Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Don't Worry, He is Going to be Okay!

Kona Post Operation

Don't you fret my friends, Kona is going to be alright in about 14 days, so long as you don't count mental trauma and bald spots. I don't know how long it takes for his fur to grow back, but knowing Kona I am sure I am going to have to drop some cash on a Doggie Psychiatrist to get him over his traumas of being ambushed by a fellow playmate at Doggie Daycare. The footage from the fight is still under review and damages are yet to be awarded, but the school yard brawl will not go without recourse.

Unfortunately in this case, his playmates Bark was not worse than his Bite, Kona underwent heavy sedation to have his wounds purged and to have 3 staples placed in his side. Upon first review I thought I would be in and out of the Vet's office with maybe a little bit of Neosporin and a fresh pack of gauze. However, once the hair was shaved back it became apparent the damage was no simple nick or cut from overzealous play. This was a deliberate attack on our sweet loving Kona. So watch out Cujo, Kona will be back, and this time it's personal!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Limited Time Offer: One Blog Post with Three Times the Fail!

I have proclaimed "Let Summer Begin!", thus I scheduled my first summer BBQ for the year and began my thoughtful planning. It was going to be perfect; Sun, Games, Grilled Food, Cold Beverages, and Good Friends. Just like this nice slice of Americana pictured to the left, only no small children and add a crazy Labrador who will eat anything. At first the weather forecast looked perfect, it was going to be warm and sunny. Then the weather Gods decided that since I live in the NW they would mix some things up, and the forecast now read 20% chance of light rain. Okay I can deal with that, I thought.

The day of the event I woke up to reasonable weather and decided I better scrub my original plan of getting a bike ride in and get the yard in shape, there will be time for a ride later. FAIL! Yes, I did get the yard in shape, but at the cost of good riding weather; one should know in Oregon you must always capitalize on good riding weather when it presents itself otherwise you will never have an enjoyable ride.

After finishing the yard I headed off to the stores to buy food and beverage. Aside from spending close to thirty minutes studying my different meat choices at Costco only to come away with some Johnsonville Brats, the shopping went reasonably well and I felt prepared to start the summer in style. The clouds had a different idea, as I walked out of the store I felt something wet hit my shoulder, then something on my neck, oh no, it was raining. By the time I got home and got everything into the house it was no longer your typical Oregon April misting, it was a full on deluge, Arizona style. Weather FAIL! The Backyard BBQ now became an indoor party with outdoor themed food. All crappy weather aside, it was still a bunch of fun to see the crew.

This morning I woke up to...RAIN! Again not your typical you just feel damp Oregon rain, no, it was full on wet head to toe, I'm cold and wet missery rain. So again, no time in the saddle. FAIL! After two great weeks of getting my miles in, I am going to fall seriously short this week, I'll be lucky to get 100 miles in.

Did I mention I have a headache that feels like a bass drum?

Thursday, April 23, 2009

5 Years!

Can you believe it, I've been a corporate whore for a whole 5 years now, well almost. Mr Verizon decided to send my plaque of appreciation a few weeks early so that my boss could present it to me with a round of applause and etc. However, that's not really my bosses style, I handed him the UPS package and he handed it back to me and said that is really for you. Low and behold it was my plaque. The ironic thing being that the plaque is packaged with instructions for my "Supervisor" on how to present it to me, what to say, and to provide light refreshments if he so desires, he desires not. Along with a nifty plaque I also receive the choice of crappy corporate gifts (tent, steak knives, coffee maker, step aerobics step), crappy commemorative gifts (gold imitation watch, rings, necklace), or a luncheon for me and up to 3 friends worth up to $80 including tip and tax. Luckily for me we have no tax so that means I get to charge a $80 dinner for Ky and I to my Verizon corporate card in the name of 5 years of service. See it does pay to work for a corporate monster.

So watch out on May 9th I may go a little wack'o when I realize I have just spent five years making sure people could read emails about Nigerian princes that need help collecting their inheritances and watching TV specials about the latest Hollywood scandal. Talk about sense of accomplishment! Even better I have come to the realization the only thing keeping me in my current job is a crappy economy and the unwillingness to sacrafice my extra week of vacation I just "earned".

Wahoo!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

100,000 Miles!


Our Honda Civic reached 100,000 miles this morning on my commute to work. I knew it was coming, but had completely forgot this morning. Luckily I looked down at the dash before it turned to 100,001. Unfortunately I missed the turnover from 99,999. No that's not a photo from my actual dash, just the same make and model. The last thing I need to be doing is taking photos of the dash of a car in the dark while driving down the freeway.

