Thanksgiving has come and gone...let the shopping commence. As for J and myself, we spent the holiday at my Dad's house with most of my step-mother's relatives there. On Saturday, we headed down to my brother's house to hang out with my side of the family. It was nice to see everyone and it all went well. I managed to watch my food intake, was much better than last year but I still managed to do some damage. I just love the pecan pie!!
This morning's parkway ride had 8 people show up! That's surprising because once the weather turns cold, it becomes the standard that around 4-5 riders are the max. The temperature was 43 degrees but it was actually quite pleasant...probably because there wasn't any appreciable wind to speak of except for what we were generating. This was my first ride where I put on the full cold-weather gear for the first time of Winter 2007-2008. I had worn my bib knickers and arm warmers a few times before but now it was full leg covers, long sleeve jersey, and a light jacket! The pace was slow (also a by-product of the colder weather with this group), usually around 20 mph. My legs felt terrible but the pace wasn't anything I couldn't deal with, and my pull on the final section was the fastest of the ride...going about 23 mph. It felt slower. I didn't want to go any faster anyway. My return home was also slow and I almost hit a runner on the bike path who came out from behind a blind corner. I thought I saw some movement thru the bushes and reacted by soft-pedaling immediately and touching my brakes. So I wasn't going as fast as I could have been and really had no problem missing the guy. A bit faster and we might have collided since my turning radius would have been a smidgen wider.
The first part of this week was kinda busy, getting some ads and billboard designs out. I've sent out the invoices on those jobs and I currently have a healthy amount of outstanding receipts which will come in handy as those checks should be arriving bit-by-bit over the rest of this year. I hope to get more work in before Christmas so I can deal with January's bills and needs. But I'm good for December! Just finished the layouts for our Christmas cards and now I need to get them printed and mailed out. I'm fairly pleased with them...they have plenty of photos and updates about us in them and should get the recipients up to date.
Found out that the Louisiana-Mississippi Bicycle Racing Association has tentively listed my road race in July '08 for the district age-group road race championships. That's news to me! I'll have to see what extra I'd have to do to make that happen so I can figure out if I can do it or not. I don't mind doing it but it does add a little more pressure to an event I was going to do on a low-key level.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thankgiving Eve
I've hardly been on my bike since the Tour de Ouachita, almost 11 days ago, so I thought it might be a good idea to make it to the 5:50 ride this morning and get back into some kind of routine. Plus it might be the last warm morning of 2007 and I better take advantage of it! Including me, there were seven of us cruising down the parkway but the pace wasn't that quick. I think I might have averaged 21.8 mph during my long pull but that was into an 8 mph southerly headwind and that tends to slow you down. And I'm nowhere near the shape I was in back in September.
I did a tradeout with Blackwell Research regarding a couple of jobs I did for them that I hadn't sent invoices for yet. I got a rear Hundred wheel with Shimano hub as well as a Blackwell double-wheel bag....very nice stuff. The wheel had been used last week when the Blackwell team went to do some tests at the Texas A&M wind tunnel, so technically it was a used wheel but it's just as good as a new one. Plus you can find pictures of it being used at the tunnel (it's the rear wheel). The wheel bag is pretty neat...holds two wheels securely and has two pockets for skewers and other gear. Very heavy duty and pretty. Basically the two products combine for about $1200 retail but with this tradeout, Blackwell only pays for cost and that pretty much equals what I billed them for the jobs I did a while back. I'm still waiting on one last check from them for something else and then my professional association with them will be over. I'll still buy their stuff when I can and support my buds over there.
Got more work done on the kitchen today. I'm reburbishing the cabinet doors instead of replacing them, which is cheaper in product but takes up more of my time. But I've been satisfied with the results and will just keep cranking it out. There's other things to do and I'd like to have the whole room done by the end of the year. So far I'm quite pleased with the results.
Lots of fallout from the ULM-Alabama game since Saturday. My alma mater has been in the news continuously for one reason or another, in association with the Tide's "embarrassing" loss to us. Hey, the Warhawks played hard and made Alabama work for all it got. We stopped them when we had to and the better team won that day. Now on another day, Alabama would probably kill us...but on November 17th of 2007, we were the better and classier squad at Bryant-Denny Field. Thank goodness we don't have to play them next year!
Tomorrow is Turkey Day...The Wife and I will do the annual Turkey Trot run in the morning and the rest of the day is to be spent/tolerated with relatives. The rest of the holiday weekend we'll try to get a number of things accomplished around the house and elsewhere. Hope we're somewhat successful!
I did a tradeout with Blackwell Research regarding a couple of jobs I did for them that I hadn't sent invoices for yet. I got a rear Hundred wheel with Shimano hub as well as a Blackwell double-wheel bag....very nice stuff. The wheel had been used last week when the Blackwell team went to do some tests at the Texas A&M wind tunnel, so technically it was a used wheel but it's just as good as a new one. Plus you can find pictures of it being used at the tunnel (it's the rear wheel). The wheel bag is pretty neat...holds two wheels securely and has two pockets for skewers and other gear. Very heavy duty and pretty. Basically the two products combine for about $1200 retail but with this tradeout, Blackwell only pays for cost and that pretty much equals what I billed them for the jobs I did a while back. I'm still waiting on one last check from them for something else and then my professional association with them will be over. I'll still buy their stuff when I can and support my buds over there.
