Radio Shack Kicks Ass Again

I just can't say enough good things about Radio Shack. Kath and I bought matching cel phones a few weeks ago and mine already developed a problem with the earphone/speaker thing. Ofcourse, we didn't get the protection plan or anything, and we already threw away the boxes and packaging.

So I called the store today and the manager says he remembered us coming in on our bikes and remembers that I got the black phone and she got the white one. When I show up at the store, he takes a new phone in the box out of the cabinet, gives me the phone, puts my faulty phone in the box and sends it back to the manufacturer. Slick.

And before I left, he gave me 10% off this already on sale bluetooth headset. It's like the Cadillac of headsets. I feel more popular already.

Space Needle

I came across this image by accident - cool, huh? Take a look.

Cat Camping

Mojo is such a cool cat.



We took our little friend camping this weekend up at Index. This was the 3rd time we've brought him camping and he LOVES it. He purrs his head off pretty much the whole time. He wore a little red flashing bike light on his collar the whole time so we could locate him easier and we did end up leaving his leash on for the most part.




He gets a little restless in the car, but it's only an hour drive. There were train tracks not too far from this site and the train went by pretty much every hour on the hour. Sometimes it freaked him out, sometimes not so much. And there were a few strangers who kinda wandered thru our site and that really freaked him out, but I have to say that it spooked me too - especially the 2 gals that stumbled thru at around 11pm.





All in all, tho, he had a great time exploring around and nibbling on some new varieties of grass blades - everthing tastes better when you're camping right?.

A Glimpse Into My World

You ever wonder what other people's jobs are like? You know where they work and you know their job title, but it's hard to know exactly what their day to day is like. This video beautifully captures a slice of my work life - especially now that I'm working with clients like Micro$oft and AT&T.

I am Peeing my Pants...

...and I'm blogging from work - that's how excited I am right now.




Pandora.com is so fucking cool. How cool is it? So cool I just typed "fucking" on my blog! I'm not even going to explain how it works to you, but if you like music then go there. Now.

Oh, big thanks to J Burke for the heads up on this one!

Tour de France

These are some great shots (click this link). I wish someone would take pictures like those of me when I'm riding my bike.

Seafair Tri II

I got an email from my mom Friday morning asking me if I was going to do the Seafair triathlon on Sunday (2 days away). I had been so preoccupied w/ work and STP training I had completely overlooked the date for this event. Plus, I had not been running since the marathon due to knee pain. So I went for a 30 minute "test run" and much to my relief... no knee pain. Well, not enough to stop me from a sprint tri.



I ended up beating my time from last year by 4 minutes, so I'm happy about that.

I don't think I would have done the tri on such short notice, but I had alluded to my cousin Michael that I was going to do it, so he had signed up and it was his first time (as an adult). He did really well for his first, beating me by 30 seconds! He's already signed up for the Black Diamond Half Ironman, so I guess I'll have to do that one too. It's on Michael. It. Is. On.

After all the competitors cleared the course, the kid's triathlon started. My nephew, Andrew, participated in that with his shiny new bike and had a good time. It was a short race (about 20 minutes) which I think both kids and their parents were happy for.

STP

This past weekend was my first STP ride. 200 miles in 2 days with the drafting help of my buddies Greg, John, and Fil. We had great weather and nobody got hurt.

We left Husk stadium along with 9500 other cyclists (not all at the same time) and before we knew it, we had covered 20 miles and it was tme for the first of many refueling stations. I was impressed with the support that was provided. Free food and bike repairs, plus cops at the potentially dangerous intersections. The whole thing was very well planned out.



We then spent the night at the college in Centralia. The tents were just packed in there with solo sleeepig bags and bikes filling in the narrow gaps between. We had showers, lasagna, a massage for me, and some beers.



All the gear is packed into these trucks and they haul your stuff to the 2 check points for you.



We had beautiful weather the whole time. Maybe even a little too hot, but I'm not complaining. Also, they queued up the bikes at the Columbia river (you can just barely see the bridge in the background below) and then they shut the bridge off to cars and let the cyclists go. It must have been 500-1000 bikes at a time and probably took a good half hour to get them all across!



By the time we hit the finish line, we were pretty brain dead. The heat and the physical exersion are a good recipe for zombies. We had showers (so important), food, and more beer, then hit the road. John's wife was kind enough to drive down and pick our sore asses up.



Many riders did the trek in just one day. Something about that is very appealing to me... maybe next year...

Mindfulness

I want to hang out with this guy. Thich Nhat Hanh.

32 Inches of Happiness

Digital happiness, that is.

Our TV blew up almost a year ago and we never bothered to replace it. Instead we made the switch to having a computer in the living room. And we were using Greg's 19CRT monitor, which worked OK, but was definetely lacking.

Last week, I recieved my first paycheck (I get paid once a month cuz it's a UK company) and we received our "economic stimulus" check (who's bright idea was this? we have $9.5 TRILLION national debt, so let's give everyone big fat checks so they can go buy stuff made in China). Anyways we went to the store and picked out this little number.





It is the Best Buy house brand, but it's one of those things where you're standing there looking at all these TVs next to eachother saying "Why is this one $300 more than than one? They all look great to me!".



So we got the cheapie. It got good review online and so far we're thrilled!

Fil's B-Day

It was Fil's birthday last Friday and I realized once again that I am definately getting older. Not cuz Fil's pushing 40, but because we are really getting sophisticated. We had this cool little wine bar reserved for our private party. It's called the Cheese Cellar.



Provided was an endless supply of free cheeses, crackers, meats, gelatos and wines. And all top notch stuff too! Big ups to Fil and Carrie for doing it up right!