Weekend Update
So I'm home from my Memorial Day Weekend. I've got a few small splotches of sunburn (top of right foot, front of right shoulder), I'm friggin' exhausted, and if I see another airplane again this week, I might throw myself down a flight of stairs.
As I've mentioned here previously, Kate is traveling for work, leaving me living the pseudo-bachelor lifestyle. This weekend, her employer paid for me to head to North Carolina (Wilmington) to visit. They're good to their people, and indirectly very good to me.
Friday
I blew out of the house at 7 a.m., caught a bus downtown and jumped the light rail to the airport. For a weekend like this, I'm a one-bag kind of guy. Layover in Charlotte. Excellent people-watching.
Got to the airport, met Kate. Hugs. Leave airport. Hit Chick-Fil-A for late lunch/early dinner. Go back to the hotel and have a nap together. Wake up. Go out drinking/dancing. 80's cover band. A bar called Southpaw. Some dance club -- not my scene and had to walk up five flights of stairs to get to it. From there to Waffle House for food, hilarity in the form of a waitress named "Bunny", and some seriously stoned dude sitting in the booth next to ours. Awesome!
Saturday
Slept in a bit. Dunkin Donuts for breakfast on the way to the beach. Spent some time lazing in the sun. Had finished Jay Lake's Escapement by this point, started new stab at Stephenson's Anathem (the autographed copy I won). Lots of clockwork in this fiction lately. Went home. Ate Chick-Fil-A again. Another nap. Saddled up and went out on the Haunted Pub Crawl, which was seriously awesome.
Talked about famous hauntings and sightings in Wilmington -- not sure how much I believe, but it was still pretty cool. Afterwards, it was back to the hotel again for more sleep!
Sunday
Slept in holy friggin' late. Went to go see Star Trek, but were foiled by it being sold out. Wound up experiencing Southern hospitality at its finest in the form of a seafood boil at one of Kate's co-worker's homes. I sat at the far end of the table and ate grilled chicken. More sleeping!
Monday
Woke up. Had another run at Dunkin Donuts on the way to the beach. Had to stop for about an hour after witnessing a car crash that looked bad (but only looked that way). After making a statement, we finished our run to the beach, where we got shit on by a seagull. Then we watched three kids get dragged in from the rip by a lifeguard. Back to the hotel where we showered, and I packed. Went to eat Mexican food. Went to the airport. Flight delayed. Layover in Charlotte. Flight delayed at gate and on the runway. Got to sit between two crying babies. ("How to make mute babby?") Arrived in Minneapolis after midnight. Missed 12:27 train by nine minutes. Mom came to get me, just having finished her late shift at the VA. Got dropped off at home around 1:40. Finally fell asleep around 3:00.
All in all, though, an awesome vacation. I'm back here now, missing Kate -- it gets harder every time we do this, but it's better than the alternative (not seeing her). So yeah. My first real vacation in years and it was fun, inexpensive, and fun. Did I mention fun?
Terry
Terry, Showing off the awesome (fake) 'stache.
A few weeks ago, my friend and former co-worker, Terry, was in a severe car-bike accident, resulting in a traumatic brain injury, a scalp that required 68 staples to close, and a badly broken leg. I'm not going to use this as a platform to rail at people to wear a helmet -- the necessity of that is obvious -- I'm just going to say goodbye to a dude who could be a royal pain in the ass and yet earned my respect and became my friend.
He was a hard guy to know, but what I did know about him earned my respect. After he left the bike shop, I'd see him around -- downtown slashing through traffic like a velociraptor through a pre-school, coming in occasionally to bum some time in a workstand, drinking a beer at the BLB -- we'd trade a few words, catch up, occasionally tip back a cold one.
A little over a week ago, Terry hung himself. I don't know the reasoning behind it, not being privy to the contents of his head at the time, and really there's no reason for him doing it that would make any sort of sense, nor make it any easier to deal with.
So he's gone. And all of us who knew him are poorer for it.
Rest in peace, Terry. We'll miss you, man.
Terry. Tailwhip.
Bike Update
So last night, I took the Cervelo out for a short ride, and have determined that I still have some kinks to work out. Nothing show-stopping, of course, but still. Gotta be done before Wednesday's edition of the Black Dog Time Trial. Considering re-taping the bars and putting some gel inserts on them before then, too.
Been re-cabling the commuter bike, and ordered a mount for it so I can take the Garmin with me on my commutes.
I'm going to expand this section of the blog/site a bit, too. Going to include pics of the fleet, some routes in .tcx format that will be downloadable, and so on.
Tonight: work on bikes, session on the Wii Fit.
Tomorrow: easy recovery ride.
Running on Empty
It's been almost two weeks now, and I feel kinda directionless and weird. It's an odd emotion, that I've categorized under "lonely" because nothing else fits. I miss Kate. Terribly.
