(no subject)
Time to post some stuff.
4th of July. Pure awesome. I haven't had this much fun on the 4th for a couple of years. Skitabug and Fishsticks put together a great gathering. A good mix of kinky and vanilla, but no mishaps. It was funny how everyone looked around when the question of how we all knew eachother was posed. Fishsticks demonstrated mad grilling skills, and I finally got to sample the now famous Happy Blue Juice. One of the vanilla guests was a fellow cycling geek, so I had a kindred spirit to talk too. I even got to take a quick dip in Mother Ocean before I arrived at the beach house. Its funny how diving under the waves, and tasting the salt on my lips replenishes my soul. I think someone commented on me being in a funny/good/different mood. All I can say is that I was really looking forward to the party filled with cool people, and combine that with a quiet stress free day at work, and reconnecting with Mother Ocean, my soul was replenished 10 times over.
Bike Stuff.
I went behind the orange curtain for a bike race yesterday. I met up with some teammates and car pooled up. Somehow we got 4 guys, 4 bikes and alot of other crap into a Scion XB...the original body style. It was quite humorous. The race course is new, and up in Aliso Viejo. The promoter posts alot on cycling message boards, and was really selling the race course. He said there was a hill, advertised as a 4% average steepness, but could easily be done in the big chain ring. Not so. The bottom was 4%, flattened for the finish line, and then spiked up to about 6-8% after that. This race was pure darwinism. Survival of the fittest, and no tactics. When we started I made sure to stay in the top 10, but the hill took its toll, and I got dropped from the lead group. I spent the majority of the race in with 8 guys working hard not to be lapped. The promoter had some guy on a red scooter following the tail end of the race, and if he passed you, that meant the lead group was about to catch you, and he would pull you out of the race. This guy was quickly dubbed The Red Scooter Of Doom. Anyway, he didn't pull us, and I made it to the finish. I even passed about 3 guys up the hill during my finish sprint for a top 20 placing. I was also the best finisher on my team. Yay me! I'm pretty pleased about that performance.
Now most races offer several catagories of age and skill level, so you can race more than once if so inclined. I entered two races. The next race was right after the first. So, after sprinting hard for the finish, I had to turn right around and line up again for the next race. I was still breathing hard, and my heart rate was still through the roof. I made it half way up the hill, all ready off the back of the pack, and just turned around. No way could I race again so soon. No worries though. It was still a successful day for me.
Tour De France
This goes without saying, but I'm in cycling geek heaven right now! Its the Tour Baby. 3 hrs of daily coverage. For an entire month!!!! I'll spare y'all the details, but for one thing. I joined a Tour fantasy league (yes they have them), and so far the guys I've picked on my team have won 4 stages. Yay Me.
The Family, or This Old House.
My brother is coming soon with his family. I don't know why, but I feel pressure to have my Parents house is decent order. Its totally irrational, but I feel like I'm being judged by them if its not in good shape. Its like they think I'm out riding when I should be looking after my Parents more. More than likely its just my guilt at spending too much time riding and not taking care of my parents more. Anyway, since my Brother's last visit, I've installed a new hand rail, and painted my Mom's bathroom, tried to repair some damaged/leaking shingles on the roof (gonna have to wait until it rains again), pretty much chopped down a small dead tree in the back yard, fixed two sprinklers, one of which was being consumed by a huge tree root, fixed one of the back gates, pruned what seemed like and acre of junipers that surround our corner lot, and updated the family will/trust. Still fighting the guilt.
My latest project was getting rid of this old, broken, never worked in the first place, freezer we've had in the garage for nearly as long as I can remember. This thing has always been used as a pantry. That and a condo for mice. Did I mention the mildew smell? Anyway, I cleaned it out/disposed of the contents last week. Interesting finds: A few boxes of brown sugar that completely solidified into bricks. A thing of oats that was once a moth breading ground, until it got too funky even for that. A can of what I think were pearl unions from Japan that was so warped and distended that I'm surprised it didn't burst. Can you say Botulism. Several bottles of maple syrup that had leaked. And finally, about a dozen bags of chocolate chips my Mom was hoarding. OK, in her defense, she has a killer browny recipe that calls for chocolate chips. I think she would buy a new bag every year, and just forget about them. The funny thing is that my Parents, being Great Depression babies were asking me if I could save some of the stuff. Umm, if you haven't eaten it in the last five years (or longer!!!), I don't think you're going to eat it anytime soon. So, no.
As for the freezer. Since it never worked, I couldn't get anyone to recycle it and give me money for it, so I paid a junk man to haul it away, and hopefully recycle it. I picked up a plastic cabinet unit at sears which should hold as much brown sugar and chocolate chips as the freezer. Another project down...except....
It looks like the freezer was hiding a big hole in the drywall behind it. So, I got to try my hand a drywall repair today. It went OK. However, the only scrap piece of drywall I could find at Home Depot was 3/8 in. thick, and the drywall in the garage is 1/2 in. thick. The new cabinet unit should cover up/hide that discrepancy just fine though.
Next, the even bigger hole in the drywall behind the washing machine.
