I went over to Dan’s yesterday to drop off the handlebar bag. The bike is stunning so far. He is really doing a fine job. We chatted on cable routing methods and different options that I have to keep my components working on the new bike. Were I made of money, I’d probably be ordering stuff right and left. I’m doing my best to keep the purse strings tight’ish on this one though. I can always upgrade here and there in the future. It has a fantastically classic look that some my Shimano stuff doesn’t really do justice, but I’m really excited about it overall. There is nothing wrong with a little marriage of old and new. Did I mention that it is an attractive bike? Dan started a new blog all on his own. You should go give him a shout out and buy stuff from him. He has been putting together food thermoses with custom cages that fit in water bottle bosses. They would go splendid on any tourer/not weight weenie bike you might own. Ask him about them. I stole these pictures from his Flickr account. It was for a good cause though. I’ve been mind numbingly busy lately. I’m juggling some fresh logos, old work, my full time, lots of cooking, prepping for the 100K and a new puppy. I managed to fix our washing machine yesterday. I had to replace the drain pump. That was the second time it broke. The first time we paid some guy 450 dollars to fix it. I replaced it for 50 and some change. That doesn’t factor in my stiff hourly fee of course. This butt crack isn’t on display for cheap. I’ve also had a bout of crazy sore legs. I’ve had to stop exercising this week. A year ago I would have broke out a tiny violin on a line like that. These days I can’t seem to not exercise one way or another. Taking it easy has never been so difficult. Speaking of crazy, the last minute prep for the The Sound and the Fury has been really intense. The paperwork is no joke. There are forms for forms. I feel like I’m filling my taxes. Everything is really well organized overall though. People are coming out of the woodwork to help piece everything together. It really is an amazing group of people. Provided nobody punches me out after the hill at Seahurst, it should be a fantastic day tomorrow. An element of a Populaire (100K) that slipped my mind was the fact that we will have medals available to the finishers. You can keep it on your mantle next to all of your bowling trophies or just sell the metal for scrap. Either way, it is a sweet deal. The ride is free. You have no excuses really. Tonight I’m baking a boat load of brownies from scratch. I make no promises on their quality. You will just have to come and find out.

I had one of those weekends that made me glad to get back to work on Monday.

Wednesday night I took Frankie in to the hospital. He never got back to me. We had him hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires. I had a (perhaps) irrational idea that he might be able to fight his way through it. Like I could will it the same way I willed myself through some of my issues. Maybe I thought we could throw money at the problem. I really thought he could make it.

He is already missed.

This came in my inbox this morning along with a hundred other holiday junk. That is usually a one way ticket to my spam box but I thought I’d share this one. I think it displays the importance of just why Bunnyhawk’s are needed in a world filled with vicious, blood sucking, jerk bunnies. Yeah they are cute, but that is what they want you to think.

I got an early Christmas present this year from Jane. She bought me a Rapha classic softshell jacket that I was fawning over a while back. It came just in time too. I am sick of my old gear soaking through on longer rides here in the sunny Pacific Northwest. I’ve been able to test it out over the last couple of days and it is the bee’s knees. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. Thank you, Jane.

This came in my inbox this morning along with a hundred other holiday junk. That is usually a one way ticket to my spam box but I thought I’d share this one. I think it displays the importance of just why Bunnyhawk’s are needed in a world filled with vicious, blood sucking, jerk bunnies. Yeah they are cute, but that is what they want you to think.

I got an early Christmas present this year from Jane. She bought me a Rapha classic softshell jacket that I was fawning over a while back. It came just in time too. I am sick of my old gear soaking through on longer rides here in the sunny Pacific Northwest. I’ve been able to test it out over the last couple of days and it is the bee’s knees. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. Thank you, Jane.

This came in my inbox this morning along with a hundred other holiday junk. That is usually a one way ticket to my spam box but I thought I’d share this one. I think it displays the importance of just why Bunnyhawk’s are needed in a world filled with vicious, blood sucking, jerk bunnies. Yeah they are cute, but that is what they want you to think.

I got an early Christmas present this year from Jane. She bought me a Rapha classic softshell jacket that I was fawning over a while back. It came just in time too. I am sick of my old gear soaking through on longer rides here in the sunny Pacific Northwest. I’ve been able to test it out over the last couple of days and it is the bee’s knees. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. Thank you, Jane.

