Hawt Dawg - what a wonderful day. Even if it was rainy. Never got around to mowing the lawn - too rainy, but did manage to go on a bike ride...just a tiny one - all 86 miles (138 kilometers). It was a rainy solitudial ride - sorta a blur. I think what I can expect next weekend. I am physically burnt - but happy.
Came home and did domestic crap - vacuumed my car and stuff around the house, ran a few errands. The sun finally popped out. Made a single large batch of gaspacho from some tomatos from the garden. Watched "Rear Window" on cable - forgot how cool that movie is. Life is Good.
Came home and did domestic crap - vacuumed my car and stuff around the house, ran a few errands. The sun finally popped out. Made a single large batch of gaspacho from some tomatos from the garden. Watched "Rear Window" on cable - forgot how cool that movie is. Life is Good.
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Sweet confettie I'm looking for a savior... Woweeeewow-wow-wow! what a busy day. Where to begin. Welp - this morning I had an interview for a new job - went well (crosses fingers). Went to the office - was wickedly busy until about 6pm, finished a huge proposal and project simultaneously. Nothing like writing a proposal while programming flash animations - it was wild (they gonna miss me - boo fuckin hoo). Left the office and biked 41 miles - it was unbelievably hot and humid, then while cruising thru Reston - it decides to rain. One of those quick fast harsh summer storms - came and left. I was doused - but shrugged it off finishing my ride. Got back to the car, dried off, changed clothes, dried off bike and headed to the Performance store in Vienna where I had arranged to order my new bottom bracket and to have it replaced so I can finally stop complaining about the fricken crick crick crick.
That was a fun trip - in that what was supposed to be a less than invasive bike part change with an adjustment turned into a full hour and 10 minutes of mechanical complexity and a new crankset. Long story short (and $130), it seems that the crappy factory installed bottom bracket on the bike was not compatable with much except the crappy crankset (both of which I was planning on "upgrading" to at a later date). That date was today - so now, my bike is "full Ultegra" (very happy with - and got a steal on the components). I picked up a featherweight rain cover and some defeet socks while waiting.
Came home and had a ton of chores to do. Cleaned bike, chain, lubed, the whole deal - tomorrow I'm going on a 85 miler in preparation for next weekend's 100 miler Century. Quickly snarfed down some dinner hand washed my bike jerseys and shorts to hang dry, then went out into the garden and picked a full Hefty bag full of basil to make fresh homemade pesto. For the past 2 hours I've been blasting Buena Vista Social Club music while making pesto - two huge quart batches. The place smells yummy.
That was a fun trip - in that what was supposed to be a less than invasive bike part change with an adjustment turned into a full hour and 10 minutes of mechanical complexity and a new crankset. Long story short (and $130), it seems that the crappy factory installed bottom bracket on the bike was not compatable with much except the crappy crankset (both of which I was planning on "upgrading" to at a later date). That date was today - so now, my bike is "full Ultegra" (very happy with - and got a steal on the components). I picked up a featherweight rain cover and some defeet socks while waiting.
Came home and had a ton of chores to do. Cleaned bike, chain, lubed, the whole deal - tomorrow I'm going on a 85 miler in preparation for next weekend's 100 miler Century. Quickly snarfed down some dinner hand washed my bike jerseys and shorts to hang dry, then went out into the garden and picked a full Hefty bag full of basil to make fresh homemade pesto. For the past 2 hours I've been blasting Buena Vista Social Club music while making pesto - two huge quart batches. The place smells yummy.
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Yet another day of denial of the asshole attack my boss performed to the staff on Monday - oh well....guess this is like certain things - just go with the flow and pretend it never happened. Work was busy - very busy, but made the day pass quicker. Went out on a really hot and humid ride tonight after work, a mere 42 miles - this time with the Reston Club. Gusts going out and sailing coming back. I wasn't exhausted when I got back - but I was thinking that I would have done less than half of the Century on the 29th - without the huge "widow maker" hills. When I got home, unsure what inspired me - what the hell was I thinking, I laced up my old running shoes and took a run. WTF...i hate running. Never liked it - always gave me shin splints. I tried out for X Country running in high school - but I dropped out because I hated running (shin splints) and I was also on the soccer team. I only ran 2 miles. Not bad for the first time in many years. I may do this again.
