Community Cafe

i love spring

2009-03-19T21:02:00.001-07:00

Little Feet

2009-02-20T09:54:00.001-08:00

Not *that* Little Feet but if you'll be my dixie chicken... nevermind.

At 5am our guests are departing for the airport. I hear little 3 year old Max call out for Mommy who is downstairs. I then here the pitter patter of little feet. I think, "Oh good, Max is heading into this bedroom and will nuzzle in to sleep for a bit."

But then...

I hear "falummph, falummph, falummph, falummph ..." which I parse as him sliding down the stairs on his pajama clad bottom. I'm amused at how these sounds paint such a precise picture about what is happening. I now listen more intently because I don't know if anyone is aware of his presence and they're loading up luggage and getting ready to drive away. I wait until I hear that he has been "received."

"MAX!!!" Someone calls out, "What are you doing awake?" ... all is well and I drift back to sleep.

Frequency

2009-02-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

I'm looking at the year-to-year plummeting of new blog posts. I needed to get at least ONE post in 2009 so here it is.

Boo

Nothing going on except trying to lose the day job and replace it with something much more interesting (to me anyway)... oh and the kids are growing up.

Roaster

2008-11-13T12:09:00.001-08:00

After ~30 hours, the ~1000lb beast of a coffee roaster is on terra firma. The engineering involved in getting it from the truck into the basement involved ancient and modern technologies. It was rolled on dowels Egyptian style, it was lowered down a set of stairs through several redundant pulley systems. We converted the stairs into a slide for this purpose. We created a sled for the roaster. I got quite good at descending and ascending this rather steep wooden slide... photos to follow.

Which one?

2008-04-28T21:29:00.021-07:00

Our little Ben has decided he needs to know our opinion on every single thing. And it's always in the form of "Which one is better?"

Some examples:
"Which is your favorite car?" [referencing his obsession with the Cars movie characters]
"What do you like better, burritos or pizza?"

This is endless from when he opens his eyes at 6:40am to when he finally falls asleep at 9:06pm.

The best was, "What do you like better, the crust or the cheese?"
My response that he was having none of was this, "I like crust a little and I like cheese a little and I like sauce a little. But when you put it all together I like that way better."
"But Dad, which one do you like better?"
"I like it all Ben."
"But which one?"
... ahh kids.

soup

2008-04-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Max says, "I want to be soup." Then he grabs all the pillows and cushions from the couch, makes a huge pile and dives in. "Ben, let's be soup!" says Max.

"Time for dinner!"
"Not now... I need to be soup."

That is our lives these days.

Ben Quote for April 8, 2008

2008-04-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

"There are photos inside of my brain."

Five x Two

2008-03-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Five years, two wheels. Yesterday he could scoot, today he can ride!

I mean seriously... every description of why you want to be a dad highlights this day. Ben makes a very particular facial expression when he is proud of what he is doing. He couldn't stop making that face. His dad is also rather proud of him.

FIVE

2008-03-09T21:30:00.050-07:00

Consider five years of anything. That's more than the time between high school and wrapping up your undergraduate degree. For some people... ahem... it's enough time to move three times.

It's also enough time to go from a little 7 pound crying blob that can randomly move muscles and poop to one that can balance on two wheels and say, "Daddy, look at me go!"

The boy turns five in a few hours and as I watched him sleep, I saw a big yet small guy. On the one hand, he can fit in a paper grocery bag. On the other, he can jump from a high perch, run and play, successfully crack eggs into a bowl, tell stories with a plot and explain new and sophisticated concepts that show his depth of understanding about a million things. Just tonight he corrected himself when asking for a dinosaur where he started to say huge but replaced the word with gigantic. Understanding these two simple words isn't what excited me but instead his interest in elevating his speech with specific detail I thought was kind of cool.

The boy had his party today. A huge horde of us biked the mile to get gelato after eating homemade pizza and drinking cappuccinos and espressos. The stress of ushering half a dozen kids along Portland streets caused me to age about five years (speaking of five) just getting them there and back safely. With a bunch of parents and kids, we were our own critical mass! It actually went quite smoothly and the route was safe by all measures. He had a great time playing with his friends and I'm pretty proud of how this little soul is growing up.

He starts kindergarten in the fall.

PuvVa me

2008-03-07T19:35:00.017-08:00

Our little Max asks to be covered, ahem... puvva'd up with his blanket all the time. Often he will be taking his nap or sleeping when he will wake up and scream "Puvva ME!" and start crying. We don't always do this for him but when we do, he will nestle back in and go right back to sleep. It's very cute if it's your kid, which he is to me.

Another thing did his parents proud was when Ben was sad and crying because of his case of scarlet fever. Max was at the bookcase offering up books for Ben.
"This one Ben?"
"What about this one Ben?"
... and so on. Max was being so caring, like as if he was a parent trying to sooth his child. And this is coming from the younger of the two. Max often spontaneously asks for hugs and tells Ben that he loves him. Of course they argue over the same toys all day long but there are these moments that are pretty wonderful.

BTW, his blanket is usually quite filthy and stinky. We have to sneak it away from him and get it cycled through the wash/dry double quick. So he likes to be puvva'd with this fetid thing all the time.... eeeick.

Wumdy wumdy wump wump wump

2008-03-05T09:36:00.005-08:00

That's what Max says when he wants to slide down the stairs on his stomach. Onomotopoetically it sounds right.

Roasting

2008-03-03T08:17:00.001-08:00

I have spent over $500 of my hard earned cash to go to a real coffee roasting class way up here in Sandpoint Idaho. It starts in 43 minutes...

"Beastie Boys just turned on in my head"

2007-12-15T20:35:00.003-08:00

My boy Ben has been listening to the Beastie Boys (does a dad proud, a mom less so) and he just said the above quote as he drifted off to sleep.

Bixabody

2007-12-03T18:05:00.006-08:00

The Bixabody runs on wires. It can also roll like a train. It can roll on tracks. It moves with a big wheel to pull the wires. It makes the pinwheel. It's like a tram. It goes on a big wheel that makes the wires move. That's it.

Ben

How does the world spin?

2007-11-16T19:54:00.001-08:00

Please answer Ben because I have no idea about this one.

Here we go

2007-11-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

Ben woke up and told me to write this one
"I had a dream that a paintbrush was coming out of the sky and painting me."

Ben Quote

2007-11-14T20:26:00.006-08:00

"I can't remember any of my day" - Ben Nov 14 2007

I will be instituting a daily interview with my boy. One quote, one sentence, one line that summarizes what's on his mind. Will I stick to it? We will see.

Yellow, Orange and Red

2007-10-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

After several YEARS of wanting to do something like this, I took the MAX rail to it's westernmost stop then found my way back home on a perfect fall day. I learned a few things like Pumpkin Ridge road turns to gravel and 120PSI tires do not fare well on this particular kind of gravel. Executing plan B involved another gravel road: Dixie Mountain Road. Then plan B becomes plan C because Dixie is closed after a bit. Plan C involves road names that I forget but on that road is an amazing place to buy and see all kinds of bamboo. The route finally worked out and with tired legs I was happy to see the northernmost point of Skyline as I transitioned from gravel to pavement. Then I was treated to a nice finale bombing down Germantown and then a nip across the St John's Bridge and South until home in NE PDX. What an amazing day. All was perfect but next time I'm taking the cross bike. 60 miles in total.

Chickens on the loose

2007-10-02T20:41:00.011-07:00

It was a cold and rainy night.
The chickens were not in their coop.
Somebody had to put them in their coop
in the cold and rainy night.
This is how it went down:

Amy: Rock Charlie: Paper
Amy: Scissors Charlie: Scissors
Amy: Scissors Charlie: Scissors
Amy: Rock Charlie: Paper

Racing the Kruger Kermesse

2007-09-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Of course this post will push my previous post written just an hour prior off the page but do read it, it's interesting... really

But, here's this:
Brotha Corndog [me - how I got that nickname with my cycling team is for another day] finds fellow cyclisme riders Greg & Jeff. They're doing master B's, I'm racing the single speed class. With 15 minutes before the master B gun, I nip over to registration and give them $5 and join my peeps for the race. Two races is twice the fun right?

The Kruger Kermesse is a 4-5 minute loop of dirt that's raced for 45 minutes + 1 lap. It's relatively flat at the bucolic Kruger farm on Sauvie island near Portland.

At the start the peloton rolls in a dusty sprint. The course has room to pass along its entire length and my warm up consisted of pushing Ben around the kiddie course a few hours prior so I floated to somewhere mid pack. I could see the checkered energy ahead. I used the first lap as a warm up, staying out of the wind. After the first corner the dust has a similar effect to ultra dense fog. We're all bombing through some dusty fluffy bumpy crap and all you can do is keep the body loose and accept the brutality of the section. My strategy for the race was efficiency, staying out of the wind and jumping from group to group, picking off riders. There was also a particular rise right before a flat and then a downhill where I could gain many spots by doing a ten second out of the saddle sprint. If felt good to be hanging near some guys and then explode with power and just be gone. Some of these guys would find me on the long sustained climb but it was a good tactical move. I repeated this every lap. The downhill made for a great recovery.

Somewhere mid-race I gained on GoBrian as he was drafting a small group that was losing ground to a larger chase. I told Greg to jump on my wheel and I domestique'd his ass up to that group. I thought it was pretty cool to be able to execute some tactics on dirt. I kept my strategy of moving from group to group getting somewhere near the lead group but never in the hunt for a prize. Unknown to him, I drafted Gerwing for a few meters but faded relative to his velocity and while he was in sight for much of the time, I never passed him. All told, I think I was probably top quarter. I had fun.

