Obligatory Post

Andy keeps asking me to update the blog with pictures of my commuter bike, so here she is.




Nitto CT-80 stem, Velo Orange Milan handlebar, Nitto Crystal Fellow seatpost, and Brooks Swift saddle highlight the build.

Livin' It

So I'm sitting here watching Le Tour with a baguette, a bottle of Bordeaux, and a local cheese made within earshot of the Trek factory.

That's all.

Tracks

I got some tracks installed on the roof of the Scion so I could attach a rack that wasn't a pain in the ass to put on and take off. It turned out pretty slick. I had a local body shop do the dirty work since I couldn't muster up the courage to drill holes in the roof of my car. Here's a blog where some dude put them on a Prius.

I also raced a local crit this weekend. Pretty uneventful. I wasn't positioned very good, maybe 10th wheel in the final turn, and like clockwork, some douche had to crash. I had to slow down to get around him, and lost a bunch of places. So I missed out on the ever valuable upgrade points, but the sensations in the legs were good, and I'm optomistic for the season.

My very own Graham Watson captured the crash -thanks Mary! Zoom in on that bad boy. How does that happen?

Bush's War

Mission accomplished eh?

5 years, 4000 dead American soldiers(3866 since that picture,) 3-5 trillion dollars, and 655,000 dead Iraqis, and still counting.

Watch Frontline's documentary on the run-up to war, and how it's being fought. It's truly an amazing film about a seriously f'ed up situation. Grab a beer and some popcorn, and watch it here.

Discuss in the comments. Do it.

Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 2000

I bought some wine on the cheap to resell. Buy some from me now in time for Valentine's Day 2025.

If you don't think that's a deal, here it is at retail.

The Return

Apparently people get really angry if you take a little blogging sabbatical. But fret not loyal reader for I will post with increased zeal and consistency. So here's what I've been up to the last three months.

Cyclocross season came and went. The form never really came around, and I'm pretty sure I was slower then previous years. I had some nagging back pain, but I'm more or less back to normal now. I did race Nationals for the hell of it anyways. It was a blast, and it was nice to see Lane and Skye.

November saw the death of the Sentra. She had been limping along for quite some time, and she finally gave up the ghost. I did get a nice new shiny car though. A safe and economical Scion xD, which is like a bazillion times better than my old car.

Work has been good. The specialty foods universe is vast, and I'm having fun exploring it. I'm now the coffee buyer, so if you want some good coffee, come talk to this guy.

Yesterday was our friend and coworker Richard's going away party. He's going to be running his very own specialty department in Chicago. He's been nagging me for months to put his picture on my blog. Here he is showing why he'd make an excellent specialty team leader.

Last week Mary and I went to Tampa to visit her Grandma, and hang out with her family. It was a wonderfully relaxing time, as always. I read "Kitchen Confidential" by Tony Bourdain. He's a cool dude.

When we got back from Florida we got a new addition to the family. Cubby is a one year old Newfoundland. He's pretty well behaved, and loves cuddling and being groomed. He's massive. 80 pound Sampson looks tiny next to him.

On the personal grooming front, I grew a beard. It looks awful, and it itches, but i kind of like it. It makes me feel like a lumberjack.

So that was a fairly lame recap of the last few months (there are a lot of pictures though,) but stay tuned for beard updates, my ultra-high-end wine scheme, Cubby shenanigans, and road bike roller craziness.