what was removed. The doc said it was about half the size of a pea.
Hopefully she'll be back to somewhat normal in 4-6 weeks. Go Kur Dog Go.
Very good friends of mine who live in San Fran have had a very sick dog. His kidneys aren't great and they don't function so well. He's been in poor health for quite a while and they weren't sure he was gonna make it through Xmas. Well son of a bitch, he did.
Duke essentially rallied back quite a bit. In fact he rallied, had a little bit of a relapse over the last few weeks, and has been better again since the end of last week. His levels are down, he eats, and he's put some of his weigh back on. So his quality of life is pretty good really, definitely worth continuing on.
Way to go Duke!!!
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt Shane might learn something from the experience.
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The six-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."
My friend Michelle is off her rocker once again...
(Adapted from Jimmy Cliff Tune)
You are the natural mystic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VRGANguGQE&feature=related
Give thanks and praises!
So everybody knows that Kuri's been limping for a while and we've been trying to figure out what's been going on. A year ago, we took her to the vet and he didn't/couldn't see anything via X-rays. Now, she really favors her left front leg. So we took her back to the Vet for another X-ray. He said he thought I saw a chip in her elbow, but wasn't sure. He suspected arthritis, so as an older dog, we just dealt with it. She started getting MSM and glucosamine.
Another visit to the same vet, a specialist. He took Xrays again, and found she's got a fracture in her left leg. He suggested the radiologist for a better look and to be sure of what he now suspected.
So we went to the radiologist yesterday, and Kur dog got a CT scan. Kinda interesting, the doc bought an older technology scanner and uses it on animals now. Pretty cool....So they let me sit there while they did the scan, and then to doc showed me the results and talked me through what he saw.
Basically, Kuri has a fracture running up the inside of her "arm" at the elbow joint. Now we go back to the surgeon. More details later.
We've had such huge weather in the Cascades that it's downright dangerous. Snow, Rain, Snow, Rain. Mountain snow doesn't like huge variablity. Bummer....Oh well, I have other plans until the summer comes.
So there is a forum site http://www.advrider.com/ (adventure rider) that has all these bozo talking about their adventure motorcycles. Bimmers, Pumpkins, Jap Bikes, and everything in between. Well I've been toying with the idea of a dirt capable motorcycle. There are so many nice logging and forest and fire roads here. Sure would be fun.
I've been trying to decide what kind of motorcycle I want, but there is so much to choose from. I eventually came to the conclusion I want a Mcycle that is trail capable, but that I can ride on public roads to get to where I'm going.
I want something powerful, but not ridiculous. Plus, like the Ducati, it has to be unique and different. Lastly, it has to be a good deal. Not spending a fortune, certainly not on a motorcycle that is gonna get bounced off a tree or two.
I've been thinking about another motorcycle. This time, I want a dirt bike. Well I guess now they are called a "dual sport." In the olden days, we knew them as enduros.
Let's see what happens....
I got nothing to report. Fabien and Michelle did a "blog tag" thing but they are the only two people I know who actually HAVE a blog, so I would just tag them back, and where is the fun in that?
Oh I did buy a new truck. Care to guess which brand?
Got the bed sprayed.
Got the canopy, to protect my stuff.
First is a 2.5 inch lift kit.
Then new wheels.
Then some knarly tires.
Then the nerf bars.
Then the bumper.
Last the lights.
Skeet
