1.31.2007

little chompers

i think zoe's top tooth is coming in. she was pretty fussy the whole evening. i was finally able to get her down. now i'm tired and cranky.
i need to sell stuff to pay for my addiction. i'm gonna really sort through my stuff for real and have an affair with ebay tomorrow...
i am the pickiest eater ever. i'm totally surprised that i even tried pumpkin pie as a child. i loved it then and love it now. jewel had one in the bakery and i picked up yesterday. the whole time i walked up and down the aisles i mumbled to myself "don't forget the cool whip. don't forget the cool whip." i forgot the damn cool whip. fuck. now i have this perfectly good pie sitting here. i tried to grab some at jewel tonight on the way home from work. i walk in and this chick was standing there. she says "ma'am our system is down right now and we won't know when it will be back up"... i scan the store. there is probably like seventy people in line. how sucky is that! i guess i'll get some cool whip tomorrow.

1.30.2007

mind boggling














micro mini. seatpost needs to be cut ya think? and the reflectors... maybe.












ziggy 1. lower swap to black, n gear stop, spot chainguard coming soon.

do hickey for your tweet tweet

some creepy guy emailed me that once. i'm still laughing.
holy crap i have so much cool stuff going on right now it's mind boggling!!!

boggle this: mars, ferrous, mini, ti, kits, tk, 240, do hickey, USE, moots, twin six, ziggy times 2, ww, patches, 1x9, single, paul, ebay.

pictures will say 1000 words, but that won't be for awhile yet.

1.28.2007

some advice

take it from me, never run and jump in fresh powder (even if it's only a little bit) with flip flops. you'll have to hang your pants to dry...

1.27.2007

no crying in mountain biking?

i hope that's not the case as i would've been kicked out of the sport today.
i headed out to palos with john, trailpimp, jeremey, kevin, amy and lori. what a group to be in when yer slow as shit. anyway, about a mile in, the ice pretty much took me down. i went from being total upright trying to catch the group to on my knees within a time so short it's not even recordable. bam. crap. my knees were stunned. i couldn't get up for a second. i finally got up and had to use my bike to walk a few steps. hopped on and was fine. as i saw the group at the bottom of the hill i felt like a kid who got hurt at the playground and see their mom or dad they just let loose with the tears. yes. that was me. i was crying not from pain but from feeling stupid, being slow, not being offroad in so long, frustrated. it was like a flood of emotions. i turned out to be thankful for the icy conditions as it kept the pro field i was with, within reach. thanks to all for just going out and having a good time with me.
i headed home early from the ride as i was pushing it already asking my mom to babysit the kids. i didn't want to burn any bridges. got home and waited for everyone else to get there to finish up the fit kits. new team kits are almost ready to roll, if all goes well this'll be the first year i'm not freaking out about what i'll wear at my first race.
hung out in the basement for a bit. came up to put zoe to sleep and i ended up crashed out with her. i think the fresh air got to me a bit. pizza tonight.

1.26.2007

cold ass

it was so nice tonight i rode without gloves. mainly because i was so overdressed i needed the heat to escape from somewhere...
but seriously it was nice out. i was surprised at how warm it was. trailpimp and i headed out on the paved loop which is now the half paved/half slush n ice loop. we rode a nice steady pace chatting just happy to be on our bikes watching for that next black ice patch. my saddle moved up (like straight up) and pretty much gave me a crotch wedgie so i was a bit happy to get home. next time i'll be sure to tighten the bolts properly cuz that sucked.
as nice as it was my ass was cold and is still cold. i chased casey with it when i got home. scared the crap out of her. damn knickers were half way down my ass all gang banger style. i'll remember a belt next ride... which hopefully will be tomorrow am.
fit kit ride tomorrow. i have to remember the camera.

p.s. i really want to watch napoleon dynamite right now. there are just so many reasons why.

1.24.2007

colored hoods

there is talk of maybe doing these aftermarket. if SRAM did, would you buy?
what colors... red, white and i say pink. black is a given. if you don't ride SRAM and could choose a color for your campy or shimano, what would you pick?

1.23.2007

24

i missed it last night and am pretty pissed. anyone record it?

