DanBailey.net

Seriously, my life is pretty dang good right now.

I have a wonderful fianceé that I’m wildly in love with, and in 24 days, we’re tying the knot. I’m very excited about this. I’m excited about the new family I’m going to be a part of, excited that Kate will be part of my family, and excited about the prospect of building our own family. I’m thrilled at the people who are coming to the wedding/reception and can’t wait to see them, and in some cases, meet them for the first time.

Bike stuff is awesome, too! My 29′er frame has been test-ridden to see how she handles, all is well, and after a little more cosmetic work, she’ll be off to paint later this week. So stoked! I’ll be starting to hammer away at the commuter frame next! It’s mostly-done, anyway, just needs stays and small details before she goes to paint. In the queue after that are my track frame and a prototype 26er MTB bike for my buddy, Atilla.

I need to get out with the Birchwoodies for the coffee ride on Sunday morning as I need my out-of-shape ass on the road as much as possible between now and the 2nd of September. Only two problems with that, though: 1.) it’s the morning after of my bachelor party, and 2.) Josh will be sleeping in my guest bedroom. So that may not happen this weekend.

Also, I should probably schelp my running shoes along on my honeymoon, just so I can take advantage of my early-riser habits and prep for the upcoming cyclocross season.

On the geek side of the house, I had my killer idea for an iPhone/iPad app, and I’ve started laying down some basic code. Nothing super-fancy, mind you, but it’s a beginning. I’m planning on a 99¢ price to begin with, with a $2.99 eventual price for it once it’s out of promo period. The plan is to use the money to bootstrap myself into the framebuilding infrastructure. I do have a second idea in-place, too, which I can build immediately thereafter.

Our money strategy has been working so far, even with having to save up huge chunks of cash for the wedding, and that gives me a ton of confidence for how things are going to play out in the next year. I mean, my god, just this Tuesday, I got a call from my lender (for my auto loan) — they thanked me for my regular payments and were inquiring as to whether it would help if they were to reduce the payments. I’m well aware that me extending the life of my loan just results in giving them more interest (which is part of why I am not doing it), but it’s just nice to have positive stuff coming from lenders, y’know?

Even the office job, while it presents some problems now and then, is okay.

My biggest problem these days seems to be figuring out what my “beach reading” is going to be for the honeymoon. And really, if that’s the biggest thing I have to complain about, my life fucking rocks.

And by the title of this post I mean, “Totally retarded and nothing I want to be involved with.”

That’s right, I’m working at kicking the habit. Rather than attempt Operation: Cold Turkey, I’m phasing it out. I decided earlier this week to avoid having it after 1pm, and so far, that’s worked quite well. I usually have a little bit of a jones for it on my way home from work, but resort to water, fruit juice, or V8, once there.

My clarity of thinking is definitely on the upswing. The withdrawal headaches have started, though.

The next step is to adjust the volume I have. I’d like to get down to a can a day.

Originally written on January 31, 2003:

I realized today the perfect argument for gun control.

You know that thing on the sink you use to spray dishes with? How many times have you accidentally shot yourself in the abdomen or chest with it while the water was running?

I rest my case.

The challenge: Write a one page (~250 words) description of a barn as seen through the eyes of a man whose son just died in a war overseas. Do not mention the man, the son, war, or death.

My work:

The barn looks to be the color of dried blood. The roof, taken by a twister, leaves the interior exposed to the sky, the age-bleached rafters sticking out of it like shattered ribs, and all that was once inside has been scattered to distant shores. Once a focus of the nearby family, it is now pointedly ignored, the memories that swarm around it unwanted, but unable to be removed by the tempest of the tornado.

It is all that one can do to ignore the fetid smell borne by wind passing through the bones of the building and the lonesome display of it rising up, alone, over the surrounding fields of freshly-plowed dirt can make the heart ache for things lost. Before the autumn, it seemed invulnerable, like a granite outcropping that would only wear away with millions of years and the passage of countless raindrops and gusts of wind. Now, it seems like a small boat, afloat at sea – transient, the lives of those tied to it frail and far too short.

Dusk gathers around it and it moves into the end of the day gracelessly, its bones clinging to the sky as if hunting for the light. For the barn, though, daylight will be back and it will age and die past the insults of the storm, its joints failing and skin eroding against the weather of time. And someday, it will fall in on itself, its soul and memories joining with those that spent too few summers in its shade.

Things are chugging right along. Tonight, my mission is to do/acquire the following:

• Get to the library and find a ton of quotes about love. (These are for the centerpieces.)
• Get four ties, in the wedding colors.
• Get gifts for groomsmen, groomschicks, and bridesdude.
• Acquire ten rolls of double-sided tape.

A month/31 days from today, I’ll be hitched. Holy crap.

The 29'er frame with its components on, about to be test-ridden.

So last night after work, I scrambled over to Penn and picked up a tire to match the one I already had. Then I scrambled home to build up the bike for its first test ride. The build itself went very smoothly — the only issues have encountered are corrosion inside the bottle cage mounts — an easy fix — and the rear chainstays are close enough where a 2.2″ tire has a tight fit, but doesn’t quite rub the stays.

Of course, the important question is: how did it ride? Well, actually. Quite well. She wasn’t twitchy, she was stable and tracked a straight line. The bike was comfortable, and there was no creaking, undue flexing, or anything that would otherwise make the bike undesirable. I’m happy.