I gave myself the fifteen minutes between races to decide whether I was going to roll the single speed race after such an effort. I bought a water and, with seven minutes to the start, I was mentally ready for another bit of suffering, ten minutes longer than the first race... fifty five minutes. Puke. My strategy was survival. I'm not some badass rider that should be racing two, just one that had the time and just enough insanity to give it a go. With no internal pressure to deliver, I rolled out without pre-race butterflies and just settled in and felt kinda strong. I wasn't leading but I wasn't spat out the back either. All of this changed as I read the timer at the start/finish. It read 40 remaining. It all fell apart then. I dropped the pace slightly in hopes that I wouldn't limp home fully cracked. Standing to sprint for the descent told me I was on the verge of cramping. My pace slowly degraded from that point. I've passed super slow riders wondering what they're doing in a B race or SS race and now I'm that rider. I get blasted by A's and other Single Speeders. At least the women would pass me at a civilized pace but they did pass me no doubt.

While I decidedly cratered for the second race, I'm really glad I did it. Given my work week and unrelenting family responsibilities, it was awesome to just completely drain the legs of all fuel. It turned a dark dark mood into a happy one. I have a small dream that doing the double will somehow make up for my lean training schedule.

Roasted

2007-09-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Community Cafe (aka my kitchen & espresso setup) is now roasting beans. Yes i suck at it but even my worst beans are passable in a cappuccino. I go through something like 60 lbs of coffee a year which equates to $900/year and that's just beans, not cafe drinks. This is based upon the Blue Gardenia's latest prices. While their beans are truly epic, somehow $15 didn't sit right and I cracked... twice [ultra geeky insider roasting joke]. I've threatened (in my own head) to really roast full time for my own consumption but I'm now all in. Buying green beans and roasting those is 1/3 the cost so even if I didn't enjoy the process, there would be motivation with that stat.

Just because I'm a slave to fashion, I even bought a burlap bag to store the bigger 20 lb bags. I like the smell. My strategery [sic] is to get a volume of beans from a particular region and then play with the roast until I have something pretty good. I then move on to another region until I've been around the world in beans. I dig it. I'm actually starting in Brazil... I hate Brazilian coffee. OK hate is a strong word. I prefer other places more like recent crops from Oaxaca have been magical. And, like a good Cabernet, Sumatra always delivers. So why Brazil? I overheard, like when one overhears a good stock pick or racehorse to bet on, that the basis for most espresso blends start with Brazil so there you go.

I will resist the urge to do any blending and do all single origin beans with the hope that I will someday not only be able to roast but be able to articulate the differences between various beans using these things called words. One should dream big.

I will post pictures of the roasting setup. In the meantime, I'm using a steel hand cranked stove top popcorn popper and a very accurate digital thermometer. That and a pen & paper to detail notes. It is rumoured that this setup makes it possible to emulate a drum roaster. All beans that I love: Blue Gardenia, Stumptown, Ristretto and others all roast with a drum machine. Drum is the bid'ness. word. Oh, and there's little cheaper than my setup save just throwing beans into a pan or wok. People do that... really.

So at the moment, I wouldn't dare serve my customers a straight up espresso but milk drinks, even a tight macchiato are not bad.

Bye bye RED house

2007-07-25T17:38:00.002-07:00

Old red peeling paint
Contractors cycle to work
Welcome to green house

-bc

Eighteen THOUSAND feet straight up

2007-07-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

This is the story about racing for 100 miles on trail & dirt road. The format is 3 Laps x 33.3 miles. There are three aid stations packed with water, food, and medical help strategically placed at the top of the major climbs. Most people equate dirt miles taking 2x to 3x the effort of similar mileage on pavement. My training mileage was light but there was some training. The only big gun in my quiver is experience. Also, I'll be fueled by very fancy magic liquids (www.hammernutrition.com) and pills. Oh, and to make this endeavor especially stupid, I'm riding not on a bike with a bunch of gears but one with only one. We who are part of the Single Speed Cult understand why such a choice might be made. It can only be described as religion. This race is called, "The Cascade Creampuff."

Here is the story...

---

3:15 am - dark, quiet, stars peeking between trees, the blue flame of the Coleman for coffee & food. Feeling good, really wondering what the #&$# would cause a person to sign up for such madness. I know it will hurt yet with the coolness of night, the task at hand doesn't appear impossible.

5:15 am - The start siren and we're spinning the neutral start on smooth and luxurious flat pavement. I find myself behind a row of three single speeders. These riders have the meaty calves and requisite ink of badass riders who I'm guessing will own this race. As they spin an ultra high cadence, I am comfortable in my spin. My only thought is that I am totally screwed. If these seasoned riders are all geared way lower, what the bloo'y 'ell am I going to do on lap 3? I am in trouble.

5:37 am - Friend and team rider Chris & I ride together for a few moments until the low cadence, fresh legs, and desire to not be among the yo-yo-ing riff raff. I accelerate away up the hill, passing dozens of riders. My race plan was to stay below a particular heart rate but I managed to *not* pack my heart rate monitor strap rendering it useless. I found it next to the pile of "stuff to bring" ... brilliant. So with no HR data, my strategy changed to stay below a subjective pain threshold.

6:31 am - (1:16 elapsed) - Aid station 1 - I barely stop and am feeling strong. The tread has been exclusively gravel road and will remain gravel until aid station 3 where it becomes essentially all singletrack all the way down.

2:26 into the race I am at the highest point at 4777' after blowing past aid station 3. Up here it's crazy mop-headed scrub grass with invisible singletrack. The race organizers marked the course with signs to mark nearly every nuance and danger on the course. If there was a rock in the middle of the trail, there would be a sign. Often after a 25mph+ section, signs would indicate to slow down. More arrow signs pointing down = more danger. One means caution, two means be really careful, three means make a mistake and you could die. The 3's were infrequent and what they represented was cliff exposure. Sections were so well marked that it was often easier to read the signs versus read the trail. While grateful for the info, especially the 3x warnings, it was almost like a padded forest. Even with the "padding" I managed to eat it on the downhill tagging my knee with a rock in a most unpleasant way on a dead-easy switchback. The singletrack is really buff and full of perfect curves. It's a luge run with intermittent climbs just to mix it up. These climbs don't hurt now but they will. On the steepest uphill sections, I intentionally walk to avoid digging deep with my 32x18 ratio. The downhill sections are so fast and so long and require such focus that they exhaust me. It's nearly impossible to want a sinuous downhill singletrack section to end but here's the exception. With aching arms and fried mental focus, please let me point the bike uphill. And this is my thinking on lap one... I'm in deep.

3:45 into the race I have completed lap one... an impressive time. If I can maintain this pace, I will have a finishing time of 11:15. This is my thinking now. If only...

2nd lap ... all I am thinking is that I want to deliver myself to the beginning of the 3rd lap before it gets too hot. The strong and confident climb on lap one is replaced by a sluggish 2nd. It's already warm on this second climb instilling fear for the third. My gear choice is really making me sad now. Without knowing what gear would be fastest, I thought I had chosen well. It's only now that I'm crossing 6 - 7 - 8,000 feet with the knowledge that it'll be 15,000+ by the end. The gear worked well for a previous race, the 50 mile/7500' Test of Endurance race but it's not working now.

I just try to ride the downhill cleanly and quickly. The velocity feels high but I my GPS tells me (now as I write this) that it's down in comparison. I deliver myself to the start of lap 3 at 1:45 pm. Lap 1 time was 3:45, lap 2 is 4:45, a solid hour slower... crap. As I round the final turns, I'm blasted with the heat of the afternoon. The climb is going to be ugly.

3rd lap ... I'm feeling better emotionally but but know that my uphill speed is dire. The cranks are barely turning over in the heat of the gray gravel. It's funny to watch riders pick their line based upon where the shade is versus where the smooth bits are. The time to get to aid 2 seems an eternity. I'm burning through water and fancy drinks. After expecting to see the aid tent after every switchback, I finally see the blue cloth of aid 3... essentially the top. I rest, rejoice, fuel up and stretch. Doing the math, I realize that my time is neither remotely near the podium nor near the cutoff time of 15 hours, I totally change my attitude to just kick back and enjoy the downhill. I'll stop at every opportunity to eat, stretch, pee, look at the sights... whatever. I realize that truly no one cares about what time I pull except myself. I could suffer to gain 20-30 minutes or take that time to feel fresh for each buttery section of singletrack. So that's my plan which I execute to perfection. I count over a dozen points where I stopped on the downhill to stretch and recharge according to the GPS.

Final time: ~13 Hours 30 minutes
On essentially the final section of singletrack, I'm stretching and hanging out and Chris shows up cursing his shock. We chat for a sec, I tell him I've cracked and he powers off. I walk a section that he climbs easily. Once at the top, I decide that it'd be cool to have a Cyclisme team sprint finish. I lay down everything I have on these velocity sections going well beyond what is sane but my rediscovered adrenaline and motivation kick in. I'm expecting to see his checkered jersey after every turn given I'm riding like the short track. I see nothing but trail. I roll into the finish and to the cheers of everyone, including the grinning Chris & family.

Thoughts: Happy I did it. Happy it's over. I picked a shitty gear. I can't believe it but I bested my previous time by an HOUR. In 2001 I rolled it with gears, without kids, and with endless hours and days of training. The question isn't why I was fast yesterday but how the 'ell was I so slow before? Mysterious.

I don't anticipate doing the 'Puff again. If I'm going to suffer though 100 miles with over six figures of vertical it needs to be some sort of point-to-point where it's all new and it's all an adventure. The lap format doesn't offer that kind of experience. It's a great event and there's a lot that I like but I've done it and can put it to rest.

Ben and Ellen and the Four Cheetahs

2007-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

This is a story in 3 parts.

Ben gets many variations of the following story. There's a game, a journey, and some incident that requires assistance from the fire department. They travel many different ways; by bike, by Eurovan, by spaceship, by snowshoe, and sometimes on the top of a turtle. No matter the mode, everything tends to work out just fine and Ben finds himself in bed... asleep.