1.22.2007

damn barbie jeep

friday night i tinkered with a few bikes but never finished with one. i was stopped by minor things here and there. soon though. john was up til the wee hours in the morning playing gears of war. he's hooked. i tried, i sucked. too complicated. you need to use every button on the controller, give me a joystick please.
woke up pretty early on saturday morning to get bills done and casey registered for soccer. after that we ran a bunch of errands. target, ulta, petsmart, circuit city. we got a mini dvd player from my parents for xmas 3 years ago. we had to take it back because it didn't work out of the box. they gave us a hard time about returning at first, but ended up giving us a store credit (which was cool we really wanted another dvd player anyway). we bought the 4 year protection plan for it. a mini dvd player with a toddler (at that time), we figured it was a good buy. fast forward almost 3 years later the now preschooler loses breakfast inside the dvd player. of course it's toast (no pun intended). we take it in for repair, they can't fix it, we get a $250 store credit. so a new dvd player better than the original for $100 and a balance of $154 on the gift card. sweet.
that afternoon after doing some chores i headed out on the bike path with the surly. it was a gorgeous day for a ride. i wish i had more time, i would've hit the trails to see what they were like. that evening we grabbed some portillos and turned in early. exciting i know.
sunday we had some friends and family over for the bears game. i made a bunch of chicken linguini and garlic bread. it was a fun day. it didn't end too well though. after everyone had left we noticed it was a bit chilly in the house. i didn't think much of it, other than everyone had left and there wasn't as much body heat. i guess john felt it was cold too as he went downstairs to check the furnace out. apparently the humidifier water pipe had been bumped (by casey's rad barbie jeep) and was now draining into the furnace and onto the circuit board. nice. so a bunch of towels later, standing there with a hairdryer for 45 minutes and just waiting to see what happened... the furnace finally dried out about 3 am. john was finally able to kick it on. phew. that would've sucked ass.

1.18.2007

untitled

we promised casey we'd take her for mexican tonight. we went to her favorite place because she likes their "orange" rice. it was awesome. i don't know if i was super hungry or what... but it reminded me of why it's my all time favorite restaurant. yum.
john took casey to bed and apparently has fallen asleep with her as i haven't seen him for hours. i'm still amped from the coke i had with dinner. i need to remember no caffeine after 6 or i'm up til all hours of the night.
so to tire myself i thought i'd do a search on how to tape those fucking ec90 track bars. i'm not a road bar taper and neither is john. so the easton bar is screwing with our minds... there is no open end in the bar to put the tape in. wtf? how do you make it look clean? i tried to do a search on how to tape, but apparently nobody has bought this bar. and i know why. holy fuck! did you see the price? i'm so out of touch with reality when it comes to bike parts... this one was "given" to me by a friend and now realizing how much it cost i must, oh wait, it was james who gave it to me. screw him. anyway, after i got bored searching for that bar i got caught up with looking at bikes. believe me, i'm as surprised as you are about this... so i came to a decision, my next bike is a geared 29er. steel and custom. too many makers to choose from... if, desalvo, kish, strong etc. the list goes on! fuck.
so overwhelming. i'm sure my mind will change again. stay tuned.
before we headed out for dinner, i took the cross check on her first ride. i still have to swap some stuff out- like a non-setback post, shorter stem and i may put my torsion bar on there. my first ride outside after purchasing the shuffle and i forget it, duh. but i ended up not minding. the wind was strong. that and the falling snow flurries made for some cool sounds i hadn't heard in awhile. neither the wind or flurries agreed with my exposed face. the wind bit my skin and the snow sharpened the bite even more. i enjoyed the soft sound of my tires rolling over the barely there snow. as usual, my toes forced me to come home sooner than i would have liked.














whoa. it's way later than i thought it was. i should at least try to fall asleep.

1.17.2007

is it wednesday already?

my how time flies. i'm sleepy.
on the drive home yesterday i found myself nodding off. i had to open both windows and make a phone call. driving the dan ryan i'm not sure which is more dangerous, falling asleep at the wheel or pulling over to hang for a bit.
i tinkered a bit more with the surly last night. it's hard to get stuff like that done when you have two kids. zoe goes to bed around 8-8:30 (what happened to the 7:30 bedtime?)... so that doesn't leave much time to get things done if i want to get any sleep. sleep has been sacrificed though (hence the nodding off and the having to wear a baseball cap at work because i can't get up in the morning to take a shower and wash my greasy hair).
i need to go through all of our parts and do some kind of inventory. it's crazy down there. a trip to home depot may be in order to get more bins. maybe we'll label them or something. we'll probably find some hidden treasures along the way... i'm hoping my paul's love levers will be one of them.

1.16.2007

snow

we got a little dusting over the day yesterday. not much. but it's cold... so at least perhaps the trails will freeze.
nobody in the office with me again. they're on their way to TWN. i'm so glad i didn't have to make that trip.

1.15.2007

straight outta mother f*cking rehab

the crack got me through a super boring trainer ride.



i didn't get to finish the surly. all i did was pull the grips off and put pedals on. i kind of did a part search... i might have to put 1/2 pipes on there. 1/2 pipes rule in the winter with your big ass gloves on.



i'm not bummed at all. i'm glad i rode instead. i probably could've gotten a bunch more stuff done, but i am addicted to 24. stupid tv. and to make it worse the premiere was 2 nights and 2 hours both nights. wtf. i need tivo or something.
next project is the sycip after i finish the surly. the surly will be my shitter weather and errand bike, but i'm sure it will become more than that.

where's the snow?

all the hype has proven again to be nothing. just more wet. sump pump workin' overtime yet again. i'm tired of wrestling with the dog to wipe his feet when he comes in (actually he's real good about it, but still).
didn't do much this weekend except waste time and spend too much money on things... one of which was this. finally.
got another bike over the weekend, but i've been so busy with people over and errands and umhhh, video games i've yet to finish it. i haven't even really looked at it... which is pretty crazy for me. i thought about bringing it to work today so i could just be with it... but i didn't feel like standing in the rain loading it in the car. days like this is when i miss working at the shop.
since i appear to be the only person in my dept here today, nothing is keeping me from staying all day.
HA HA... summer of 69 just came on and i embarrasingly found myself rockin' out!!! my closet is huge.