I think I've decided to just bite the bullet and get the new bottom bracket for my bike - the crick crick crick is just driving me crazy - it's one thing to have biking as a mechanism of therapy and a means to releive stress, it's another thing when a stupid litle crick crick crick issue on my new bike ruins the experience. I'll pick up the bottom bracket at Performance tomorrow night after my ride (they stay open til 9pm) and then take it to Buckey the mechanic to install it Saturday morn/afternoon before my ride. Cool thing about Performance Bikes if yer a member - you get a certain number of $10 gift certificates per month based on yer spending. So I got 4 of them this month - basically covers the cost of the low end bottom brackets - so if I get the high end bottom bracket I'd only have to pay $40..and maybe $10 labor - with Buckey.
To go off topic about my silly biking obsession, there is some spectacular heat lightning tonight - just sat out on the porch and watched it for a half an hour while swilling a really sweaty cold beer. Ahhh...summer. Next task at hand (besides getting a new job, new apartment - that prospect is still happening, job interview tomorrow morn and apartment open houses on Sunday), I need to start looking for a new car - the warranty on it runs out this February (cannot beleive that I've had it this long...yet time flys). Unsure if I will stick with VW - may venture into the Rav-V small SUV type car - mostly because I need something to haul my bike comfortably. Roof rack for the bike is out of the question. I bike daily, and to keep the bike exposed to the elements while I'm at work pains me - not to mention theft (even though they sell locks for the racks). I used to have a bike rack when I was in grad school - a sweet Yakima rack with locks...the only problem is that you cannot take your car through one of the fancy brushless car washes with them. Oh crap - got back on the circumventulary cycle of talking about biking.
I think I've decided to just bite the bullet and get the new bottom bracket for my bike - the crick crick crick is just driving me crazy - it's one thing to have biking as a mechanism of therapy and a means to releive stress, it's another thing when a stupid litle crick crick crick issue on my new bike ruins the experience. I'll pick up the bottom bracket at Performance tomorrow night after my ride (they stay open til 9pm) and then take it to Buckey the mechanic to install it Saturday morn/afternoon before my ride. Cool thing about Performance Bikes if yer a member - you get a certain number of $10 gift certificates per month based on yer spending. So I got 4 of them this month - basically covers the cost of the low end bottom brackets - so if I get the high end bottom bracket I'd only have to pay $40..and maybe $10 labor - with Buckey.
To go off topic about my silly biking obsession, there is some spectacular heat lightning tonight - just sat out on the porch and watched it for a half an hour while swilling a really sweaty cold beer. Ahhh...summer. Next task at hand (besides getting a new job, new apartment - that prospect is still happening, job interview tomorrow morn and apartment open houses on Sunday), I need to start looking for a new car - the warranty on it runs out this February (cannot beleive that I've had it this long...yet time flys). Unsure if I will stick with VW - may venture into the Rav-V small SUV type car - mostly because I need something to haul my bike comfortably. Roof rack for the bike is out of the question. I bike daily, and to keep the bike exposed to the elements while I'm at work pains me - not to mention theft (even though they sell locks for the racks). I used to have a bike rack when I was in grad school - a sweet Yakima rack with locks...the only problem is that you cannot take your car through one of the fancy brushless car washes with them. Oh crap - got back on the circumventulary cycle of talking about biking.
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Another day of bipolar asshole boss ignoring his psychotic episode on Monday - so the day rolled along...was busy. Was ready to bike the evening, but hesitant - was hot and humid as hell. I should not have said yesterday that this summer has been mild. Standard 41 miler. Only real highlight was on the way back - I had a huge scare. Usually when I bike from Sterling to East Falls Church - on the way back I stop in Vienna at the community center they have a nice bathroom water fountain and a place to refill my water bottles. In this process, I lean my bike against the glass facing the security desk - giving people the impression that it is being watched as I head to the bathroom for a minute (I don't carry a lock - too heavy). But just out of precaution - I take my car keys out of my tiny rear bag (also containing my cell phone, wallet, tire patches, mini-tool) and put them into the rear pocket of my bike jersey. When I come back - I judiciously remember to put my car keys back into the satchel and zip it up for the trek back. Welp. I guess I forgot. And I didn't remember until after about 8 miles or so back when I went to bunny hop over a bridge bump and felt the keys still in my bike jersey - I was like..."OH SHIT! - my satchel is open...and my wallet, phone, et al have all been distributed over 8 or so miles..."