Part I - Ben and Ellen and the four Cheetahs play "Find the biggest turtle"

Ben wakes up and heads downstairs where he has a cheamer (chai tea + vanilla steamer) and a big bowl of oatmeal because it's going to be a big day. Ben goes to the garage and gets out his bike, then puts on his helmet and goes out of the gate locking the gate behind him. He then rolls all the way to the fire station where he sits down with the four cheetahs and has another bowl of oatmeal. Just as he starts eating Ellen arrives and says, "Hi Benjamin, how are you?" Everyone finishes their breakfast and then it's time to play, "Find the biggest turtle!"

The four cheetahs: Nebbe, Pooter, Cocoa and Dander head out followed by Ben and Ellen. There are ninteen minutes left in the game. The Cheetahs find a big turtle and begin carrying it back. Ben and Ellen find a kinda big turtle and realize that it's not as big as the one the cheetahs have, so they don't grab it. Now there are twelve minutes left. Ben is looking over a long ridge while Ellen is in a field. Ellen sees a HUGE turtle and calls for Ben. Ben and Ellen wonder how they are going to lift the turtle all the way back to the fire house. They don't think they can do it.

Ben then explains the game to the turtle and the turtle says, "Jump on my back, lets go!" So Ben and Ellen jump on the turtle's back and they head back to the firehouse. Now there's only three minutes left and they're getting closer and closer. With less than a minute left, Ben and Ellen and the HUGE turtle walk through the door of the firehouse. Nebbe, Dander, Cocoa and Pooter all immediately get a sad look on their faces. Ben and Ellen win the game.

Part II - Ben and Ellen go on the fire engine

Ben gets on his bike and goes to Ellen's house. First he goes along 15th and then turns left on Klickitat and then immediately makes a right onto 16th because 16th is a much nicer road to ride on. He keeps riding along this until he passes Broadway and Weidler. He then makes another left followed by a right to put him on 2oth, where he goes past Burnside, transitioning from Northeast Portland to Southeast Portland. He keeps on 2oth until he comes to Harrison and then bikes along that until he hits 34th street and bikes up to Kelly, Tony, Ellen and Maximilian's house. Ellen already has her helmet on and they head off to the fire station. They say, "Bye Kelly. Bye Tony. Bye Maximilian" and off they go.

They get to the fire station and get ready to have some oatmeal when the radio crackles to life, "There's a fire on Sauvie Island." Ben rushes and puts on his fire boots, his fire hat, and his fireproof coat and jumps into the firetruck and turns on the lights. Ellen jumps into the other side and says, "Let's go!" Ellen then flips on the siren and they speed off towards the fire. They roll so fast over the Fremont bridge and then go North on 30 towards St. Helens. Next they turn on the Sauvie Island bridge and then follow the big curve to the left. After about two miles, they turn right onto the Kruger Farm gravel driveway and see a tree next to Farmer Don's barn that's on fire. Ellen jumps off the truck with the hose and Ben opens the valve. Ellen points the nozzle at the tree that's on fire and opens the nozzle.

First the fire gets smokey and steamy. Then it's just steam coming from the tree. Ellen sprays the tree a little bit more and then there's not even any steam coming from the tree anymore. Then Farmer Don comes out and says, "Thank you Ben! Thank you Ellen. That fire could have caught my barn on fire. I'm so relieved."

Farmer Don then went into his back room and came back into the barn with five cheamers for Ben and the four cheetahs and one green tea for Ellen. Everyone sat around in the barn enjoying their tasty hot beverages with Farmer Don. Then they all jumped into the firetruck and headed back to Portland. First they drove to Sandy Boulevard where they dropped off Nebbe, Cocoa, Pooter and Dander. Then they went back to the Fire Station. Ben got on his bike and Ellen got on her bike.

Ben said, "Bye Ellen, see you tomorrow."
"Bye Ben, see you tomorrow too." said Ellen.

Part III - Ben and Ellen go to the moon

Ben and Ellen strap themselves into their seats on the spaceship and Ben begins pressing the buttons. Ben presses button number 1 and the lights go from red to green. Ben presses the second button and the lights go from red to green. Ben presses buttons three four five six and they go from red to green. Then Ben presses the last button and it goes from red to orange to yellow to green. Ellen then presses the big button and the countdown begins, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ..." And the main engines fire up and the auxiliary engines turn on and the spaceship lifts up into the sky. They are heading to the moon. When they get close, Ellen turns the spaceship around with the controls and fires the rockets to slow down. They get slower and slower until they land oh so softly.

Ben gets his spacesuit on and Ellen gets her spacesuit on. All of the sudden they hear "Dadooo, Tsi Tsi, hotdog" which can only mean one thing: Max is on the spaceship saying those things. And then they hear someone else, "Baahhhhh, Lahhhhhh" and it's Maximilian too. They were both hiding behind Ben's seat and Ellen's seat. So Max and Maximilian put on their spacesuits and helmets and Ben and Ellen put on their helmets. Next they go into the airlock and the doors close behind them. Then the doors in front open and everybody goes out and is walking around on the moon.

The dirt is so soft like sand but even fluffier, like pancake flour and everybody bounces around in the fluffy fluffy dirt. Then they are all done and go back into the spaceship and the door closes behind them. Then the forward doors open and a loud, "pssshhhhhhhooouiiiii" sound means that the air has filled the airlock. They walk through and close the 2nd set of doors. Everyone takes off their helmets and they buckle in for takeoff. This time Ellen presses the buttons 1,2,3,4,5,6 and they go from red to green. Then Ellen presses the last button and it goes from red to orange to yellow to green. And now Ben presses the big button and the countdown begins, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ..." And the main engines fire up ... the auxiliary engines turn on and the spaceship lifts up above the moonscape. They are heading back to earth.

As they get closer and closer, the rocket disconnects from the spaceship and it falls into the ocean. Then the spaceship keeps falling and falling until the parachute comes out and then it drifts slowly slowly slowly and splashes into the Willamette river. Ben opens the hatch and paddles the spaceship to the dock next to OMSI where there are people ready to help with the ship. Ben jumps off and Ellen jumps off and their bikes are sitting on the dock.

Ben says, "Bye Ellen, it was fun going to the moon with you. See you tomorrow."
And Ellen says, "Bye Ben, I had fun too going to the moon. See you later."

Ellen bikes all the way home and Ben bikes all the way home. Ben then unlocks the gate and goes through the gate and then locks it behind him. He takes off his helmet and goes inside the house. He creeps upstairs and changes into his pajamas and crawls into Mommy and Daddy's bed and falls asleep.

Goodnight Ben

Thank you Mark

2007-04-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

Bloody F***ing genius ...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/04/04/notes040407.DTL

New Episodes in Fall !!!

2007-03-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

I have truly fallen down on the job in publishing to the blog. I *know* my loyal fans are weeping in their beers.... so sad.

I'm posting to recommend you get another round because spring is here and I'll be out riding my bike, fixing the house, or working with my collegues in India at midnight or 4am. The *last* thing on my mind is sending out long flowery prose to the blog-O-sphere.

Think of it like summer re-runs, you'll have to wait until next season before the new content arrives. Sure I'll post if my boys do something super cool and expect perhaps a report or two related to the Creampuff race.

I could talk about paint colors and what vegetables we're putting in the garden but I think anyone reading needs to instead go outside and play.

I will, in the spirit of sharing, provide an excellent tip for those who are fixing homes and patching walls. Throw away your traditional wall joint compound and use a product called Silverset. The stuff goes on way smoother *and* you can pick from the 20 minute, 45 minute and 90 minute versions. Why do you care? Because if you are doing this work, you're patching and painting same day. In fact, one beauty of this is that the wait times are so short that you change the nature of the patch.

The old school approach? Make the patch go above the surface, wait a day or until the next opportunity (can be weeks for me) thenlaboriously sand it until flush.

The new school, run the 20 minute stuff, do 3 coats inside of 90 minutes, never touch sandpaper and get the paint rolled on. If your project is big enough, you're not waiting for anything. By the time you've stirred the paint, piled the brushes, rollers and tray and set out the tarp, it's all ready to go. Then... you can get back outside and play... that's what this time of year is for! The best thing is that you've knocked one of the millions of tasks off the list... for good.

You'll thank me

New Residents

2007-03-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

Chi and Kai (our chickens) have been enjoying Portland's finest organic food scraps for well over a year. Chi recently met an untimely demise as a result of some predator. We suspect it was a raccoon but will never be sure. The best part was when I had to go visit my neighbor who shares our back fence. The conversation went something like this:

"Hi I'm your neighbor who lives behind you" - Charlie
"Hi, nice to meet you." - neighbor
"Um, so I was wondering if I could retrieve our dead chicken from your backyard?" - Charlie
"Sure, that'd be fine." - neighbor
"Sure is a nice day. It's the kind of day when you want to be outside, collecting a dead chicken with a shovel." - Charlie
"Yeah." - neighbor

Anyway... so now Kai is lonely so we've picked up some tiny new residents who will join her in a few weeks. We now have a Barred Rock and a Polish along with our Araucana who lays the blue eggs. Google the Polish in particular because they are wild looking birds. More eggs by fall.... woo!

18,000' and 100 miles

2007-02-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Oh yes... back and uglier than ever...

http://www.cascadecreampuff.com/

My entry has been accepted. It's now time to get some mileage under my belt so that I can best my previous time five long years ago of 14 hours 28 minutes. Back then I was kid free, ahhh, those were the days.

I will crush it.

:^) Bells on bobtails ring

2007-01-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

Had to make a small mod to the following advisory by changing a few words at the end.

... Snow Advisory remains in effect from 6 am to 6 PM PST
Wednesday for the Coast Range... inland valleys... Columbia Gorge
... And Cascade foothills...