4th of July. Pure awesome. I haven't had this much fun on the 4th for a couple of years. Skitabug and Fishsticks put together a great gathering. A good mix of kinky and vanilla, but no mishaps. It was funny how everyone looked around when the question of how we all knew eachother was posed. Fishsticks demonstrated mad grilling skills, and I finally got to sample the now famous Happy Blue Juice. One of the vanilla guests was a fellow cycling geek, so I had a kindred spirit to talk too. I even got to take a quick dip in Mother Ocean before I arrived at the beach house. Its funny how diving under the waves, and tasting the salt on my lips replenishes my soul. I think someone commented on me being in a funny/good/different mood. All I can say is that I was really looking forward to the party filled with cool people, and combine that with a quiet stress free day at work, and reconnecting with Mother Ocean, my soul was replenished 10 times over.
Bike Stuff.
I went behind the orange curtain for a bike race yesterday. I met up with some teammates and car pooled up. Somehow we got 4 guys, 4 bikes and alot of other crap into a Scion XB...the original body style. It was quite humorous. The race course is new, and up in Aliso Viejo. The promoter posts alot on cycling message boards, and was really selling the race course. He said there was a hill, advertised as a 4% average steepness, but could easily be done in the big chain ring. Not so. The bottom was 4%, flattened for the finish line, and then spiked up to about 6-8% after that. This race was pure darwinism. Survival of the fittest, and no tactics. When we started I made sure to stay in the top 10, but the hill took its toll, and I got dropped from the lead group. I spent the majority of the race in with 8 guys working hard not to be lapped. The promoter had some guy on a red scooter following the tail end of the race, and if he passed you, that meant the lead group was about to catch you, and he would pull you out of the race. This guy was quickly dubbed The Red Scooter Of Doom. Anyway, he didn't pull us, and I made it to the finish. I even passed about 3 guys up the hill during my finish sprint for a top 20 placing. I was also the best finisher on my team. Yay me! I'm pretty pleased about that performance.
Now most races offer several catagories of age and skill level, so you can race more than once if so inclined. I entered two races. The next race was right after the first. So, after sprinting hard for the finish, I had to turn right around and line up again for the next race. I was still breathing hard, and my heart rate was still through the roof. I made it half way up the hill, all ready off the back of the pack, and just turned around. No way could I race again so soon. No worries though. It was still a successful day for me.
Tour De France
This goes without saying, but I'm in cycling geek heaven right now! Its the Tour Baby. 3 hrs of daily coverage. For an entire month!!!! I'll spare y'all the details, but for one thing. I joined a Tour fantasy league (yes they have them), and so far the guys I've picked on my team have won 4 stages. Yay Me.
The Family, or This Old House.
My brother is coming soon with his family. I don't know why, but I feel pressure to have my Parents house is decent order. Its totally irrational, but I feel like I'm being judged by them if its not in good shape. Its like they think I'm out riding when I should be looking after my Parents more. More than likely its just my guilt at spending too much time riding and not taking care of my parents more. Anyway, since my Brother's last visit, I've installed a new hand rail, and painted my Mom's bathroom, tried to repair some damaged/leaking shingles on the roof (gonna have to wait until it rains again), pretty much chopped down a small dead tree in the back yard, fixed two sprinklers, one of which was being consumed by a huge tree root, fixed one of the back gates, pruned what seemed like and acre of junipers that surround our corner lot, and updated the family will/trust. Still fighting the guilt.
My latest project was getting rid of this old, broken, never worked in the first place, freezer we've had in the garage for nearly as long as I can remember. This thing has always been used as a pantry. That and a condo for mice. Did I mention the mildew smell? Anyway, I cleaned it out/disposed of the contents last week. Interesting finds: A few boxes of brown sugar that completely solidified into bricks. A thing of oats that was once a moth breading ground, until it got too funky even for that. A can of what I think were pearl unions from Japan that was so warped and distended that I'm surprised it didn't burst. Can you say Botulism. Several bottles of maple syrup that had leaked. And finally, about a dozen bags of chocolate chips my Mom was hoarding. OK, in her defense, she has a killer browny recipe that calls for chocolate chips. I think she would buy a new bag every year, and just forget about them. The funny thing is that my Parents, being Great Depression babies were asking me if I could save some of the stuff. Umm, if you haven't eaten it in the last five years (or longer!!!), I don't think you're going to eat it anytime soon. So, no.
As for the freezer. Since it never worked, I couldn't get anyone to recycle it and give me money for it, so I paid a junk man to haul it away, and hopefully recycle it. I picked up a plastic cabinet unit at sears which should hold as much brown sugar and chocolate chips as the freezer. Another project down...except....
It looks like the freezer was hiding a big hole in the drywall behind it. So, I got to try my hand a drywall repair today. It went OK. However, the only scrap piece of drywall I could find at Home Depot was 3/8 in. thick, and the drywall in the garage is 1/2 in. thick. The new cabinet unit should cover up/hide that discrepancy just fine though.
Next, the even bigger hole in the drywall behind the washing machine.