1.12.2007

last night

restore desktop. casey at gram's. new mexican restaurant. ipod and velcro. trainer. bored. xbox live. part seeking. psp in the dark.

today... my ass hurts from the damn trainer.

1.10.2007

work?














actually i was on the phone with him talking about this.

where'd her curls go?



















1.09.2007

smiles and argyle

1.08.2007

monday

i want an ipod shuffle. i'm just in love with the clip i think.
def leppard just came up on itunes... it was like fu manchu, ben lee, elliot smith and def leppard. i guess that's what i like about shuffle.
john didn't do too well at the tour yesterday. he missed the checkpoint or something and had to double back. he was like 60th of 85. he didn't care so that's cool.













we took casey to see night at the museum. it was a perfect movie for all three of us... john nor i really wanted to see charlotte's web and i doubt casey wanted to see children of men or whatever is out.
team kit stuff is coming together for next year. hopefully there won't be any bumps in the road.
i need a new bike light.
i've got nothing really. i'm tired and feel very overwhelmed.

1.07.2007

snot rocket














my morning started with an errand. i took the bike. it was pretty windy out but nice. got back home. the stuff i wanted/needed to do seemed to be closing in around me. each time i did something it seemed like the mess was worse. i reached my breaking point while feeding zoe. fingers in dish, just took bib off, bananas and cereal all over her, my pants and the floor. typical. happens all the time... but that moment had me exhale a god dammit. john told me to go out on a ride. hell yeah, why didn't i think of that.
the spot got the call. i headed out.




























there was actually a small trail that wasn't under water that i hit. it was about 20 feet but it was all rooty and stuff so i was stoked. the view from that trail:















moving on.
















lake arrowhead was a bit flooded.



































































apparently my bottle cage isn't perfectly straight from this past fall's crash.
















i came home to these gals.
































of course she was playing lego star wars.















i don't think i've ever come home with more snot on my gloves. my jacket wasn't unscathed either (as seen in the first pic). i seem to have the right side farmer's blow mastered, but the left not so much. my nose is raw. i'll probably have to disinfect the grips come spring.
da tour starts this weekend. sunday morning to be exact. john finished some much needed maintenance on the commuter which included swapping out bars and stem. casey picked the tape... she likes blue, reminds her of the king from the movie cars. dinoco blue.















out makin' sure its ready... with some friends.
















1.05.2007

funny thing

so we went to jewel wednesday night to cash in our coins. our bucket was so full we couldn't add anymore. jewel has coinstar which if you get cash back they charge you like 8%. however if you get a giftcard there is no counting fee. we opted for circuit city as we were cashing in for some umhhh xbox accessories like the wireless connector. anyway standing there forever (because there are so many pennies) this dude walks up to me with a wad of money. i mean a whole huge wad of twenties. he hands me a twenty and says "i just won a bunch of money at the boats. too much money. i'll feel better if i give you a 20." i was standing there with this 20 like trying to process what he was saying/asking. i couldn't understand why he would want 20 dollars worth of coins. then it hit me, he was really giving me 20 bucks. he probably thought we were hurting for cash standing there cashing all our coins in after the holidays. i felt a little bad, like guilty. i wanted to say dude, we're cashing this stuff in to buy video game stuff not food! it was all so fast.
it rained a lot yesterday. streets are flooded. the paved trails are flooded. we might be dry by july to ride offroad at this point. i hope we don't get snow. if it freezes at this point i may have to invest in some studded tires. we could have ice races.

1.03.2007

the new year

the year change doesn't really affect me anymore. i've been entering data at work for 07 for the past two months and talk of 08 product has been going on for some time now.
we went to my aunt's house for new years eve. mainly family hanging out enjoying good food and drink while making fun of the bears. i made it to midnight, unfortunately so did zoe. and she kept partying til well past 3 am. which made the next day mostly consist of this:


















one of the more exciting moments for me this past weekend was a saddle change:














adam is an ass saver therefore a lifesaver. ahhh... i couldn't believe the difference this saddle made while riding! getting off the back it was noticeably wider, but not bad at all- not like other women's saddles i've tried. very nice. i highly recommend it.
we added another new additon to the basement.


















i have to admit. i've never been one for videogames... mainly because i suck. but i found myself over the new year's weekend wasting many hours playing lego star wars II.
these characters were down there plenty as well.

















casey was down there so much john started calling her a gamer. but what was really funny is when i told her she needed to take a bath, she told me "gamers don't take baths". great.