A Snow Advisory remains in effect from 6 am to 6 PM PST
Wednesday.

Rain will turn to snow Wednesday morning as colder Arctic air
invades southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon.
Accumulations of one to two inches are likely above 500 feet...
and local accumulations of an inch are likely in lowest valley
elevations. Accumulations of 3 to 6 inches are likely in the
Willapa Hills..Coast Range... and Cascade foothills. The heaviest
snowfall is expected in the morning hours... starting during the
morning commute... and snow showers will continue through the
afternoon with some brief locally heavy accumulations. Snowfall
is expected to taper off in the late afternoon and evening.

A Snow Advisory means that periods of snow will cause primarily
travel difficulties. Be prepared for snow covered roads and trails.
Also be prepared for limited visibilities... and use caution while biking.

A Christmas Story

2006-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas
When all through the office
Not a creature was stirring
Except for the rat
Who was busy gnawing and chewing
And leaving some scat

When I discovered this lovely surprise
I rubbed my eyes in hopes that they told lies
But there in the back there was the rat scat
And a little cozy nest made from the door mat

And so I cleaned and I screamed then carted it away
In hopes that the creature(s) would not return today
I patched all the holes with big chunks of wood
And found more and more scat, and thought, "Oh good"

So we all go to sleep with only a little to dread
While visions of virulent poops dance in our heads

Bear needs a blackberry

2006-12-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

No not the one that grows on a prickly bush, the other kind.

Excerpt from a story on sfgate.com

... has discovered that bears hibernating under homes were not really hibernating the way they should anymore. They were continuing to wake up and eat -- on the weekly garbage day. Using tracking collars, he mapped lethargic bears moving from home to home following the garbage pickup schedules.

binary boy

2006-12-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday, Max has barely walked a step without holding onto something.

As of today, Max is walking laps around our house. Go MAX!

No caption required

2006-12-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

Seriously...

ahhh mud

2006-11-26T20:40:00.001-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/sports/othersports/25outdoors.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The most disturbing thing I've seen lately

2006-11-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

With Amy away, I settled in to watch a totally awesome guy movie with lots of explosions and machine gun battles... yeah, you know... the stuff I *always* watch.

So in the documentary "The Future of Food" it goes into the dynamics of GMO foods and the pervasive nature of Monsanto and how it, in no uncertain terms, owns the US politicians who make decisions that increase their profits. And it also depicts, again in no uncertain terms, totally f**k the consumer, the environment, and the livilihood of the farmer. It's truly nothing short of evil.

The story is best told by them versus me writing some synopsis of it. Go Netflix this movie and grab a tasty bag of corn chips and enjoy!

The only thing that keeps me from being frightened to my core by this movie is how our family eats nearly 100% organic. While we've been able to pay our way out of this problem, not everyone can throw down the extra 20%-100% cost difference to go this route.

visit http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

biking isn't dangerous...

2006-10-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

...it's *reading* about biking that's the risky part. I was innocently walking over to sit on the couch where I nearly landed on my head when I slipped on a copy of Velonews sitting on the carpet.

Totally sketch.

purge

2006-10-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

I deleted a previous post because it was lame.

I am replacing it with something my boy said in the bathtub after passing a bit of gas. True story

"I just gassed. Did it sound like a flute?" - Ben

I don't know where he gets it. We've never discussed the potential musicality of gas.

MORE boredom

2006-09-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

I thought, in continuation of a theme, I'd list out the top gross things in our trash can right now:

Cat poo
Dirty Diapers (Ben and Max Poo)
Festering ziplock of uncooked eggs
unidentified ziplock of brown liquid
... and the winner
A dead mouse - crisp, hardened and nearly weightless

What? No comments? Can't really believe it.

the engine part II

2006-09-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

to add to the boredom, I've introduced this addendum:

In the previous post I exaggerated slightly on the temp range to highlight a point; that there's a huge gap between the heat generation along with low cooling during a climb versus the low heat generation and intense cooling during the descent [on the bike.] And it's pretty amazing that such a huge difference exists. I tell the story in the first place because those that don't ride or those that don't venture out when the weather turns sour perhaps cannot easily imagine this stuff. I just think it's cool.

The addendum is simply this... When outfitted in the proper gear, riding in any conditions can be comfortable. It's easy to be not too warm & not too cold, including toes & fingers. The current crop of technical layers is truly remarkable. I've bombed down some hills in cold rain and something well under 5mm from skin to outer shell completely cozy. The thin layer is a wall that cuts through what would otherwise leave you shivering and really unhappy. Armed with a wind breaking cap under the helmet and some full coverage glasses and you begin to create an inside and outside. I'd like to use an "inside a car" analogy but that depresses the message. You've rolled out in the misty fog, drizzle or pouring rain to experience it, not be completely isolated from it. The isolation that keeps the core warm, however, is a very good thing.

When intentionally setting out in the cold and rain, it is rare that a rider gets cold. It's the seemingly nice day that turns pear shaped and you're without the aforementioned technology does one suffer. Those days are remembered with a shudder & a shake. I've walked into a bike shop after a day like that and loaded up with piles of winter protection like a hungry shopper at the grocery store.

The addendum to the boring post has gone on well past due. Carry on.

the engine

2006-09-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

prepare yourself for a mind-numbingly, and over punctuated, boring post...

ready...

Here it comes...

So it's cold, dark and usually raining when I roll out for my 10 mile /35 ish minute two wheeled commute. I start out layered in cozy & waterproof clothes. At exact points along the ride I drop layers.
I unzip jackets at 7th & Failing St
At Interstate & Alberta I lose the fleece hat
At Delta Park I swap fuzzy gloves for skinny ones
Then I'm dialed for the rest of the ride.

[anyone still reading???]

It's just {marginally} interesting how the human machine works and how the flow of cold wind & rain keeps the engine cool. Stopping at stoplights and the system overheats, even just the 30 seconds the equilibrium is broken and I roast. Then, with wind & rain back on, it all comes back down. Outside of the commute on recreational rides, the difference between climbing and descending is epic, all on the same day. If it's 47 and rainy, 10 minutes into a long climb and you could pretty much ride naked and be too hot. Then point the bike downhill and you're doing 35-40mph and exerting 30% of the output. The rain feels like ice pellets and your 5 layers with the final being a waterproof membrane isn't enough if the downhill is sustained for more than a few minutes.

Helen

2006-09-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

A toast from one steaming thing to another. It's a great hike/scramble and I *highly* recommend it to anyone who has baseline fitness and owns a thermos.

Soba 1999 - 2006

2006-09-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

This was, as far as cats go, a really cool cat. Ultra social and friendly. *It* thought it was a human, or so it appeared from its persona.

It went from healthy to tonight's vet visit inside of 36 hours. The annoying thing about cats is that they "mask" or hide their ailments so as to not show weakness in the wild. The vet thinks something heart &/or lung related probably linked to cancer.

Max and Ben really lit up and would chase/torture Soba. The cat put up with this quite well and actually enjoyed it assuming cats don't stick around if they're not having a good time. There's little funnier than Ben awkwardly carrying Soba around. Soba rallied for all of the Hunter/Wicker moves: Oakland>Berkeley>Boulder>Portland. Unlike Miso, this cat was into it.

The cheeky thing wrecked more than one night's sleep and covered the furniture with so much of its fur that one could fashion a whole 'nother cat from the pile. But all those small things aside, we will miss you Soba. You set the bar.

train wreck

2006-08-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

is the best way to describe my foray into coffee roasting. Impatient at 9:40 pm I decide I *must* try out my new coffee roaster. This is a modified hand cranked popcorn popper. All the components arrived in a brown truck today. Making a long story short I got it so hot that I melted the plastic window and the beans nearly caught fire when I first tossed them in. So I have beans that are burnt beyond recognition, damaged equipment, and nothing really positive to say except...
{pause}

HEY

I'm roasting coffee! I learned over a dozen things in this alpha adventure. I won't list them but I will say that the numbers on the thermometer are false as evidenced by bubbling plastic. Oh, and a high output camp stove is *not* the right means to deliver controlled heat. I thought that I would use distance from the stove as my heat control. This might have worked if I didn't start at what has to have been 700+ degrees.

For the record, I did take mental note the location of the fire extinguisher.

Tomorrow I bring the operation indoors where I seal off the kitchen and run the 600 CFM blower. *Then* I will have the power to tune the heat in an exacting way.

If anyone has ideas on how I can get a stick thermometer to read more accurately please chime in. Otherwise answer this: Why would a grown man take an old tyme popcorn popper and try to roast coffee in it when he has access to the finest roasted beans on earth?

love for the marine layer

2006-08-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

oh how I love thee. I anxiously await your return.

Godspeed

sick & sad

2006-08-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

Check this out

The last sentence is the sad part. "As an alternative to antibiotics"... like it is essential that the food industry use antibiotics. *Somehow* and how they can perform such miracles is just so amazing... somehow organic farmers have managed to produce meat without either antibiotics or this fancy benevolent critter-eating-malevolent critter. It's good versus evil yet again.

If I eat meat, I want it to be sprayed with these friendly critters and then coated with nitrates.... mmmm mmm goood.

Whenever I read something along this general topic of food technology, I'm always happy that I live a nearly pure organic and meat free existance.