I was going about 23 mph and did a quick reach around to touch my bag (that did not sound right)....you get the idea....unfortunately, the bag was open but fortunately, the phone and wallet were still there.... Phew!
Will be biking tomorrow night with the Reston Bike Club - prolly a fast 45 miler. My training partner will join us. The club needs more women.
I was going about 23 mph and did a quick reach around to touch my bag (that did not sound right)....you get the idea....unfortunately, the bag was open but fortunately, the phone and wallet were still there.... Phew!
Will be biking tomorrow night with the Reston Bike Club - prolly a fast 45 miler. My training partner will join us. The club needs more women.
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What a strangely inspiring day. I went into the office this morning early to expect the worse - another bipolar episodic meltdown - another irrational unprofessional debauchery of patronization. I was prepared to be fired for just having my hair combed the wrong way. The most bizarre thing happened after yesterday's weirdness - nothing. PURE NOTHING. Asshole bipolar boss came in while we were having out morning meeting - he just went into his office. Then later he came by my office and asked - "so what's going on? Everything cool?" I said, yea. Then he left and he milled around all day doing whatevva he does until about 5pm when I needed to give him a status on some projects. He was calm cool and collected. How fucked up. It was as if yesterday never happened.
Anyhoo. After work, went on a 42 miler - beautiful weather. More crick crick crick - trying to ignore it until it goes away - or I go crazy. Was thinking tonight that it's still strange that it has not gone over 95 degrees that much this summer...actually GLAD that it hasn't. I cross my fingers - will die if I do the Reston Century in that kinda heat - anything over 90 degrees in the sun hard core working out for 6 hours straight. Speaking of which, the Reston Century ride packet came in the mail today (hence the #431 and the map - both clickable to enlarge to full size into an open window). I was looking at the map - holy shit. Those are not "rolling hills"...those are fucking Appalachan Mountains on the border of West Virginia. There's Round Hill Mt. at 946 feet, Short Hill Mt - 1380 feet, and later to Furnhale Mt at 891 feet then Bald Mountain at 770 feet. I'm so fricken nervous and excited. This is gonna be wild.
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Stomp on a donkey and hope for guacomole flavored toothpaste! What a shitty day. I mean, what an interesting day.
I show up at work this morning and a short while later my asshole boss comes in late and all assholish - I knew it was gonna be a bad day when said asshole called everyone to get into his fucking office. We all sheepishly yet quickly all filed into his office all wondering what lit his short fuse. For a full 40 minutes, he sat at his desk and berrated and yelled, overpatronizingly yalped half delusional and paranoic accusations and blamed everyone for being the company's failure and that we are all replaceable. He went on to mention that he is forgetable not stupid - it may be his medication. He then blurted a whole sleu of swear words and just took a shit on the negative level of morale that existed in the office. A few co-workers began to cry. He then told us to "just leave - you are all excused, I don't want to see any of you until tomorrow" We were all a little upset, confused - but in truth...confirmed that this man is nuts - completely snapped...bipolar.
I sequestered one of my close co-workers to go out somewhere to talk about this...and to figure out a strategy. We drove out to an empty parking lot and just vented for about an hour - and both agreed that this has gone beyond any level of abuse - and I admitted (ironically) that I was just starting to look for a new job....strike three. She (who has been with the company for 3.5 years) said that based on today and some past episodes and what not that she "doesn't need this shit". So we are both looking for a job - and will wait out this wierdness of this asshole boss. Interestingly enough, it was just last night when I admitted to my parents how unhappy I was at this job and I was going to throttle my engines to make the search more aggressive. They agreed - and so today when I explained what happened - it was received with no suprize - blessing in disguise they reiterated.
