In Review

Saturday, few things around the house and made a big ol' batch of chili for the 5th annual cook-off that our friends host. 12 different chilis to be had. All very good in their own respect. I didn't agree with the winner, but that's my own opinion. Mine was too hot for that particular crowd. Oh well. Winning certainly wasn't the point. You could vote as often as you wished. Votes cost $1. All proceeds went to the American Cancer Society. Our little gathering of about 30 people brought >$100 for the cause.

Sunday morning, 9:15 tee time with Marcus, Chris and Stephen (brother and brothers-in-law.) We played best ball and had a blast. Pizzas and pitchers after in the club house and we were off to the in-laws (or parents in Chris and Stephen's case) for Grandma's 95th birthday gathering. Still living on her own. Still sharp as a tack. Mobility is a bit of an issue. But it's great to see her doing so well.

Less than 2 weeks until Sam's 1st b-day. Holy crap... where did it go!? What did I do with my time before? Apparently nothing. I know what I'm not doing now. I'm not biking. I'm not camping. I'm not hiking. I'm not up on pop culture. Not that it's all bad, because it certainly isn't. I really hope to get some more of these scheduling and time demands under better control. We've come up with some solutions, but we'll continue to work.

Beechwood tonight. Always good. Love the Tuesday night getaways. Will need to bring the lights. The waning daylight demands it.

Happy Tuesday all!

I was CB's first.

What Are We Coming To?

Guilty as charged. Yes, me. I can't believe what I just did. Yet, I truly believe that it's indicative of where we are heading as a society. I share a prison-cell-sized cubicle with the two leads that work for me. It's an arrangement that works well for us in our environment. One of them just asked me the location of some particular files on our server. I found the path to it, copied it from my address bar and sent it to him via Instant Messenger. Yes, he's about eight feet behind me. Yes he can hear me perfectly well over the noise of our distribution center. I could easily have spoken the path to him using the drive name and major folder names. He is certainly more than capable of taking it from that point. But, I choose to IM it to him - yes, I just used a noun as a verb; another thing that is showing a rampant growth rate, but I digress. Heaven forbid I turn and actually speak to someone on my staff. That kind of personal interaction may help to build a better working relationship and possibly further build, do I dare say, trust!? The art of interpersonal communication is on the decline. Email, text, IM... none of them verbal. All easy to put your own feelings into and completely change the intent of the message and cause fabricated issues. A short-coming of technology that we are allowing to happen for the return of better efficiency, which may not even be accurate. Talk to each other, don't just communicate.

The Ride

DoubleB picked me up early yesterday and we headed to Beechwood for the Tuesday night ritual. I've been running the gears the last couple of weeks as I have not been feeling one-gear-fully-rigid strong as of late. I must admit, it's been a good feeling to do the climbs completely as opposed to planning on where to unclip, hop off and run (well, okay, walk) up the hill. Help the ego which seems to have transferred to the rest of the trail as well. First lap was crap, no doubt about it. Only redemption was not having a tree take me down this week. Missed the new rock garden, missed the exit on the new log bridge, missed the berm bowl... you get the idea. 2nd lap became the best one I've had in over a month. Still missed the new rock garden, but it will still be there next week. Things started flowing much better. Climbs felt even better. I still climb like a cow climbs a tree, but they did feel better on lap two. Cleaned the new bridge. One touch on the berm. Waited for some others to cycle through, went back up the trail for another run at it. Clean and did the full 180 to the next trail. Turns out it was all psyche, looks worse than it is. Finished up the lap, did my obligatory parade lap, changed, re-hydrated and headed over to the fire and grill. Chicken brats and grill puffballs. Yes, puffballs. Some huge ones in the woods next to the trail. Never knew you could eat them. Peel, slice, grill. Pretty tasty. If I'm ever lost in the woods, I want Jay to be one of the people with me.

Julie has settled into her back to four-day work schedule and has added every other Saturday as well. We were starting to dip into savings too often. This was in hope that we be able to start paying ourselves again. Don't know that this will happen though. We're about to be punished yet again for being smart and not completely over-extending ourselves. Makes me feel just plain wonderful that we can turn over our "wealth" - and I use that term very loosely in this case - to someone for redistribution.