There was a great [npr] story where the author focused on the traditional preparation of food, the way it has been done up until mid 20th century. The interesting spin was that he considered the convenience factor of foods lately to be, "taking away" from a fundamental joy of making your food from scratch. While we, as a society, have generally accepted the notion that we're too busy for that sort of thing, it's really not true. We simply choose the lazy option (myself included these past few months) much of the time. I've been peeling that one back, especially with the summer fruit & veg season in full swing. I've recently switched to bread found in the refrigerated section. These live breads are really amazing. They offer a complete protein and have an extremly low glycemic index...basically the total opposite to white bread or pizza dough. And it's beyond tasty... it's awesome. This doesn't add preparation time (which is good) but I lose the "joy of cooking" which is bad or good depending upon opinion. I'm happy to be eating real food with minimal processing. The ideal breakfast is two of these delicous refrigerated flour free english muffins + butter +marmite & a cappucino from *the machine* and I'm pretty much in heaven. Just don't spray any viruses on it... I'll take my chances.

still life

2006-08-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

There's a chain link fence. Attached to the chain link fence is a placard depicting what will be built on the currently barren space. It's something modern, something tallish, something decidedly upscale. There's graffiti on the placard but the building can still be seen through the spray.

why

2006-08-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

The more I live, the more I am disconnected with all that is crap in this country:

I am disconnected from fast food & factory farms
I am disconnected from malls
I am disconnected from a car commute & requisite concern for gas prices. In fact I'd *love* to see them hit $9/gallon. Not right away, not in such a way that really screws over those just getting by but in an easily seen trend, say up a dollar every year. This would radically alter the economy in an ecologically positive way. & ... I'm quite sure of this one, our aggegate GDP would rise faster as a result.

The more I live, the more I am connected to all that is good in this country:

I am connected with indy and local sources of food & coffee... & super fresh eggs!
I am connected with the mountains, bike racing scene, & PDX culture
I am connected to my job via a ten mile bike commute

These are all the top of my head sort of changes. I'm not putting this out there to say, "Hey look how swell I am" because I'm quite sure that I impress few with my actions. I do this stuff for me, because I seriously feel ill whan I do otherwise. Speaking of feeling ill, I'm *out* of coffee beans and that's a serious problem which will be rectified at exactly 7am tomorrow. Fishew!

Buying a house?

2006-08-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Or selling one? This is a shameless plug for a friend. Zach Newman found us our home and did more work, and this is no exaggeration, than our previous 3 realtors combined. If you ever say to yourself that they don't deserve the % they get it's because they don't work like Zach does. So I'm sending this shout out to generate business for my man Zaaaaaach. He rules. If you find yourself in the buy/sell situation you really need to work with him.

www.equitygroup.com/zach

Standin' in the shower thinkin' - pf

2006-07-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

So as I was trying to cool off in the shower because the heat in PDX and particularly in our upstairs is triple digit fun, I turned the know towards cool but couldn't bring myself to go full cold. In fact, I'm guessing it was rather lukewarmish.

Suppose you came across a waterfall where the water was briskly cold and it was super hot outside. You'd find a way to get under it. At first it would be exhilarating in a too-cold sort of way but then you'd get tough and adjust. Beyond that you'd grow comfortable in the cool cool water.

Meanwhile, in the shower, it's nearly impossible to drag the knob all the way to cool unless dared by a spouse.

Which brings me to my pointa-obscura.

Single speeds are the chilly waterfall. You can go way cooler than you otherwise will because there's no control knob allowing you to meter your pain. The result is that you push through and become stronger & faster. Either that or you don't go in the water at all.

reports

2006-07-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

ok, so blog has had such little new data so here:
-I got sick, recovered in 24 hours
-Amy did the same
-It's going to be super hot here in PDX
-Our friends just had a baby whose name is MAX... nice choice.
-I'm looking for a bicycle tire that's simultaneously light and punctureproof. Any thoughts?

blunt trauma

2006-06-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

Finally back on the bike after a much-too-long 2 day hiatus. Perhaps two days isn't huge but we inside of a week from the Pacific NW's summer solstice and it's time to *be* outside. Rolling past the accident scene I immediately worked out how the crash went down. It's wierd how I reacted when it occurred with a sense of urgency to get back on the bike. It's as if jumping on the bike quickly lessens the perceived significance of the crash. It must be, if I *can* get on the bike then it can't be too bad... right? The odd takaway from that is that *I* am your guy for any sort of outback adventure as I'll push through whatever crazy injuries and process them later.... but I digress.

It went down like this... cresting into the steep and soft sandy section, the front wheel gets stuck in the sand and I land squarely on the ragged prickly stump. I originally thought the stump was the obstacle and I was thusly confused why I didn't fly *over* it. So there it is then.

So here I sit and my arm is still inflated with blood from serious blunt trauma. The leg suffered seemingly similar damage but it's normal save a few scratches. What that tells me is there's some serious carnage going on under the skin. I'm so surpised by the severity of this mayhem. I suppose I hit pretty hard directly on that stump which, as I think about it, is really ugly {laugh}

It's the venue that's confusing. This is my *commute* so what am I doing incurring a mountain bike injury. The real backstory to all of this is not what happened here but what *didn't* happen during every other crash. I've blazed off trail. I've had my front tire disappear at speed along wide open velocity sections and I lost skin but nothing that actually hurt post bandage. There are a million stories like that. I can look at the various scars and recall their history. The one crash that I always think about when I think about the luck which pervades goes like this:

The classic Downieville CA downhill route. Riding the 3rd divide which is not the technical route but the "holy crahp I'm going super fast" route on wide-as-your-hand singletrack. So there I was at said velocity when a stick meets and arrests my front wheel's rotation. Generally front wheels don't skid, they more or less can't. Locking the front wheel = over the bars without hesitation. In this instance where my body position was loose and aft the front wheel skidded something like 10 feet before I was catapulted through the air. By the time I made contact with earth, I had made a 270 degree rotation, missing my front, head, and finally landing right on my back. Instead of the 1mm of protection I have on my front, my back sports a padded backpack full of fluffy clothes and a flexible bag of water that unintentionally protects the spine. So that was my landing mechanism. I was inches from a huge tree to my left and there I was in this softish spot taking inventory and testing each body component like a pilot's pre flight check. Even with this miracle of a landing I had a crazy yet painless internal bruise that started on my back and proceeded to leech forward through my abdomen before the greenish blue color faded. There was no better way to dissapate such energy and force better than exactly how it went down. LUCK

So while I'm certainly not beaming with joy as I nurse my throbbing arm, I am grateful that I've been so lucky for so long.

fancy fone

2006-06-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

retain for your records>>>

5
0
3

and then 927 587 don't forget the 1

I avoided the email blast on the this and am going for the pull approach of the blog. I have no idea whether there are some blog spiders that find telephone numbers and send IM message spam (yes I understand the redundancy there...dtt dtt) & I don't want to learn. Hence the innane text intertwined with my #

Customer service

2006-06-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is why you buy stuff from Nordstroms. They rock. I'm never buying anywhere else.
Excerpt from their customer service LiveChat follows:

Tim H: Hello and welcome to Nordstrom, Charlie!
Tim H: I see your question: I have 2 shirts & pants that are over a year old but are in near new condition with the minor exception of having been ruined due to laundering them with some wax lip balm. Can I exchange these?
Tim H: Were these items ordered through Nordstrom.com, or in the store?
Charlie: In a store
Tim H: Charlie, do you still have record of the purchase?
Charlie: I'm guessing no..:^(
Charlie: It is nordstrom brand stuff if that's important
Tim H: One moment and I'll look into your question.
Tim H: Charlie, you will not have any problem exchanging your items at any Nordstom store. I would suggest giving one of our Personal Shoppers a call at 1.888.282.6060. We could then try and find record of your purchase. I ask that you call due to the fact that this forum is not secure and for your protection, I can't ask for specific personal information.

red meat

2006-06-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

For all of you avid readers out there who have been disappointed by the lack of images here at the cafe... well, you're in luck. This tasty looking arm meat looked much more knarly covered in dripping blood and dirt. This is the cleaned up, medicated version. {yawn} I know.

So there I was JRA on my bike commute. You see, there's this little piece of skinny trail that bypasses a gentle arc of a turn on the paved section and instead goes in a straight line, effectively cutting out two sides of a loosely defined triangle. It peels to the right of another turn so it's a natural route, i.e. the bike *wants* to go on it. The trail begs, "ride my dirt!"

It's totally flat and then rolls down the face of a berm. Upon first dropping into the steep downhill bermy bit, there's a soft loose bit of sand and... as I recently discovered, a partially buried stump. I've successfully navigated this section 75% of the time ( i.e. wiped out once scratch free, made it twice) until now. I'm down to 50/50 :^(

The crash was spec[tacular], complete with puff of smoke/cloud of dust and a captive audience of car commuters waiting for the metering lights to go green. I quickly remounted and rolled a few feet until ...
...ugh...

... it hurt.

I kept going but realized that real output from my right leg = pain. That's the interesting thing about bike commuting. It's not riding-as-entertainment although I certainly entertained a few people today. It's treating the body as machine, as engine. If there's a green light, lay it down (i.e. "floor it") and be on your way. So when the motor is damaged but still at say 60%, it's still time to keep creeping along. I'm commuting. I'm going home. I have a list of things I want to do, first of which is get a coffee from the Albina Press.

Not realizing that I was covered in dirt, the barista queries the reason. I thought that I had cleverly positioned my undamaged side to the counter. {embarrassing}

So here I sit, battered and limping after pulling two significant pieces of wood from the nastiest scratch and getting everything clean and medicated. Overall the ride was pretty good: I was out in the sun & hell, I had a delicious espresso. I'm thinking that i'll take the gently arcing paved bit from now on.

Hell yeah

2006-06-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

For all the time, all the money, all the sleep deprivation, all the bikeless weekends*... It's still really [expletive] cool to be a dad. When little Max gives over one of his goofy grins or bounces around in giddy unplacable [sic] enthusiasm it's just awesome.

& When Ben decides to snuggle in with daddy or insists that I hold him while making a cappucino because, "I want to see." it's marvelous although the cappucino is difficult to execute.

So I hope all you dads out there are enjoying today. Crack open a beer for a job well done. But don't have too many because there are only a few precious hours before you'll be back at it again.

