Awesomeness....

.... Is having a daughter that loves to ride.Today was a great day to cruise the neighborhood, overcast, loads of cloud cover and a nice breeze. She's awesome on the thing, can't wait to get her out on the trails!



Wish I were as styling as this

Another fine day of Irish weather....

If you're one of the two people who follow this thing, you know that we live on the border of Hell & Hotter than Hell. Most of the time I can't stand getting outside during normal daylight hours as the sun just about melts me. Whenever we have the possibility of rain or an overcast day, I jump for joy. Yesterday was one of those spectacular days, overcast all morning with some drizzle in the afternoon. Needless to say, I had to take advantage of the fine weather and the fact that I did not have daddy duty. Off I went to the Madrone trail. Wow, it's dry out there. It's been a harsh winter with very little rain. The lake is as low as I've ever seen it, as you can see by the abandoned truck dumped in the lake.... wonder if the driver got out... didn't feel like checking... this time.


In other news, I've decided to take a break from perpetual motion.... yep, no longer scorching the inbred.


Initial thoughts were... well strange. There were a couple of times on the slight techy downs that I tried to apply a little back pressure on the cranks only to have them spin backwards... amazing how your brain holds on to past information. After the front section of the trail, I did pick up a load of speed, by the time I hit flying cactus I was zipping around like I'd never scorched on that bike before. In the end, coasting is fun, but I do love to ride a fixie off road. I think I'll keep it spinny for a while. When the new project gets off the ground I'll go back to scorching with it.

Okie dokie, that's it for a while. Have a safe and happy weekend all.

Gone.... (or a silly long run on sentence)

buh-bye....



... so in these tough economic times one does what one has to do. The Vassago pretty much sat in the garage 98% of the time, instead I tend to ride my cheap-o on-one inbred franken fixie... don't know why exactly it's like driving a civic with a fart-can exhaust when you have a proper race car in the garage... maybe that was part of it. The Vassago, while very capable off road, was more of a garage/trailer queen. I liked the look of it, it would last forever, but I didn't enjoy riding it. The crappy inbred always won out... so I did what any guy who hasn't worked 8 months would do... I sold it. The other thing I found, is that as much as I wanted to love my 29er experience I just didn't. While I think it's a spectacular platform for tall, fit folks, us short, fat, out of shape folks just need a little more room for the boy(s) and need a rear wheel that will get up to speed faster. Hence the beauty of the 69er or 96er. All the benefits of a big wheel up front & all the benefits of a smaller lighter wheel out back. The funds of the chi-chi Ti race bike will go to good use as we're having a patio put in the back yard. The builder gave us a little 10x12 covered porch which is nice until you get furniture and a grill out there, throw in a plant or twelve and there's no room. The new patio will be 27x12 with a 2' bump out on the existing 10' section of the original porch. The old porch will then be enclosed with screening. We'll finish off the patio with a shade sail to give us a break from the brutal Texas sun (our house is oriented with the back facing south... sun all afternoon). I need to find an ROI model for a pavestone patio to see if we'll see any $ back when we go to sell.

Wow been a while

So yep, I've been slackin'. I haven't been on technology for a while, I think I got Facebooked out... it became clear one night when Kathy came home from work and asked where Ella was.... I just pointed out back.... Poor thing was in the back yard naked playing in the sand box. I suppose that would have been the breaking point. So after being threatened with divorce and getting it together I decided to take a break for a while. I'm not sure if I'll ever FB again to be honest, it just sucks you in and you can't let go. Blogging is a bit less addictive, and still allows me to keep in touch with friends. So that's what I'm up to.

The weight loss thing is rocky. I began eating well, and running in the mornings, but that only lasted a short while and I'm back to it. It's tough to break old habits, especially as I creep closer and closer to the big four-oh! I can do it, I just have to set it up and stick to it. The first 30 days will be the toughest, after that I'm sure I'll be loving it.

And in other news... after nearly 20 years out of school, I'm apparently not nearly as dumb as I thought. I was able to utilize transcripts from my times in school before and able to put them to good use! No math needed other than what I already have for my degree!!! So all that was left was to take an English placement test... out of a possible 100 I scored a 94... not too bad considering the last English course I took was a high school level course in 1988!!! Holy sh!t am I really doing this? I can knock out my first class in 20 days in a program called "Maymester" where you go to class 5 days a week 4 hours a day for 20 days. Now that's my kind of school.... it was as I was getting ready to sign up that my phone rings. Fate is a biotch.... Verizon wants me to come be part of the team. So now the dilemma... do I blow them off or go ahead and interview.... 3 interviews later and it's looking like I may be back in the working world. If this is the case, I'm still going to knock out my pre-recs at night and Kathy will enter the "bridge" program. It's only a year, then I can leave the workforce and go back to school full time. Two short years later and I'll be an RN... and with any luck I'll be able to convince Kathy that VA is the place to be.