Before I head to bed...

NOTHING brought me down today. Not the traffic, not the noise, not the temptation of retail therapy (thanks Craigslist!), not the smelly dude at QT, not the dumb fuckers honking at me while I was working in the field, nothing. No barking from the dogs, no smog, and momma cooked a breakfast with no hog! Everything went my way and I'm scared to go to sleep because I don't wanna break the cycle. But that alarm's going off in 6 hours, so I guess I gotta. 

I love my life!

Marley & Me

Yeah yeah, I cried like a little girl with a skinned knee. What of it. 

It was fun while it lasted

As of today, I (and other employees) no longer have access to the gym upstairs in my building. A couple of us that bike commute use the shower in the mornings, and since we all have long rides, that shower is very much appreciated. The new owner of the gym doesn't want anyone in there that isn't paying for personal training...and at $300/month, I won't be going in. 

I can't get away with a sink shower, and baby wipes won't do enough. Looks like I have to give up bike commuting, which totally fucking sucks. The weather is nice and I was really excited to get back into it (after slacking the past 2 months). 

Looks like my bike will be on ebay soon, and it'll certainly sell for more than I put into it, so that's one positive. But I'll miss it dearly. 

Without my weekday adventures, this blog will probably get more boring than it already is! 

It's like 72 degrees in my head at all times!

Yeay Global Warming! It's the first week of December and today's ride home was a hate-numbing 72 degrees. Sunny, no wind. Perfect riding conditions. Finally got the road bike "tweaked" just right so it's comfortable, and I zoomed home averaging 17.1mph. I should have timed the ride home because I'm pretty sure it was my fastest yet. I say "hate-numbing" because I surely didn't love all those rides home when it was pushing 110 degrees :) Days like today almost make up for it. 

I finally got a new cell phone that I'm happy with, an LG Dare on Verizon. It passed the music test with flying colors today. Probably an hour and a half of music, plenty of texting, and a couple short calls, and it still shows a full battery! The LG enV I had before would be half dead, and the LG Voyager I returned to get the Dare would be dead. I do need to fill up the memory card though, my playlist is getting too predictable! I'll get around to it this weekend. 

To counteract my day of bicycle bliss, I'll be surveying out in the middle of the freeway tomorrow. No bikes to be seen, no silence to be had. At least the weather will be nice!

Fatty loves Batman!

Wifey took this old, nasty, unused Batman beanbag out of Garren's room on saturday and put it in the hall temporarily while cleaning. King took it over and hasn't really moved since besides to eat, use the litter box, or make his quick round of socializing. I just thought it was funny so I'm sharing the picture. I wish I had a beanbag big enough for me to cuddle in a ball like that. I'm kinda jealous!

Gas is $1.95!

The election is over, gas was supposed to go right back up, as it always does...oh well, I certainly won't complain! I still rode today. My new $15 windbreaker kept me warm this morning, and the ride in to work was pretty nice. Even stopped and watched the rabbits on the side of the trail, since there seems to be some new baby ones that were hopping around. 

 The day itself though, sucked. I busted my butt at work trying to get things done (finally having steady billable work is exciting!), that I worked through lunch so I could leave at 3pm. At 2:30 I had my 40 hours for the week, and since OT is currently not allowed, anything over would be free. Working for free sucks. Since we had a doubles ping pong tournament to finish up (My team was knocked out first round, my year of reign as champion is over!), I figured I'd watch the finale and burn up some "free" time. So I watch the game and go back to finish my work. Then low and behold I get "office spaced" at 3pm, after I've filled my Camelbak for the ride home. 4:15 rolls around and I'm still at work. At this point I do not feel like riding home. I'm pissed. My plans for a new slow ride home on a beautiful Friday afternoon were destroyed and I was in a shitty mood. Probably wouldn't be so bad normally, but since the SAME thing happened last Friday (my bday) on the SAME project. So my anger was compounded. 

I text messaged my Wife, seeing if she'd pick me up, but I didn't get a response in time so I just left (note to self, calling instead of texting would have had better results). I had my first angry ride. Usually any annoyance goes away quickly on a ride. Not today. I was pissed off and even though it was a beautiful day, the frustration would not subside. Horrible feeling, and I hope to not experience it again. 

Looks like I'm on track for 3 bike commutes for the month of November. Pathetic! 3 commutes a WEEK is the plan. I'll get back to it in December perhaps :)

Off the wagon

Hello Blog, it's been a while. 

I left off after the Tour de Fat to do some vacationing. I'm sure my wife's lovely blog can fill you in on the details of that, but here's some highlights in no particular order:

1) Young chickens are entertaining

2) Soul food rules my world

3) American Cyclery is the coolest bike shop I've ever been to. 

4) Triple Rock Brewing in Berkeley knows how to make an fantastic imperial stout. 

5) Driving a purple car with pink stickers has different results from a more "manly" car. Stereotyping is alive and well on CA freeways.

So in the month since I've posted I've been to California, turned 30, slacked off on my weight loss goals, and slacked on bike commuting. Somewhere on the I-5 I must have lost motivation. 

So yeah I turned 30. The big day I've been so afraid of. Wasn't that big of a deal (which is how I wanted it to be), but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner with my wife really made it special in a simple way. Playing with my new Wall-E toy that Garren got me surely entertained me at work, and the visit to Papago Brewing after work was nice as well. 

Weight Loss: Yeah I haven't stepped on a scale in a while, but I will when I'm in the mood to see what it says :)

Bike commuting: One of my passions, hell the activity that spawned this blog! I could think of some good excuses on why I haven't been riding, but it really comes down to something as simple as the seasons. It's COLD. 55 degrees in the morning is equal to a blizzard in Iowa for someone who's lived in Phoenix for this long. I usually enjoy the cold when I'm prepared for it, but something about getting up at 4:15am to get ready for a bike ride in the cold that's really hard to do. I'm willing to face it, but I'm slacking on getting cold weather gear for riding. Biking clothes are not cheap! I barely spend $100 a year on clothes for work, and now I'm faced with spending $150 in clothes just to keep me warm on my bike ride! The logic behind it has me all confused. I need to find some alternatives that aren't so damn expensive that will serve the same purpose. Because I'll never drop the weight if can't get back to having regular bike rides! Plus the afternoon temperatures are just nice to waste! 

Alright I've got to get studying for my LEED exam, so I'll try to get back to blogging on a more regular basis again another night.