Randomness

Catching a tree with the right side of your bar can get your clothes dirty and make your left shoulder hurt.

A dog can do some dumb-a$$ things that can horrify and embarrass you. I am truly sorry MC.

I already dread the cold weather coming which will force a change in my Tuesday evenings.

It's Friday

I got nothing.

Maybe take in the local high school football game. It is, afterall, only a 1/2 mile walk from our house.

Maybe some grocery shopping.

Good times, I tell ya, good times.

Well, okay, maybe a beverage thrown in there.

Today is the day of the weekly staff meeting. Or, as I like to call it, the clear cutting of the forest. We print out so many metrics tracking spreadsheets for each of us that we don't always get to it drives me nuts. Good thing we're a "paperless" company. I'd hate to see what it would be like otherwise. At least we went through everything today.

Two thumbs up on the mango chicken salad. Julie said it's one of the best she's every had. I'd rate it up there as well. Super simple as well. It will be on the menu often.

Already thinking about the Old Pueblo.... thanks a lot CB. Because of you I'm already dreading the trainer during the winter. Don't you have budgets or something to work on?

Loaded the gears, water and my pointer and we headed to Beechwood last night. I felt faster on the gears. May have just been the feeling, but I'll take that feeling. Clark nearly took me out a number of times last night. It's been nearly a year since I've had him out for a Tuesday night romp. He seems to have forgotten his trail etiquette. A quarter mile in, he doubled back and met me not only on the first bridge, but also the second bridge. There's not room on either for two-way traffic of canine and clyde. Luckily he's plenty spry and doesn't mind jumping off, over and into things. The single track I road felt more flowing that it has in weeks. Don't know why, it just did. Maybe my mind is clearing up a bit and I am more able to better focus. I cut a couple of loops out so that I could keep the dog out of other bike traffic. He didn't need to be the cause of any crashes.

Got done with my abbreviated lap. Talked to a couple of people and then did the obligatory parade lap. Yes, I know it's supposed to be done at the beginning, but when Autumn is just around the corner and the shadows are becoming earlier and longer, I much prefer to use the available light in the woods and use dusk for the field lap. My guess is that we'll have to run lights starting next week.

Grill was fired up and the food was cooking. My thanks to Kevin and Amy for a very tasty jalapeno-cheddar chicken brat. Grabbed a couple of Sun Chips and cheese curds and a water bottle. Enjoyed the conversations and headed home a bit earlier than normal.

As always, it was good to get out there. Thanks to the sharing of Mike and Jay, my Tuesdays really break up my week.

New recipe tonight - Mango chicken salad. Looks like it will be good. Can never have enough good chicken recipes.

Was gone on

hi-8-us from my blog for awhile. Did a lot thinking. Looking back. Re-thinking. Not sure if anything has come of it, but I'm still here. And, since it's Tuesday, I'll be at Beechwood tonight. Taking the gears tonight. Don't feel I have SS drive in me. Maybe I'll turn it into a good night. Have just had bad luck with the XXIX. Nothing bad (except for kinking the left fork blade the 2nd ride out), just little irritating things. Rubbing brakes, seatpost that won't stay at height, loose crankset, loose chain, flat. Nothing bad, just tired of the adjusting on it. Besides, have only been on the dos Niner once since the purchase. It's time to ride it again.

Grandma passed a few weeks ago. I thought I'd have something profound to type about the meaning of life, but I don't. She was a good woman who lived life. She went out on her terms. Little or no pain, just drifted off. Not the what could have been the agonizing cancer death that we thought may happen. At 92, she deserved the peace that came over her.

Can't believe that Sam is just over a month away from being a year old. Where did the time go? I don't know. I do know where it didn't go, but that's a much further and deeper story. I've had to make so many changes that I never thought about before. Don't want to sound bad, because I have no regret about it. But, until you live it, you have no idea what it's like. It's so cliche to say it changes the world as you know it, but that's the only way to put it. Right now, I just keep on keeping on as Sam grows and make adjustments that keep all parties involved happy.