** OK OK so they're not really bikeless but dragging the trailer with the kiddies to the farmer's market or going for an early morning road ride in lieu of a 7 hour epic singletrack ride through aspens and around alpine lakes just isn't the same. It's crazy to think that our lives used to consist of such riding more weekends than not during the summer.

we win

2006-06-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

I wrote a long rambling blog entry and then deleted it. In its place, I will pose a multiple choice question.

Supposing you're throwing a wedding reception on the beach and there is another wedding party nearby. You have a sound system that handily outclasses your "competitor" by about 500%. For this example, assume that there's no chance for any of your "competitor's" music to spill into your soundscape. Would you:

a) Point your speakers in the opposite direction or somehow tune your setup to minimize musical overlap?

b) Drop your volume from ear searing to just really [expletive] loud as a compromise?

c) Crash their party because they look to have cool live music?

d) Use all of your 20,000 watts and declare victory with a celebratory scream, "WoooHooo!"?

Going Coastal

2006-06-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

This is something I already knew but often forget. And that is the conditions found in most towns & cities across this country.

It's bleak

I visited mecca, otherwise known as the "Great Mall of America" in Minneapolis, MN. Why I did this I'll never know. I avoid malls with a frequency of visits averaging less than once per year. The GMA is huge and there is a roller coaster and a log flume which is, of course, pretty sweet.

In other news, when at corporate HQ I asked where a "Whole Foods" might be. They were unfamiliar with the genre of retail. I instead visited a "Cub" grocery. While the mall was an exercise in excess, it was actually a civilized experience as far as malls go. If I could knock it down I probably wouldn't. (( Unless of course it would be turned into a giant urban greenspace.)) Meanwhile at the Cub, things were different. I did find the tiny organic section where they separate out the food and triple the price. The rest of the place was downright scary. Slabs of fading meat, lots of brightly colored "food", puffy breads and pastries. There wasn't a single loaf of anything that wouldn't digest at the speed of pure refined sugar outside of the cubicle sized organic section. Business was bustling. I added to the commerce with a handful of Luna bars and some amazingly unsweetened and untainted green tea. Miracles indeed.

Do I sound like a snob? Good, I intend to. I *am* offended by the crap that people are selling and am offended that people are buying it. One might argue that it's cheaper than Whole Foods and I completely agree. WF has highway robbery prices and I buy stuff there on occasion because I can. My point of contention is that organic and healthy foods are expensive here in middle America SOLELY because it's an oddity from their point of view. It's way more expensive to grow/process/modify/refine/market/package/& ship versus grow and deliver a short distance. And I know that pockets of enlightenment do exist so the coastal metaphor isn't exactly fair.

This brings me to Monterrey Market in Berkeley California. Armed with a $20, it is difficult *NOT* to fill two bags full of fresh, organic, and bountiful groceries. We're talking about amazing fresh and delicious stuff... man do I miss that place. There's nothing preventing such a store's existence right where I'm sitting (ouch) except that the people here don't seem to demand it.

Alas I will kiss the coastal ground upon my return to the sunny Pacific NW where it rains leafy goodness.

work

2006-06-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Next week begins my first real week of work. Last week started with one day at work followed by the rest of the week taking sick leave. Yes I've set a new record for burning up sick time but this bug was not negotiating. I head off on a plane in 10 minutes to show up bright and early for class in Minneapolis. So X your fingers that nobody's got the Dengue Fever on the plane.

checked out

2006-05-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm luxuriating in my unplanned vacation until next week. The computer is the last thing I want to play with. The blog will see its usual frequent updates after that time. Meanwhile, you'll find me somewhere in the Cascade Mountains or the Oregon coast.

max can't stack blocks

2006-05-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

How could a Dad be so negative? Oh the horror. So the thing is this, he understands the concept of stacking but cannot execute on the task. If I place a block on the carpet and hand him a block, he'll try to put it on top. If I repeat this while holding the previous two blocks for stability, he tries to put on a third. So he's *got* the concept of stacking which seems pretty cool.

In other news, I'm now employed at www.Xiotech.com
Seems the era of telecommuting has ended. And it's a good thing as I was quietly going insane. Already enjoying the impromptu vacation. Start date is June 1.

And in other other news, my oldest brother John is getting married in Cancun Mexico and we're joining him this week. The beach is not my sort of vacation but I'll find a way to suffer through the azure skies and clear clear water.

people

2006-04-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I'm at a cafe and here's a little snapshot of a patron of the shop. It goes down like this...

A big newish GMC truck pulls up. I typically don't pay that much attention to truck models but in this case I do. A crusty dude in his 50's exits the truck with a big fat cigar in his mouth. He's blonde, has white hair and a weather beaten face. He comes in and orders something to go. He know's the barista and she knows him and they make small talk. Only the smell of coffee and pastries fill the air inside the shop without a hint of tobacco. I then realize that the crusty guy has jammed his cigar into the letter C in the grill of his GMC truck before entering.

Interpret that as you will.

oil

2006-04-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Listening to NPR right now about the future of this country as it relates to Oil. The common idea is to reduce demand by driving smaller cars, hybrid cars, and eventually non-petrol based vehicles.

To that I respond, "Sure, great... that'll help" but it misses the bigger picture. Step back and ask the question,

"How can we reduce the need for travel/movement in the first place?"

Answer that question and you're getting somewhere. There are really good answers to that question that not only solve that problem but dozens more.

Boring

2006-04-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

I usually blog on such interesting and titillating topics that I thought that I'd mix it up a bit with something really boring.

I had an english muffin, toasted, with butter & marmite this AM. It was *so* *good* that I had another. After that, I wanted another but thought better of it and stopped at two.

That's it. I hope this entry lived up to everyone's expectation. Carry on.

critters

2006-04-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

The expression, "Chickens always come home to roost" is a universal truth. They always go back into their coop so all I need to do is close the door after they're in. I worked late last evening and heard the chickens in a panic. I ran out to notice that a little possum had taken up residence in the coop. Not good... I am a bad farmer.

Long story short, I got the chickens to a safe place and extricated the critter with a shovel and a garden hose. They're actually slow and seemingly tame. I got very close to the little bugger and it did *not* want to exit the coop. After much negotiating, it practically got onto the shovel blade where I air-lifted it slowly and gently out of the coop. It scurried off.

"C'mon chickens, all clear" I say and they needed to be lifted up and placed in the coop. I think they were pretty shaken up by the ordeal. I was lucky that the critter was a harmless young possum. If it had been a raccoon, the ending would have been different.

I'll be sure to close up the coop at sunset.

sublime

2006-04-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

For those that don't appreciate espresso, here's a translation of this blog entry: Blah blah blah tasty blah blah blah amazing blah blah blah sublime blah blah blah nobody knows how to make it this good except me blah blah blah.

Those who have a slight inkling about the joys of caffeine, read on.
Lately I have been putting together some truly sublime drinks. While my expertise plays a role, it's the espresso roast from Blue Gardenia that's the reason behind this leap in quality. The stuff is truly amazing and my first successful foray into single origin espresso. Like a good year in wine, these beans (& I'm only on bag #3) may not last. Next season's crop will undoubtedly be different and I hope, just as good. To expect better would be extremely optimistic. I may look back at spring/summer 06 as a special time.

Coffee as wine. It should be considered with a similar lense. Particular grapes/beans, particular years, particular regions, specific estate growers. This is the buzz on the street about coffee. There's a higher level of quality being developed through partnerships to bring coffee away from treating it as a commodity.

I'm just enjoying the lingering flavor from my just finished macchiato. This stuff is divine.

sick and ugly

2006-03-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

Not only am I *still* working to recover from an ugly flu bug that wiped out my weekend I also have an embarrassing gouge on the bridge of my nose... sexy. Double sexy when I'm coughing or shivering under the covers with a big fleece had on simultaneously hot and cold.

On a brighter note, Mrs. Amy rallied on her first mountain bike race since producing two lovely boys. The conditions were sub-optimal to say the least with mud so thick that she had to stop about half a dozen times to expunge the grunge so the wheels would turn. You bikers out there know what I mean, those that don't have ... seriously... no idea. It's ugly, the bike triples its weight and becomes a useless anchor.

All in all she survived the day and has begun the slow emergence back into one of her strongest loves: biking in the forest on singletrack. Well done Amy.

as requested

2006-03-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

Word on the street is that *someone* didn't like the restaurant-menu style of the blog. So here's a different one. Enjoy.

How about those boys in the trailer... seriously... is there anything cooler? While Ben's stepping up trying to pick fights with Mom and Dad, he loves to entertain Max both in and out of the trailer. Now if we can only get him to actually do what he's told, we'd be in fab shape. {sigh}

travelin'

2006-03-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

First journey for MAX. Dig it.

Just like my boys

2006-03-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

Chocolate

2006-03-17T22:45:00.000-08:00

I *just* ate the greatest triple chocolate cake thing and I wasn't even hungry. Holy crap was it good. It's truly a rare event where something is so tasty, so decadent, so delicioso that I'll go beyond the caloric requirements into the pure pleasure eating. This was one of those moments.

WoW!

Nimble shopping

2006-03-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

On occasion, shopping carts get left along our street. I often return them the local grocer a mere block away. Recently TWO grocery cartS appear from a Trader Joe's grocer, over twenty blocks away.

This is the last straw.

Armed with an idea, I take them into the workshop. I flip one upside down and grease the bearings. Not only do I grease the wheel bearings but the rotation ones as well. I also clean the tires and sand off any irregularities. I then steal two more of the rotational wheels and replace the back wheels with these. This gives us four wheel steering.

I clean the cage and make a few other modifications. I zip tie the seat so there's no more of that familiar cart rattle. I take my staplegun with some padding and cloth and upholster the seat for ben. I even make a back pad and 3 point harness with some leftover webbing and clips. I take cycling bar tape and wrap the handle. The masterpiece is ready.