She'll be home tomorrow night and I am very much looking forward to it. That empty spot in the bed in the morning is something I cannot get used to.
There's the old adage about absence making the heart grow fonder, and whomever it was that thought that up is a fucking genius, because it's true.
This is the most in-love I've ever been, without question. Recently, I read the definition of the South African word, ubuntu, which means, "I am because we are," and it stuck with me -- and only partly because it's also the name of a Linux distribution.
That sounds stalkerish and obsessive, but it's not. It's indicative that my life, and who I am, is impacted by Kate's presence. She makes me a better person, she gives me balance, she anchors me to what's important. I am what I am because we are what we are. (My apologies for the Zen koan.) Our Venn diagrams overlap heavily. (My apologies for the geekiness.)
I love her, I miss her, and I can't wait until Friday night.
Busy Saturday
Got up and rocked the day so far. Accomplishments:
- put plates on Kate's car
- cleaned out Kate's car, and my car
- emptied, scrubbed and changed litterboxes
- cleaned kitchen
- built table for deck
- missed Kate terribly
- vacuumed downstairs
- set up site for the Dashbrain Project (arduino)
- set up and configured Wii Fit
- contemplated Star Trek (saw it last night with Zabinski — it was good)
- played some Battlefield: Bad Company
Still to do:
- NELS' BEER FIESTA OF KICK ASS AWESOME
- Wii Fit workout (ride rescheduled for tomorrow morning)
- mark drill-out points on project case, superglue standoffs
- put new music on iPhone
- continue to miss Kate terribly
Arduino Weirdness
So last night I got the breadboard out and hooked it up to the Arduino, and built out the complete circuit for my Ambient Web Metrics project that I've been working on. Got the supporting code attached to the other two websites, and ran some tests.
As a description of how this works, a single byte of data is being passed to the Arduino via USB/TTY. Depending on what that byte is, one of three LEDs (connected to Digital IO pins 11, 12, and 13), will light up.
Everything worked fine. Until I shut off the Arduino0015 app, and then regardless of which source I come from, the LED in pin 13 will blink. And only that one.
Very weird, eh? Something to puzzle over this evening after my ride.
Rough Roads, Rough Morning
Yeah, so I drove the time trial course last night, as planned, and holy crap. There are parts that are fine, but there are parts that look like the Arenburg pavé. Since it was dark when I drove it, I want to ride it on a bike before racing it. I'll probably head over there on Saturday to recon the course and get an idea of where the truly shitty parts are.
This morning was equally rough. I got partway to work, realized I'd forgotten my phone, and while I was rubbing my face and thinking about where I'd left it, I realized that I'd forgotten to shave.
At least I slept well last night.
And I did pick up the Peugeot last night, too. Right now, I'm leaning toward parting it out and using the frame/fork as the basis for a cheap singlespeed. Going to throw it in the basement for now and U-lock it while I decide what to do about it.
Bikey Bikey
So tomorrow, I am probably going to race the Black Dog TT. I use the term "race" loosely, as I won't even be close to competitive, what with my "extensive" training program I've undertaken this spring, and the aerodynamic 20-pound beer gut I'm toting.
Tonight, I'm heading out to Burnsville to give the course a quick drive -- I'm told that it's a mish-mash of potholes and meteor craters and I'm not sure I want to put the Zipps into that kind of a situation. I got a couch to buy in the next few weeks and am not big on the idea of having to shell out $250 to crash-replace a wheel.
While down there, I'm picking up my dad's old Peugeot, which I am going to park in the basement of my place. I've got some ideas afoot for what to do with it, but more on that later.
Tonight, I've got to get some minor maintenance work done on the fleet and gear:
- the Salsa Campeon needs new brake pads on the rear -- it has for awhile now, it's just that the process of using a hammer to pound the Jagwire pads into the Zero Gravity holders isn't what I'd call a fun time
- put the pedals back on the Cervelo
- install speed/cadence sensor on Cervelo
- wash my cycling clothes
- clean out gear bag
- tune up the Surly Cross-Check for commuting
Got to throw some stuff on MplsBikeLove and Craigslist tonight. Old cyclecomputers, a crankset/BB, and so on.
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Mmmm. Thunderstorm. [fontosaurus]
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I'm at 3M Center- Building 225 (3M Center, Building 225, St. Paul). [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at 3M Center- Building 225
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Willing to bet money that we sign LaDainian Tomlinson today. #Vikings [fontosaurus]
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At my first NBA game. [fontosaurus]
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T-wolves/Nuggets (@ Target Center w/ 11 others) [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Target Center
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Wants Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
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Kickin it in the bar. (@ The Westin Minneapolis) http://4sq.com/91urJg [fontosaurus]