The next issues are re-attaching the front disc brake tab (removed during some frame mods last weekend) tonight, and then doing the cosmetic clean-up on the metalwork before I ship her off to paint. Today, I’ll be shipping paint masking artwork off to my vinyl-cutting guy, too.

So, hopefully, by this weekend, she’ll be in a booth somewhere, getting paint laid down. Cross your fingers!

Hell yeah, what a day. What a weekend, really. Been rocking the bike stuff hard.

Friday night started with Minnecycle 2010. Showed up and had an awesome time. Hung out with Paul and Vincent, met Curt Goodrich and had a good chat with him after a bit of a go-’round on a mailing list. Took a bunch of photos, which are here.

Saturday was more Minnecycle, while Kate was off at her bachelorette party. As I write this, it’s 8pm and she’s sound asleep on the couch. Beyond the Minnecycle stuff, my only other real accomplishment was getting the WRX super-cleaned. Thank you, Mr. Car Wash. You are awesome.

Today. Oh, why can’t all days be this productive? I got up. I made a quick entry over at the wedding site, noted that there’s only 35 days left until THE BIG DAY™. Then I loaded up the car and got over to Paul’s for framebuilding. During that time I accomplished the following:

• Frame modification for paying customer.
• Started on custom fork for paying customer.
• Removed 31mm from length of 29er fork, re-sleeved socketed dropouts and re-built.
• Cold-set/aligned the back end of the 29′er frame.
• Faced the head tube for installation of the headset.

Tonight, I’m going to start prepping the 29er for a quick build-out tomorrow, and I’m going to take it for a short test spin and see how it goes. There’s a few cosmetic things I’m waiting on before she can definitely go to paint. But yeah, so incredibly stoked about it.

I’ll shoot some pictures of it tomorrow after the parts are on it.

Items accomplished in July: 2
Total items accomplished: 6/101
Percentage complete: 5.9%

Completed in July:

50. Teeth whitening. — Got pro-strength whitening trays/kit when I did my dentist visit on 7-8-10. This was something I’d put off far too long. I ingest a LOT of soda and other shit that’s not good for my teeth, so this was long overdue.

101. Do a new version of this list when this one is complete. — I jumped the gun on this one as I have friends who are jumping on the 101 Bandwagon and they have some great ideas. The new list will post on December 22, 2012, about ten days after I finish this list, and coincidentally, it’ll be my 40th birthday.

In-Progress:
18. Rewrite Bubble. — Spending about 30 minutes a day on it during breakfast. Hoping to check this one off by the end of 2010.
26. Read two Steinbeck novels that aren’t Of Mice and Men. — I read The Grapes of Wrath this month.
28. iTunes clean-up. — Doing a few hundred tracks every morning. Hoping to check this one off by the end of November.
71. Socialize Vinnie. — Read a few articles on the subject of socializing adult cats, will be working on it. Somewhat working. He now will come into a room and hang out near me, but won’t tolerate much petting, and definitely will not allow himself to be held.
93. Learn Japanese. — Ongoing, using Rosetta Stone.

Starting/Doing Soon:
51. Get my six-pack abs back. — Rocking the P90X. Once I have six pack abs again, this will get checked-off.
52. Keep my weight under 185 pounds. — Rocking the P90X. Once I am 184, this will get checked-off.
53. Get back to the condition I was in when I left Ft. Bragg. — Rocking the P90X. Will run a PT test and have Kate grade push-ups and sit-ups.

Thoughts:
Going to really have to pick it up with the list after the wedding/honeymoon.

With a title like that, how can you not want to read further?

• There is someone unrelated to me who is currently cleaning my house. For money. I think the technical term for that is “maid.” I call it “weird.” And while this is a complete WIN where free time is concerned, it still feels weird.
• Might have found a partner-in-crime for a web app I’ve been toying with for awhile. More on that as it develops.
• Tonight, I have stuff to do for Pallas Athena, including some CSS and creating a ton of keywords for Google Adsense.

Twenty years ago I was seventeen years old. I had recently made the decision to go into the Army and was blissfully unaware that Iraq would be invading Kuwait in a couple of weeks. Ultimately, I signed-up anyway on delayed-entry, and became a soldier. A lot of people thought I was nuts, but it really was one of the better decisions I’ve made.

Ten years ago I was 27 and living in Philadelphia. I was working for a dot-com, making great money, and making an ass out of myself on a semi-regular basis. I was dating Kristin, who drove me crazy (in a bad way), but I didn’t have the backbone to break up with her. That wouldn’t happen for another six months or so, and when it did happen, I handled it very poorly.

Five years ago is a time of my life I prefer not to think about too much. I was horribly depressed and made the lives of everyone around me into a living hell.

Three years ago I was living in an apartment in Uptown and hadn’t met Kate quite yet, nor had I adopted Calvin at that point, either. I had just finished building up my Salsa Campeon, and was starting to get serious about riding again. I was happy again.

One year ago I was enduring the Summer of Mostly-Alone as Kate was on an extended business trip and only home every few weekends. Mooch had been dead for about a month and a half. I came to the conclusion that the bike shop was a BadIdea™, but decided to try my hand at framebuilding.

Yesterday I went to work and was very productive. Kate was working at the swim school after work, so I cleaned the house up a bit, had food, and did things that needed done.

Today I am probably working while you read this. I’ve pre-scheduled it, like I do most of my posts.

Tomorrow Kate will be at the swim school again, and I will probably be cleaning like a fiend, as her bridal shower is on Saturday.