In other news my 1500 mile challenge is going well, I am even ahead of schedule by a few miles. If you recall I need to be logging 150 miles per week. With two "riding days" left in my second week of the challenge I already have 235 miles logged. Add the 30 or so miles I am going to put on this evening and I should be getting a pretty good head start on my next week's mileage quota.

Unfortunately my 10 lbs of weight loss has been going the wrong direction, I have made some corrections and I am re focused with my goal in mind. Elkhorn is just under 2 months away!

Have a happy Tuesday!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Adam's Birthday Photos

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ADAM!

More Photos Here!

Bridge of the Gods and Beyond!


Saturday I had the pleasure of joining Drew, Robbie, and Joel for a delightful ride out to the bridge of the Gods in Cascade locks and back. My unfortunately undependable cyclometer turned 95 ish miles which sounds about right, maybe a mile short. So what was billed to be the first century of this years riding for me turned out just a hair shy, I'll have to do an official 100+ miles in the upcoming week or two. (Photo courteous of Google)

The rest of Saturday was capped off with cooking an authentic Italian dinner for couples "Chamgame Night". Dinner, sparkling wine, and board games. I turned in a good effort but came up in third place for Balderdash, next time I will have to work on my bluffing skills and go for the Gold.

Today Ky and I took a rare opportunity to sleep in and enjoy a nice Sunday morning, although Kona was not thrilled about the late start to the morning. He was up for his 5:30 morning constitutional and feeding. Next we are off to spin around Portland on a beautiful spring morning and then off to celebrate with my cousin, Adam, for his 3rd Birthday! I can't wait to see him and Paul, it's been way to long and I am sure I will be shocked at how much they have changed since Christmas. Check back tomorrow for a photo or two.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Day in Heaven and a Day in Hell!

Today I was finally able to get back out to Multnomah Falls via bicycle on the cascade scenic Hwy. If you've never been I highly recommend it, hands down one of the most beautiful and enjoyable bicycle rides in our fair state of Oregon. An added bonus, as being the earliest visit I have made, there were numerous named and unnamed waterfalls that I have never seen before and all of the major waterfalls were in full bloom. Along the beautiful 30+ miles to Multnomah Falls I also encountered the Vista House, although I didn't stop to appreciate the view.

Now it is time for Lunch and then a brisk walk up to Mt Tabor with a well deserving Kona. This day exemplifies why I moved to Oregon and cannot return to the Desert. Don't get me wrong, I love Arizona and it has it's own beauty, but not many places can compete with Western Oregon.

The true reason for my ride out to "The Falls" was to more or less kick off my training for an assault on Mt Dooley a little less than 10 weeks from now. I have scientifically analyzed the stage and have established my plan of attack. That attack requires 1500 training miles and 10 lbs of weight cutting. For those who are numerically challenged 150 miles / 1lb a week. Unfortunately Monday I was shut down by a freak hail and thunder storm so I have another 80 miles to put in this week. Looks like 10 on Tabor tomorrow evening and 70 Saturday morning!

If you think that 1500 miles seems like a lot, take a gander bellow and then think about it.


Yeah, 6000 Ft of Climbing and 100.3 miles!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Why Not?

In the land of feelings of general entitlement, everyone has the right to feel entitled to "Their God given rights as an American", so I figure why shouldn't I have a blog. Some might say, because you have nothing meaningful to contribute. Well I agree, that is a pretty good reason, but I'm going full steam into this anyway, for now. So what should my loyal readers expect to get out of my blog, exactly what they invest, pretty much nothing. Maybe a laughable quip or two to get them from their third, to their fourth cup of coffee on Monday morning. Maybe a small insight into what I did that week or I plan to do in the upcoming week. Maybe more, maybe less, but mostly spelling and grammar errors. No need to spend any effort to point those out to me, it won't help, It's just how I roll. If you are lucky I will try and proof read before I hit post, but don't count on it.

So what did I do this last weekend besides work and eat egg based meals in celebration of Easter? I bike raced, sort of. I say sort of because as usual, I was only in "the race" for a short period of time before I got dropped from the race commencing a nice hard training ride. The good news, if you are in my corner, is that the time spent in the race is increasing each time and maybe by the time the crits roll around, I may be able to finish in a race, maybe.

Post race, seems like I enjoyed it


At least it is fun, right?