Anyhoo, so after my co-worker and I left - had our "talk", I dropped my bike off with "Bucky" my bike mechanic...for him to look at the "crick crick crick" problem - he said that he'd be able to take care of it before the afternoon. I came home, got online, updated my resume and info on washingtonpost.com did a variable search for jobs - found 8 different jobs within the area for Senior Art Director/Developer and Senior User Interface Designer positions - collated my resume package and sent them all out within an hour. I figure that I'll spend the rest of my sick days and vacation time before the end of the next 3-4 weeks going to interviews. Waste not - want not. "Bucky" called about 4:00pm to say that he thinks he isolated the problem - the bottom bracket. Well, a little part of my faith in Bucky died when he said that he could not fix it - unless I got a new bottom bracket (a bottom bracket for you non bicycle types is the series of bearings that are in the crotch of your bike frame where the pedals spin) - $50-60 bucks a pop and $10 labor. Then he winked at me and said, "ya know scott - I'd just recommend to get a cheap MP3 player" I laffed. Told hom that I'd wait on replacing the bottom bracket - heck the bike is less than a month old and i already have over 750 miles on it. I'm gonna contact Windsor bikes or Bikesdirect and see if the bottom bracket is under warranty.
After dissappointingly picking up my bike - I went to Vienna for a quick 43 miler towards Hamilton and back. It was a beautiful ride despite the crick crick crick for every fricken pedal stroke. The only two highlights of the ride was 1) this man who was walking his huge teenaged golden retreiver which got all hyper at the sight of these Canadian geese in a retaining pond...he was being held back until the leash broke...this dog went wild...sprinted after a flock of about 50 geese wading in this retaining pond...the dog managed to grab one of them. It was quite a sight. 2) on the way back to Vienna, I heard this woman on a carbon fiber Lemond bike passing me going in the opposite direction say quietly (but loud enough for me to hear) "hey baby, nice buns". Made my day. I laffed all the way home.
I show up at work this morning and a short while later my asshole boss comes in late and all assholish - I knew it was gonna be a bad day when said asshole called everyone to get into his fucking office. We all sheepishly yet quickly all filed into his office all wondering what lit his short fuse. For a full 40 minutes, he sat at his desk and berrated and yelled, overpatronizingly yalped half delusional and paranoic accusations and blamed everyone for being the company's failure and that we are all replaceable. He went on to mention that he is forgetable not stupid - it may be his medication. He then blurted a whole sleu of swear words and just took a shit on the negative level of morale that existed in the office. A few co-workers began to cry. He then told us to "just leave - you are all excused, I don't want to see any of you until tomorrow" We were all a little upset, confused - but in truth...confirmed that this man is nuts - completely snapped...bipolar.
I sequestered one of my close co-workers to go out somewhere to talk about this...and to figure out a strategy. We drove out to an empty parking lot and just vented for about an hour - and both agreed that this has gone beyond any level of abuse - and I admitted (ironically) that I was just starting to look for a new job....strike three. She (who has been with the company for 3.5 years) said that based on today and some past episodes and what not that she "doesn't need this shit". So we are both looking for a job - and will wait out this wierdness of this asshole boss. Interestingly enough, it was just last night when I admitted to my parents how unhappy I was at this job and I was going to throttle my engines to make the search more aggressive. They agreed - and so today when I explained what happened - it was received with no suprize - blessing in disguise they reiterated.
Anyhoo, so after my co-worker and I left - had our "talk", I dropped my bike off with "Bucky" my bike mechanic...for him to look at the "crick crick crick" problem - he said that he'd be able to take care of it before the afternoon. I came home, got online, updated my resume and info on washingtonpost.com did a variable search for jobs - found 8 different jobs within the area for Senior Art Director/Developer and Senior User Interface Designer positions - collated my resume package and sent them all out within an hour. I figure that I'll spend the rest of my sick days and vacation time before the end of the next 3-4 weeks going to interviews. Waste not - want not. "Bucky" called about 4:00pm to say that he thinks he isolated the problem - the bottom bracket. Well, a little part of my faith in Bucky died when he said that he could not fix it - unless I got a new bottom bracket (a bottom bracket for you non bicycle types is the series of bearings that are in the crotch of your bike frame where the pedals spin) - $50-60 bucks a pop and $10 labor. Then he winked at me and said, "ya know scott - I'd just recommend to get a cheap MP3 player" I laffed. Told hom that I'd wait on replacing the bottom bracket - heck the bike is less than a month old and i already have over 750 miles on it. I'm gonna contact Windsor bikes or Bikesdirect and see if the bottom bracket is under warranty.
