Thursday, July 24, 2008

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!

Monday, July 21, 2008

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.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

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.



Tuesday, July 15, 2008

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.

Monday, July 7, 2008

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!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

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!