speedy weekend

I (David) have finally decided to use my calendar book again. I have too much academic work to do to ration work out by memory. I have to divide the work out so that something gets done every day. It should be interesting to see how this process works compared to my usual procrastination style. On Thursday I had filled out the calendar for the next month and a half. Already I am behind.

Friday, after a quick nap, I ran some errands. I had forgotten to deposit my paycheck after work, so I had to go back for that one. Then it was off to the tailor to pick up my union made clothes. I highly recommend my tailor to anyone who needs some work done. She used to work in Greece, tailoring designer suits for fashionable Europeans. Let me know if you need contact information for her. So then I went home to prepare for the evening’s critical mass. I found that I enjoy riding in rush hour traffic. On the way to Loring Park, I not only passed the route 16 bus on University Avenue, but I lapped it twice. I also managed to keep pace with car traffic from Dale to Raymond. All this while riding an extremely untrue rear wheel. It was a great day outside until I got there. Once the mass started moving it began to rain. I had brought my fenderless bike. I cut out a little early and headed home, I wanted to save my energy for Saturday’s ride. Heather and I decided to go to bed early, as Heather had to work early the next morning, and I hadn’t gotten enough sleep yet.

Saturday morning was productive on the bike front. I brought the Mongoose and the giant blue Raleigh to the Depot, along with a couple of rear wheels. The Mongoose was swapped out for the Schwinn Traveler I was eyeballing last week. Now I just need to build up wheels for it and find a crank set / 42t sprocket that will go with the coaster brake hub. My orange Schwinn had a flat rear tire, so while changing it, I thought I’d bring the wheel in to true. It turns out that this wheel, which I built myself over a year ago, was not only perfectly true, but it was still tight on both sides. This was not the case with the fenderless bike's rear wheel. It needed a lot of work. The giant blue Raleigh needed a bit of work too. Unfortunately it is so old and decrepit that it will always need a bit of work. But at least it is rideable now, just in case I need a fast bike with fenders someday.

The Saturday night ride was great, despite the fact that we headed west. In getting to the ride, I didn't lap the route 16. In fact, it passed me by the capitol building. We played leap frog all the way to Raymond Avenue. But from there the bus kicked into high gear and was gone. I followed the group ride out to Kenwood or St. Louis Park (or somewhere out there) where we crashed a party hosted by one of Gwen's friends. It was at the party that I realized that I hadn't taken a photo yet, so I made a pathetic attempt. The party was a fun group of character costumes. Though none of the riders were in costume, I somehow managed to get accused of going as a "lighthouse keeper". Apparently my fashion sense is a little dated.

Anyway, now it is Sunday. As I write this, the Nascar pre-race show is just starting. So the race will be taking up a chunk of the afternoon. Then we will be getting ready for a party this evening. I would write more about it, but it is hush hush at the moment. So I'll have to update you on it later.

That bud is not for me.

I’m getting sick of all these beer commercials. Normally I wouldn’t mind it, but I only ever see two brands of beer being advertised; Bud, and Miller. If I go to the liquor there are a buh-zillion other choices, almost all of them better. Why would I want to buy a crappy beer like Bud or Miller. Sure, every once in a while a Coors commercial will come along, but it’s the same damn crap beer. I haven’t seen a commercial for beers like PBR or Hamms since I was a child, and back then I didn’t care about beer. And you can forget about commercials for good tasting, trustworthy, local brews like Summit. The best beers like that can’t afford to run campaigns in competition with the corporate giants. But what annoys me more than the commercials, is that people fall for their campaign gimmicks, and even though their choices are crap beer or crap beer, they are still duped into believing that there are no other choices out there. Some people even know it is a crap beer, and that there are other choices, but they will still buy it because they think it will dethrone the invented title (the king of beers) of the other brand.

I am David, and I approve of this message. (This message is not necessarily the belief of both participants of this blog.)