After dissappointingly picking up my bike - I went to Vienna for a quick 43 miler towards Hamilton and back. It was a beautiful ride despite the crick crick crick for every fricken pedal stroke. The only two highlights of the ride was 1) this man who was walking his huge teenaged golden retreiver which got all hyper at the sight of these Canadian geese in a retaining pond...he was being held back until the leash broke...this dog went wild...sprinted after a flock of about 50 geese wading in this retaining pond...the dog managed to grab one of them. It was quite a sight. 2) on the way back to Vienna, I heard this woman on a carbon fiber Lemond bike passing me going in the opposite direction say quietly (but loud enough for me to hear) "hey baby, nice buns". Made my day. I laffed all the way home.
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Sniffs my fingers...they smell like rosemary, thyme, celery, garlic, with a hint of hand soap..I musta washed off all the other smells. I was cooking tonight, well, twice. First time was after my very short 35 mile bike ride (woke up completely sore from yesterday's 63 mile ride) - I came home and grilled Filet Mignon, with some Marsala infused mushrooms & vedallia onions, garlic & rosemary & thyme herbed new potatos, and baby spinach salad with grilled shitake mushrooms, pine nuts and a rasberry ginger vinegrette dressing.....oh SOOOO good. After dinner I ended up making two large batches of gaspacho - almost 1.5 gallons. 1/2 to chill and serve...the other half to freeze for later.
A little upset about my new bike. Oh the drama! (har har). I get this really annoying crick crick crick sound while I'm biking for the past 3 days. I thought maybe that I needed to relube the pedals and whatnot. Unsure if it was coming from the bottom bracket...or even the headset. Last night - I regreased the pedals and such - but today on the ride...crick crick crick on every pedal stroke...it's soo annoying. So I took it to my bike mechanic - These guys know me by now - not as a tool - but as a loyal customer...and they like to slobber over my bike. Unfortunately, "Buckey" the Master Bike Mechanic was not there - these other younger mechanics were like - well...let's give it a looksee...maybe it's something simple. An hour and a half later of then taking the pedals off, regreasing everything, honing bearings, aligning crankshaft pinions, dropping bottom-bracket tension torque, the whole nine yards (and test driving the bike to diagnose the ill). This was all at near the close of business on a Sunday - 6pm these guys are out of there. I do NOT blame them. I was more than grateful for the time they spent trying to fix the crick crick crick.... "It it's more likely that it's a frame adjustment detail and Buckey needs to spend some time with it" - as the junior mechanic explained "he's gonna have to use this sonic thing to isolate the problem.." I was like fine...thanks for yer help...I'll be back on thurs when it's raining...how much do I owe ya? He said, "nothing Scott - Buckey will take care of ya, see ya on the trail dude!"
I'll take the bike in on Thursday (will rain), "Buckey" will hook me up with solitude of uncrickness.
A little upset about my new bike. Oh the drama! (har har). I get this really annoying crick crick crick sound while I'm biking for the past 3 days. I thought maybe that I needed to relube the pedals and whatnot. Unsure if it was coming from the bottom bracket...or even the headset. Last night - I regreased the pedals and such - but today on the ride...crick crick crick on every pedal stroke...it's soo annoying. So I took it to my bike mechanic - These guys know me by now - not as a tool - but as a loyal customer...and they like to slobber over my bike. Unfortunately, "Buckey" the Master Bike Mechanic was not there - these other younger mechanics were like - well...let's give it a looksee...maybe it's something simple. An hour and a half later of then taking the pedals off, regreasing everything, honing bearings, aligning crankshaft pinions, dropping bottom-bracket tension torque, the whole nine yards (and test driving the bike to diagnose the ill). This was all at near the close of business on a Sunday - 6pm these guys are out of there. I do NOT blame them. I was more than grateful for the time they spent trying to fix the crick crick crick.... "It it's more likely that it's a frame adjustment detail and Buckey needs to spend some time with it" - as the junior mechanic explained "he's gonna have to use this sonic thing to isolate the problem.." I was like fine...thanks for yer help...I'll be back on thurs when it's raining...how much do I owe ya? He said, "nothing Scott - Buckey will take care of ya, see ya on the trail dude!"
I'll take the bike in on Thursday (will rain), "Buckey" will hook me up with solitude of uncrickness.
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(Under development, I'm bashful)