Now, when we go shopping, we bring our own high performance cart. We *OWN* the isles and we see the jealousy in people's eyes when they get the crappy cart with the wobbly or stuck wheel. No more... we're all done with that nonsense. It's quite the conversation starter.

Hoo Ray!

Where should I go?

2006-03-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

So my news consumption consists of hitting the following sites:
news.google.com
sfgate.com
opb.org
npr.org
thedailyshow.com < the real news

Wondering if anyone has found a better news portal. Share your sources!!!

mystery wetness

2006-03-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

so many ways to go with that title...

So there's this section of road that's nearly always wet. It's not in shade nor is there some errant fire hydrant depositing the dampness. It must be an odd microclimate and I can't work out why it is what it is. So ponder that one.

rolling along

2006-02-24T12:15:00.000-08:00

So my parents have said on more than one occasion,
"When are you going to stop this biking of yours?"

The answer, of course, is never.

So a few days ago I was in what can only be described as an attitude downward spiral due primarily to stress at work. I jumped on the bike for 90ish minutes and attacked a few hills on the West side. The surliness and frustration exited my body as sweat. At the end of it, my attitude was completely changed. I was a new man. Without the bike, I would have been doomed. There are no reasonable substitutes to the two-wheeled medication. Something like a 90 minute skate-ski suffer fest would have a similar effect but it would be wrapped in an hour drive each way. Going for a little run or hike has some theraputic effect but it's not a powerful enough med to get the job done.

Beyond this mental/physical maintenance that the bike enables, there's the functional bike-as-vehicle part of my riding. Most people have developed a tolerance for and an acceptance of being in a vehicle all the time. It's just part of life. In our house, this tolerance is near zero. We've cleared the cultural head trash on this and we reach for the car keys only when biking is not practical or safe. In our outlook, it's a hardship to take the car versus rolling on two wheels. This concept is hard to grasp when the tolerance and numbness to the car is well established. Supposing cars ran not on petrol but instead ran on grass clippings or random bits of garbage (i.e. an ecologically free choice) I'd still opt for the bike 99% of the time.

And then finally, there's riding as recreation, sport and adventure. All of our elective vacations are bike-centric. Whether it's exploring a country or enjoying a beautiful piece of a mountain trail, two wheels is really the only way to do it. Again, it comes full circle to the bicycle over car preference. If someone were to say, "Yeah, we're visiting [country or place x] and plan on driving here and there and over there." most people accept that as just the way things are done without question. Sure it's probably the easiest but rarely is it the best.

Then there's biking as a competitive sport. This season, I'll be involved in most of these: road stage racing, mountain bike racing, mountain epic racing, road crit, road TT, velodrome track racing, and the perfect winter pastime: cyclocross. Five years ago I raced only mountain bike racing and epic mountain bike racing.

There's more to be said on this topic but I need to go to a coffee shop... where are my car keys?

to the dark side

2006-02-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

The UPS package that arrived two weeks ago has been put to good use. Yesterday I entered my first real road race atop my new scandium & carbon fiber road bike. The frame weighs in at 2.9lbs...freaky light although it's possible to break the 2lb barrier if extremely well funded. The sub 2 bikes should only be raced for a season or two which compounds the total cost. Nothing I need to get into, not until I get fast anyway.

I got killed in a Cat4 race. I hung with the peloton until the final climb where the group blew apart. I was in a second chase group in sight of the peloton but unable to bridge the gap. So our group worked together, sort of, in a feeble effort to get back into the mix. Was more interesting than fun. I learned plenty. The most important lesson is to put more miles in on the bike. It is pretty wild to be rolling along at 28mph or so without putting in much effort which is what happens when in a group of 100 riders. Being handlebar to handlebar at such speeds is complete lunacy, especially when some riders are squirrelly. I kept my distance from them and the potential carnage of the sloppy riders.

I like the bike. I'm thinking that the race venues that will interest me the most will have lots of climbing and suffering. First I need to suffer in training so I can make others suffer on the race course. Ahhh... it's all about the suffering.

:^)

2006-02-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

Waiting

2006-02-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

PORTLAND, OR, US	02/03/2006	11:56 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
HERMISTON, OR, US	02/03/2006	8:00 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	02/03/2006	7:06 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
COMMERCE CITY, CO, US	02/02/2006	3:46 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
COMMERCE CITY, CO, US	02/01/2006	7:09 P.M.	ORIGIN SCAN
US	02/01/2006	7:15 P.M.	BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

raindrops keep falling ...

2006-02-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Amy says we're in a 25 year record for amount of rain, something like 300% of normal. This is a comforting fact because it's perhaps getting a tiny bit old. BUT... as it turns out, the end is near. The following is an excerpt of the geeky tech explanation of weather patterns from Wunderground.com. I like the story format as it's a real picture versus an icon of a cloud and a percentage chance of precip. The words, "nice respite" are key. Here it is:

In any event...forecast area should remain dry Monday
through Wednesday. Expect coastal...Coast Range and Cascade foothill areas
to see rather warm daytime temperatures due to the offshore flow.
Coast should also be warm due to limited inversions. Coast Range and
Cascade foothills would be within the subsidence inversions. The Pacific
northwest will likely get a nice respite from the incessant rain...
flooding...slides...etc that dominated the latter part of December
and all of January. Blocking pattern likely to persist through much
of next week.

Capiche

2006-01-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

a few days ago I went to great lengths to explain to Ben what "Capiche" means. "Ben, when you ask someone to understand and agree with what you are saying, you will sometimes say capiche.... Capiche?" And on and on. Fast forward to last night. Amy brings me into where Ben and Max are playing so Ben can tell me something. When I get brought in, it's because he's done something bad and I need to hear it from him and then tell him why it's bad. So Ben had pulled a pillow from underneith Max, causing his head to hit the floor. Ben got swift punishment earlier but now I'm in the room waiting for Ben to tell me the story. He describes what he did. I then said something like, "Ben, so do you understand that you cannot pull the pillow from Max. You shouldn't take anything away from Max. Having his head fall is very very bad. You need to be his big brother and take care of him." and so on... "Do you understand?
"I want to run around" - Ben
"Ben, I don't think you're listening..." and I describe it again... "Do you understand?"
"Yes." - Ben
"Yes what?" - Dad
"Yes I shouldn't pull the pillow from Max."
I was still in the serious parent mode when Ben then said...

"Capiche?!"

At which point both mommy and daddy busted out laughing. "OK, Ben. We're all done discussing this. I think you understand."

holy water

2006-01-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

amen. So we have a sump pump that has been quite busy this rainy season. The saturated earth is only getting hit with more rain. The circuit breaker on this essential piece of equipment flipped so I went to the fuse box to reset the breaker. When I flipped the switch, a drop of water squeezed out from between the breaker modules.

WATER .... IN THE BREAKER BOX!

The basement walls are dry and there's no visible way that the water could get in. Taking off the cover wearing thick rubber shoes I see that there's a 4mm puddle at the bottom of the steel box with submerged wires. I drill a few holes in the metal box so the water can drain and leave the cover off. As it turns out, the water is traveling from *inside* the main cable that enters the house. It's hard to work out how the water has done this but it has. The wire properly goes lower than the entry point on the house like a big J shape to thwart water from traveling along the outside. This tells me that the inside is full, like a straw.

I'm up for most home repair challenges but this cable is all business and I'm not touching it. Time to hire a pro. Given where this is happening, this might be a task for the power company as the water must be starting from the power meter.

Yikes

frothing foes find friend in frenzy

2006-01-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

Do you care? No... doubtful

But hell, read anyway. So I hear the sweet BRAAHHHHHHHHP sound of the UPS truck pulling up. Within the cardboard walls of the delivery are some nice big latte cups. While I typically prefer a small cappucino or macchiato I needed to try out the new cups. Dangerously low on milk I tried to get a huge amount of volume by really frothing aggressively. The goal was to stretch, as it is called, the milk with lots of air commingled. Sometimes this works, other times... like this time I created lots of big ugly bubbles versus the beautiful and coveted "microfoam."

I take a sip of this drink and WOW does it taste bad.

The point of this random rant is to point out how much a nice velvety foam has an effect on flavoUr, not just aesthetic. It's night and day. Having the ugly "dishsoap" foam tastes horrible. On the flipside, getting served (or typical for me: making) a nice morning cap with invisible bubbles that somehow come out glossy is heaven.... sweet, creamy, delicious.

For the coffee obsessed, read on, for the rest, you are dismissed.

When you ask for and actually receive a "dry cappucino" there is a thing that happen which may surprise you. Most of the milk is poured down the drain. In the construction of the velvety foam, it takes a certain volume of milk to generate the lighter fluffy foam apart from the milk. So you start with 10-12 ish ounces and add 4-6 ounces of foam to the cup once you're done. If you were to wait for the foam to break back down so the bubbles are gone, you're probably looking at 1-2 ounces of liquid, maybe less. So most of it is along for the ride but never makes it into the cup. Do you feel enlightened? Informed? Well sorry, how exciting is coffee? I mean really... get a life.

Daddy, "Dash with me"

2006-01-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

Ben likes to run around our house circuit while singing "Jingle Bells" or "The Twelve Days of Christmas" ... it's really funny as he giggles and sings while running as fast as he can. I love my boy.

Netflix

2006-01-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

If you use netflix, email me right now. There's a friends link thing that allows me to see movies you've rated and thus pick good movies to watch. If you have really bad taste then you are excluded from this request. You know who you are.

Happy 06

2006-01-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Please post your 06 resolutions here.

I'll start with mine:
-no more mister nice guy
-teach Max to walk
-teach Ben to catch big air (when Mom's not monitoring)
-ride more *with* my wife
-ride more
-hit at least one big {bicycling} race/epic ride this season
-nail the perfect rosetta at will
-finish all home improvement projects...ha!

fried

2005-12-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

So I have this situation where I'm going out to dinner with someone and they've recommended a really crappy restaurant. Without going into details, I'm not in a position to say, "Why would you pick a corporate soulless crappy restaurant next to the freeway in big-box retail hell?"