Hot pants

This weekend was dedicated to getting things done. Friday I (David) dove in to bike projects. Failing to find a suitable frame for winter riding, I decided to sacrifice my blue Raleigh for the single speed conversion. So I went down to the depot to order all the necessary bits. When I went back on Saturday to drop off two Sun tour 36-spoke hole coaster brake hubs as payment for a wheel that I picked up, I saw the perfect Schwinn frame that I had somehow previously overlooked. Unfortunately it is already owned. However, DT-Dave is going to talk to the owner to see if he would be willing to accept my Mongoose MTB (last year’s winter bike) in exchange for this one. Let’s hope it works out. I also started on building Heather’s road bike. The key challenge there is finding STI shifters that are compatible with a Shimano Nexus 4-speed.

In between visits to the Depot, Saturday morning entailed a couple of other highlights. First of which was Andy and I going up to Wyoming to visit the Union House mentioned in one of the last entries of our old blog (sorry, this is one of the few entries that disappeared when mblog perished). We went there so I could pick up the shoes (<-- great site) and pants I had ordered, and so that Andy could look around and make a few purchases. After returning from Wyoming, I was loading up a bike to take to the depot, when I heard fire trucks turning down my street. As it turns out, they went to the same property where they were in July. This time however, I didn’t see Tomo. So first it was the owner’s garage, 3 months later, the owner’s house. I’m really curious what this owner’s insurance situation is like. Perhaps I’ll knock on his or her door when I start my block club campaign (assuming there is still a door to knock on).

Saturday night, Heather and I went to mom's (Jan's) house to move a matress and fix a computer. Sunday, apart form chores and Nascar, was uneventful. Today’s events involve dropping the car tire (that went flat on my way to work this morning) off at the service station to get patched, grabbing a beer with Andy while I wait for the tire to get fixed, and then stopping by the tailor to have my new clothes from Wyoming custom fitted.

For those seeking an update on Heather, she has been spending most of her time working her various jobs; pausing every once in a while for a quick nap. And for friends and family who are wondering why this entry includes a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo about bikes… well, I’ve become aware that a lot of the readers of the blog are coming from bike related sites, so I felt obligated to throw those folks a bone.

Could I interest you in a wafer thin mint Mr. Caruso?

We’ve become fair weather fans of the CSI shows. I (David) have always been a fan of cop shows. And since TV has otherwise taken a turn for the crappier (way too much reality TV), it only makes sense to watch CSI. But awhile ago I began to wonder if there was some other, more subliminal, reason I was drawn to the show (that is, at least to the Miami show, my favorite of the three). This season, it became obvious what that was. Especially after Heather mentioned a drinking game that involved David Caruso’s sunglasses. David Caruso is a TV reincarnation of Jack Lord. It all makes sense now. Testing this theory, I did a google search. I wanted to find some hilarious compare/contrast page which I could link to from here. But it would seem that I am almost entirely alone with this perspective. And since I am no acting critic, I don’t have the expertise to drone on and on about it. The least I could do though, is leave you with the pictures and your memories form the two shows so as to draw your own conclusions. Think about it.

Book’em Adam-o

“With hand grip only…” -Beowulf

We’ve been keeping busy. Fortunately, despite the loss of our blog space, the majority of our busyness hasn’t been very noteworthy. Apart from work, class, conferences, and other such activities, most of our past few weeks have been spent on things like winterizing windows, ‘grappling’ with the furnace, raking, putting the garden to bed, attending a couple of Saturday rides, going to the Sogn Valley craft fair, and worrying about Dad (David). Heather had a birthday in there somewhere, but that day itself wasn’t all that thrilling. We did, however, celebrate the birthday that weekend at Benihana’s. I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure that amongst the tapping & spinning spatulas and frying foods, I could hear somewhere in the background an accented voice saying “tasty fish, tasty fish, poison fish.”

Look ma, no hands!

Welcome back to Heather and David’s web log. As you may have noticed, we aren’t available at mblog.com anymore. Apparently the creators of that service were conducting some shady business practices and so the plug got pulled. But all has not been lost. We found a new home here. And thanks to the kind folks at 2and2, we will likely have all of our old blog materials available for your viewing before you even read this. Those materials will be available in the sidebar on the right. You might also have noticed that there is an extra ‘d’ in the address of this new blog. It seems that someone on this service already has used “hands”, so we’ve been forced to choose a less punny name. Anyway, we’ll be collecting old materials and new thoughts so as to restore and continue with our blog updates. So check back often.