We went to go see The Golden Compass on Friday and it was a pretty solid movie. It wasn’t the Lord of the Rings that it aspired to be, but damned if it didn’t have polar bears in armor tearing the shit out of each other. Whitey wanted some armor too, so I was forced to oblige.

The rest of the weekend included pajama pants and Mass Effect. That is to say, I laid around the house and avoided any heavy labor. You know you are lounging too hard when your feet get sore from the coffee table.

Norman came over Saturday and we got a little bit of “band practice” in. The three of us have a Rock Band group called “Salmon Roebots”. Jane came up with our motto, “Spawning. Affirmative.” It has a very Pacific Northwestern feel to it, which is good because we mostly play Seattle in the game. I do my best Dave Grohl impressions so my hands usually end up pretty numb after a long session.

Mass Effect is a pretty amazing game except the combat can get ridiculously hard at times. I feel like pounding the controller against the television. Last night was a good example. Jane was watching me play a bit while reading her new addiction (FICO forums), and I was steaming from a particular section that I couldn’t get past. She probably thought I was being a dumb ass (and I was). That is, until Jane went into the kitchen to set up the coffee maker for the morning. She started screaming at it because the grinder was stuck and neither of us could get it out. If Frankie were a child, he would already be cussing. God forbid we ever actually have children.

About 2 years or so ago (keeping in mind that I’m terrible with time and dates… oh and names…), Jane and I picked up a wonderful 110 lb. lab from the Bellevue Humane Society named Shiska. He was an extra special animal who, despite his size, figured that he was a born lap dog. He enjoyed walks around the neighborhood, hanging out, and guarding his dad’s general leg area. Shiska sadly passed away earlier this year from a tumor in his chest (is there an echo in here?). He was a wonderful dog and this drawing doesn’t quite do him justice, but I’m trying. That’s all I’ve got. I love you buddy.

edit: p.s. – The paw is to scale.

Frankie is a special cat, to be sure, but few know about the fine details that went into the creation of this beast. With the help of this post, you will soon be able to more appreciate his charm through details of his body.

A) Frankie is a Siamese cat. He has the most beautiful fur this side of the Rockies, and he knows it. There are subtle brown textures that didn’t really come through in my illustration, but I tried my best. Do not try to touch this fur unless you are prepared to be bitten. Frankie will let you know when it is alright to touch it. Even then, he may change his mind midway through the touching process.

B) Any brush against Frankie’s whiskers is a direct threat and will be treated as such. If you try to pet his head, avoid the whiskers at all costs. The penalty is death via tiny teeth marks.

C) There is “more to love” with a cat like Frankie. 22 pounds of love to be precise. We started him on a diet, he has since gained a pound. I am pretty convinced that Frankie is a fatty-boom-blatty for life. Despite the massive love handles, Frankie manages to pounce around like a cat half his size. To be sure, it is an anomaly.

D) The belly is strictly off limits. Frankie will roll over and practically beg you to pet his massive belly. This is a trap. Do not, under any circumstances, touch the general belly area; you will have bite marks. We are unsure if Frankie is embarrassed by the shear size of the belly, or if he is just very ticklish. Regardless, the belly is a no go zone unless you are a masochist.

E) The work horse of Frankie’s body. These tiny little stick legs somehow manage to not buckle under the girth of this creature. More study is needed to see how they are able to not only support the weight, but handle his repeated jumps up and down from assorted objects. When Frankie jumps up onto your chest to lay down (and he will), all 22 pounds of his body is centralized onto these four legs for a pretty painful experience. Imagine two bowling balls glued to chop sticks jumping on your stomach, chop sticks first.

One of Frankie hobbies involves his paws. He enjoys jumping up onto tables (coffee or side), staring right into your eyes, and knocking an object off. He usually chooses the largest object on the table for the loudest noise. “I am the boss. Feed Me,” Frankie says. If he wasn’t so cute it would be tempting to just kick him off, but that is the real problem with Frankie. He is just too damned cute.

There is a little known fact about Jane and I. We take care of tigers, bears, and cats. Perhaps representative of their parents, they are all pretty lazy.

Last nights ride produced a single bunny on the bike trail. If it were 5 or 6 months earlier, we would have seen a dozen or more. We got to into a discussion about what the bunnies are up to this time of the year. The best guess is that they are probably snuggled up together, asleep. Lucky.

Usually I don’t take much stock weather forecasting for the Seattle metro, but you can feel snow in the air today. It is coming soon.