I'm just thinking that wouldn't go over very well. So here I am in Portland, a city brimming with fantastic local restaurants, all with energy and soul and really good beers and I'll be sitting in deep fried mysery listening to the muffled rush of freeway traffic. And I'll probably be drinking, at best, a Michelob.

And given its proximity, I'll end up driving there.
Grim.

i am not insane

2005-12-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice

I always thought it was really dumb that the winter solstice is the first day of winter. In my view, the shortest day of the year should be precisely the midpoint of winter. all of the shortest days should be grouped together as winter. Instead, the first day of winter is, in essence, the beginning of the march towards more and more daylight.

My way is better. The rest of the world seems to agree.

btw, happy solstice!

up down up down

2005-12-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

Ben said he wanted to draw "a up down up down."

He draws them all the time now and will usually cry when he wants to draw one but we don't let him because it's bedtime or dinnertime or whatever.

So, any guesses what he's drawing?

straight lines

2005-12-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

{rant} So I'm cutting drywall and a piece is off a bit. I cut another and that one is off as well. I measure several points along the surface but each segment drawn with my level has a slight curve. I'm creating subtle scalloped lines. The level is not slipping and if I flip it over, thus expecting now a convex arc, is still concave with another identical scallop. I work out that the plastic level is flexing as I cut. On the one hand, I'm angry that someone would sell such a hunk of crap. On the other, I'm happy to have found the source of my inability to get it right.

I now own two additional high-end pieces of equipment. A drywall specific aluminum straight-edge and a bomber aluminum level with a rotating bubble. I hate crappy equipment. Of course now, if I'm off for any reason, I have nobody to blame.{/rant}

brakes

2005-12-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

one of Benjamin's favorite pastimes is to get his tricycle (ahem cross tricycle) up to full speed, and... head down, blaze straight into a wall. BANG!!! He finds this terribly funny. He will then say, to no one in particular, "A...gain" and repeat, giggling all the while. We insist he wears his helmet.

why

2005-12-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

ben "I'm spilling my yogurt"
ben "why am i spilling my yogurt"

and later

"I want THIS KIND of yogurt [cry]" ben
"OK, Ben, here's the yogurt you want." dad
"Why did you get me that yogurt?" ben

Over and over and over again.

Why? I don't know.

bonus

2005-11-22T19:51:00.000-08:00

Ben doesn't understand the concept of bonus. Or, maybe the more salient point is daddy can't seem to grasp that Ben's not really ready to appreciate the bonus. Let me explain. The bedtime rule is this: You eat dinner, get a bath, brush teeth, eat a vitamin, and read TWO books.

So this is a nice time for me as I really love it when Ben nestles into me and I read to him. So I read one, then two. I then tell Ben that we're going to do something extra special and read a bonus book. This special treat is really for me but he wants another book so everybody's happy. But he assumes that the bedtime starting point is 2+1 at a beginning negotiating point. It's not, "Thanks daddy for the bonus book, boy am I lucky." Instead it's a screaming rant for, and I quote, "fourbooksfivebookssixbooksseveneightninetenbooks!"

So tonight I was very clear that we're getting two books and we're done with no ambiguity. The result: a peaceful bedtime. So Dad learns something new. I'll try the bonus technique when he's a little older and can appreciate the fact that he's getting something beyond what is due. I'm thinking he will be about 27 before this works as I envision but I'll keep on trying.

snow

2005-11-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

Mt Hood has gotten lots of snow this fall... really!

Has Christmas jumped the shark?

2005-11-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

A NPR story just talked about how the latest thing is to display your Christmas tree upside-down. So I propose that Christmas has decidedly run out of ideas and, hence, has jumped the shark. If you're not familiar with the term...

http://www.jumptheshark.com/

Actual Time 6:58 AM PST 4:48 PM PST

2005-11-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

That would be the sunrise/sunset statistic. And then there's this one.

Length of Day
9h 49m
Tomorrow will be 2m 39s shorter.

Ugh ... it's payback for the endless summer. I biked back from the coffeehouse and it was *brisk*... winter is here. OK, not technically which brings me to my next thing.

It is only recently that I realized how the seasons work. I just assumed that the equinoxes and solstices were midpoints of the seasons. I realize now that I'm off by half a season. It seems odd to me that winter starts at the solstice. It would make more sense to me if the shortest day of the year is exactly mid winter and the longest day is mid summer. What can I tell you, as a kid I thought a florist was the guy who installs your hardwood floors.

Burnin' down the house - db

2005-10-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Asked to describe Bush's mood, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "The president is continuing to focus on the work we've got to get done."

hoo haa

bad luck

2005-10-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

"I wonder if she really meant five minutes when she said five minutes" I think to myself as I stare at the blue plastic door. If she's right then I probably have under three left at this point. I need to stand up and get out. I finish up and exit. While holding the door for the next person I give him an apologitic look. There's nothing to say that doesn't just make matters worse. I really need to move now. I jump on my bike and blaze to the start line. I roll up to one of the race officials and give them my info. "Hi yeah, I registered just a minute ago. I'll be racing single speed, here's my..."

The announcer interrupts through the sound system, "And the race has begun."

I continue, " ... my race number. Thanks." I roll to the horde about to start. The announcer cuts in again, "Fifteen seconds to go." For this race they group the B-level riders and the single speed riders into one heat separated by one minute. So from the moment I woke up until this moment, I spared only fifteen seconds. Wouldn't have been as tight except for I remembered to bring my race tag with my race number emblazoned upon it about fifteen minutes into my drive to the venue. At least there are no pre-race jitters. Instead it's a "here we go" inevitability and ambivalence to it all. I roll out with the group and the race indeed has begun.

Without training at all this season, the races are simply punishment. I pick my way through the some riders and get into a rhythm. In my previous race I was wishing the race to end by the halfway point. This time I feel pretty good ... this is my kind of course. The collective voice of the racers call this a "mountain-bike style course." which suits me perfectly. This translates into a few small hills, narrow twisty tight singletrack and a few obstacles that I can jump where others have to dismount and carry. Many of these riders are roadies getting muddy so the have little skill and instead rely upon strength. I have to rely on skill and caffeine because strength comes with training and...

With two and a half laps to go I really lay it on. The traffic is lighter and my speed is dictated by my bike handling versus some slow rider blocking my way. So I'm ripping and just loving it until...

I get stuck behind this random guy who simply cannot get it together. He flops over and I can't get around him. He does it again for no apparent reason and I nearly crash into him again. The bike flips up and somehow I fall back instead of on top of the guy. Then we come to a stair section and why I'm still behind this guy is a mystery of slow motion suffering. He dismounts and starts walking like it's an elderly group heading home from Sunday brunch. The guy bonks me in the head with his bike in the process. At this point I can finally get around him. During this process of me making every possible error to stay behind this tool, I get passed by a dozen or so guys. If I had cleanly passed this person, I would have made a good go of this race finishing somewhere in the top half. Instead the momentum is gone and I try to get the fire started again.

Why does my bike sound like an eighteen wheeler braking through the Sierras? I've got this metal on metal horrible sound. I peel off to inspect the wheels. I unclip the rear brake rendering it inoperable. This is the most likely culprit for such a sound. Brakes are overrated...go fast I think to myself. I go another twenty yards and the sound is still there. The rear wheel isn't turning easily. The bearing seem to have seized.

I carry the dead equipment off the course and I hang my head. I'm out. It's done. I pick up the bike and carry it to the booth where they're giving out really good free coffee and drown my sorrows as I skulk home.

At home, with the bike on the bike stand, I remove the wheel and adjust the bearings. It's now as smooth as butter. Why this seizing happened I'll never know. The mechanical failure was coincident with the crash with the frustrating Sunday brunch rider. While it's my fault for whatever bike maintenance failure took place and all the poor decisions that put me behind himt, I still find it in my heart to blame *him* ... at least partially and irrationally for the outcome. Come next race I'll pass him and never look back.

slow

2005-10-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

but not *that* slow. Cross race #2 results are in. You need to click on the 5th page as I cannot link directly. Single speeding is good fun. These results involve a training strategy of sitting in an office chair and maybe a little gardening. While the season is less than half way done, I'm thinking about next season when, if I actually try, I could have a real chance at getting results with swag associated.

One thing that I know could shave LOTS of time would be to learn how to run beyond the speed of a grandmother with a cane. I often feel the wooosh of wind as others pass me during the carry sections. I'm realllly bad. What I need (for next season) is the equivalent of torque. I need to be able to accelerate the legs while slopping through thick gooey mud with a bike on my shoulder. Ugh

HAIRBENDER

2005-10-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

ok... i LIED about not posting. This is partly my ranting board so here's one for today:

Hairbender espresso blend is far-and-away the best. Everything else is either a not-close second or a sad "please bury me with lots of milk" grade product.

What is it with the collective other roasters? I visited a promising place Tuesday with its Probat roaster sitting in all of it's steam train styled glory. If Hairbender is a full delicious cabernet, then this was one of those off spanish reds that was left in the sun too long and sold for $3.99 at Trader Joe's as a result.

I like to try new beans from promising roasters but time and time again I relegate them to the "backup bean" canister inside of a dozen shots and refresh the hopper with more Hairbender.

I know... who cares?

busy

2005-10-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

Any Community Cafe devotees are certainly bored with the absence of posts. Just an update to say that such minimal posting will continue for another week. Check back after that for some great pumpkin patch photos and other random goodies. Until then maybe YOU can post something interesting going on in YOUR life in response.

WHY?

2005-09-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Why?

Why?
Why?

Why?

(If you're a parent, this needs no further explanation)