Brrrr! This cold snap is nuts. Woke up super early and farted around procrastinating to get out there on a frosty morning to bike out to Hillsboro. I reluctantly suited up in full winter regalia and made my way out to get my bike out of the car. I was almost frozen by the time I assembled my bike. But I'm a glutton for punishment - I went ahead and cracked a few bags of hand warmers and put them in my pockets for the morning. It was a rather uneventful ride - crisp and frosty. I hit Purcellville and was already a little frozen - frozen hot dog legs and fish stick fingers. I turned around before Hillsboro to head back home. I had a nice tailwind which made the frosty air bearable.

Got home in record time and spent the afternoon thawing out. Very sleepy, I took a late day nap in front of crappy tv. But relaxed. Feels more like January than November. Woke up and ran to the store to get a few provisions to make some Creme Brulee (haven't made it - just preparing to). Will spend the rest of what's left of the evening relaxing, wrapping xmess presents, and cooking.

Life is good!

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What a day, what a day. At least it's Friday. And a very cold Friday to say the least. It never got above 40 degrees. Work was a rollercoaster ride chock full o' drama - but I soldiered thru the mess. Seems like good news is always equal to bad news in that environment. The uncertainty of things just stresses me out.

Good thing it's Friday and I have the opportunity to relax for the weekend. My goal is to finish all my Xmess shopping before Thanksgiving. I made a major dent on this this evening after a very frigid and dark training ride (a mere 28 miles). World Market, Dicks Sporting Goods, Scan Furniture, Target, Home Goods were my walking grounds to suck my wallet dry.

For pure masochistic effect, I stopped by Costco for a finale which raped my wallet. Came home, took me forever to unload the car and launch into a leisurely evening of pure domesticity - unpacked the coffers of the capitalistic exchange and checked off my xmess shopping list.

Now I can finally relax, horked down some chicken and made some spinach - cracked open a beer and ready for the weekend.

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It's now officially Winter I think. Still considered Fall, not even Thanksgiving (next week) yet - but the temperature dramatically dropped. I bundled up this morning and headed into the office which turned into a relatively casual day - about mid-morning, the office main pipe to the internet went out (an east coast problem)...so there was not much to do than carry out some infrastructure planning.

I was almost dreading my training ride, since the temperature dramatically dropped. When I left the office, it was 39 degrees with a wind chill, the index made it feel like 21 degrees. I suited up, but realized that I was missing my balacava and my full neoprene booties. I knew it would be a quick ride. I headed out and only got to the border of Leesburg and I was completely frozen. I warmed up my hands and headed back. It was a very lonely frigid ride - I did not see one person out there running nor cycling. I must be a freak. Miserable total of 26 miles.

Came back and started my car to warm up as I changed and loaded bike et al into car. Then headed out to the cell phone store - I was in a bad need to upgrade my old cell phone. It kept a shitty charge of about 30 minutes, and the reception was horrible. SO I thought, if I'm gonna get a new cell phone, why not get a really cool one with most of the bells n whistles. Paramount to this was also size, it had to be thin and lightweight. So I got me a Motorola Razor (pictured). It has too many bells n whistles tho - everything from Bluetooth, to video capture, reg digital camera, voice activation. Best part is the size and the talk time/battery - a solid 7 hours.

Came home and spent an hour programming it for basic functions, reg phone #s and set up voice mail. Note to self: need to get holster/case, car charger & earbud set.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

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What a sleepy day - it rained all day. Temperature dropped, and made for good soup weather. I had a bunch of business to take care of this morning before I headed into the office - turned into a less than dramatic day, yet became productive.

I decided last minute before the end of work that I was going to forego my training ride - the weather was still nasty, cold and raining hard. I don't need to get sick. Then I thought, what the hell...I can go to the gym and workout on the spinner machines...then I said...fuck it. I can spare one day of not training. SO I went xmess shopping and a few more errands. Even managed to get to the bank and finally have my address changed and order new checks.

Came home and hauled my xmess shopping coffers up the steps, stopped by my mailbox and found a great gift a good friend sent me - Pepper spray. I've had difficulty buying some here because they don't sell it. I need it for personal safety when I bike - not only for the recent MS-13 crap lately that's been goin down. But also for all the damn dog attacks I get when I'm out there (I'd use it as a last resort). Thanks Kari for sending me da goods!

In for the night, eating soup and watching tv and unpacking my coffers to prepare to wrap for xmess.

I did manage to re-skin my cookblog, it was hacked a few weeks ago and the format got all fucked up, so I created a new look - will still work on it, but it's completely functional, et al:

http://kneesandbees.blogspot.com/

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Yawns. I've been perpetually tired all week. I was sleepy all day at work, and the mid morning rain didn't help. But I managed to slog thru the day.

The weather was just outstanding in the afternoon, warmed up. I went on a fantastic ride out towards Purcellville - only went as far as to the other side of Hamilton, and had an uneventful, albeit very cool (not chilly) ride back - dodging deer, rabbits and 2 foxes. 38 miles total.

Ran a few errands before coming home. Domestic duties and a little tv time. Oh so tired.

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Welp. Long ass day. Work was horrible - typical drama filled Monday. But life moves on. I managed to get thru the day without pulling all my hair out (good thing I've recently grown a goatee...more hair to pull).

photo by d. scott gregory 13,031 miles, Nov 13th, 2005 click on photo to enlarge

Went for a very nice training ride out to Hamilton and back, a mere wimpy 38 miles. But I had to head back and shower and go out on a quick innocent date. Seems that coffee is just coffee these days.

I have to now change my Tuesday and Thursday training rides out towards Shirlington...because it traverses thru MS-13 Gang country...Herndon/Reston area. Seems that last night @ 7pm there were two stabbings on the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in Reston - from what I gather....two innocent bystanders. I bike thru there those nights...and at about that time. I can for one say that I'm not going to travel thru there. I will now be doing a new route on Tues & Thurs around Ashburn and into Lansdowne.

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The best xmess shopping gift I selfishly got for myself, was a pack of Thank You cards. That best describes my day today.

photo by d. scott gregory Formatting cookbook fiasco click on photo to enlarge

I woke up late, after a nice snooze - I was up late trying to finish the print format sequence of my cookbook (pictured) - phew...all done. Managed to print a first edition.

The weather was fantastic - I took a leisurely training ride out to West Virginia - came home, enjoying the smells of fall...burning leaves, crisp fall air, totalling 54 miles.

Came home and took a shower, then headed out to visit my parents for a nice dinner. We had an early dinner....steak on the grill with marsala onions & baby portabellas, sweet potatos....salad. Yum. Always great to see my parents, they are cute - I love them very much. Drove home with my moon roof open and leather jacket on - very Fall.

Came home to relax and get a few things done and prepare for a very stressfull week ahead...Sunday night anxiety settles in.

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