Got more work done on the kitchen today. I'm reburbishing the cabinet doors instead of replacing them, which is cheaper in product but takes up more of my time. But I've been satisfied with the results and will just keep cranking it out. There's other things to do and I'd like to have the whole room done by the end of the year. So far I'm quite pleased with the results.
Lots of fallout from the ULM-Alabama game since Saturday. My alma mater has been in the news continuously for one reason or another, in association with the Tide's "embarrassing" loss to us. Hey, the Warhawks played hard and made Alabama work for all it got. We stopped them when we had to and the better team won that day. Now on another day, Alabama would probably kill us...but on November 17th of 2007, we were the better and classier squad at Bryant-Denny Field. Thank goodness we don't have to play them next year!
Tomorrow is Turkey Day...The Wife and I will do the annual Turkey Trot run in the morning and the rest of the day is to be spent/tolerated with relatives. The rest of the holiday weekend we'll try to get a number of things accomplished around the house and elsewhere. Hope we're somewhat successful!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Something I Never Thought I'd See
University of Louisiana at Monroe Warhawks - 21
University of Alabama Crimson Tide - 14
Jonnene and I were there...Section A, Row 58.
'Nuff said.
University of Alabama Crimson Tide - 14
Jonnene and I were there...Section A, Row 58.
'Nuff said.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
200,000 and change
Went to West Monroe yesterday for the Tour de Ouachita. Great training ride with plenty o' hills, more frequent than Rocky Mount and similar to a smoother Rouge-Roubaix race on some parts of the course!
Both LaS'port's Tim Perry and long-lost-son Keith Breaux showed up in their team kits (I was in neutral colors except for my LaS'port shorts), as did several of the S3 Racing team. Lisa Colvin would have ridden but she pulled some hip flexors while swimming a couple of days before and it was painful to raise her right leg (I told her she was just sckeered). A group of 10-12 of us took off about a half mile into the ride and soon we were flying at race pace through some of the rough roads with small gravel scattered about from recent road repairs. I hoped to hang on for the first hour since I had taken October off from the bike and this was only my sixth ride since the first of November. It was tough in the first hills but I was hanging on with the speeds fluctuating between 24 and 30 mph much of the time. After Tim took one of the initial pulls, it was Keith who spent a lot of time pushing the pace up front. He never wears gloves, and on these roads it showed his hands were way tougher than mine! I was happy in that I was making up any gaps that had appeared on the climbs and staying with the group. I want to be a better climber for next year.
On two successive hills, Tim and S3's Grant Dona fell off the pace, almost an 1/8th of a mile back. I was still in the group but starting to really feel worn out. I looked back at them and decided I could drop off and just ride with them...no need to kill myself from the effort so soon after riding again, I thought. Another rider had dropped way off and was of no concern. I waited for Tim and Grant, and soon they flew right by me! I caught up to them and realized they were trying to catch back up to the group! So we team-time-trialed it...I even took one or two pulls....and we ended up catching the pack!
Not more than a couple of seconds after we caught on, 12 miles in, my rear tire popped...I've had such bad luck this year...and I pulled over, watching the pack disappear around a tight downhill corner at 28 mph. I got off and found myself sucking air heavily, and that took me almost 3-4 minutes to overcome before I could work on the tire. Took a pee, changed the tire and continued on my merry way. This fast-paced ride was now a saddle-time-and-get-in-the-miles ride. Just as well, I wouldn't have been able to hang on much longer anyway. I was glad I had put my 25-tooth cogset on since the last few hills were pretty decent leg-breakers for this part of northeast Louisiana. All told, I got in 66 miles and some good hill workouts.
My '98 Dakota turned over 200,000 miles on this trip! It'll be ten years old next April. I got 265,000 miles on my old Datsun King-Cab (1980-1998). The miles came faster on my Dakota but it doesn't feel like I've driven that far. Of course, I have driven on sepaate trips to Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Los Angeles in it so maybe I have?
After the ride I went to the ULM-Grambling football game that afternoon. A very historic event with Grambling playing a predominantly white Louisiana school for only the second time in its history (Northwestern State was the other, in 1976 and the G-men winning 14-13). ULM's defense was the story in this game, holding the Tigers to minus 4 yards rushing and about 165 yards in total offense. We would win 28-14 although the gap should have been around 42-7 except for the mistakes our offense kept making. The other storyline from this game was the crowd: a record for Malone Stadium of 30,101 people...capacity crowd. Yeah, it was probably 2/3's Grambling fans but it was great to see the stadium so full of people. A great experience, for sure.
Both LaS'port's Tim Perry and long-lost-son Keith Breaux showed up in their team kits (I was in neutral colors except for my LaS'port shorts), as did several of the S3 Racing team. Lisa Colvin would have ridden but she pulled some hip flexors while swimming a couple of days before and it was painful to raise her right leg (I told her she was just sckeered). A group of 10-12 of us took off about a half mile into the ride and soon we were flying at race pace through some of the rough roads with small gravel scattered about from recent road repairs. I hoped to hang on for the first hour since I had taken October off from the bike and this was only my sixth ride since the first of November. It was tough in the first hills but I was hanging on with the speeds fluctuating between 24 and 30 mph much of the time. After Tim took one of the initial pulls, it was Keith who spent a lot of time pushing the pace up front. He never wears gloves, and on these roads it showed his hands were way tougher than mine! I was happy in that I was making up any gaps that had appeared on the climbs and staying with the group. I want to be a better climber for next year.
On two successive hills, Tim and S3's Grant Dona fell off the pace, almost an 1/8th of a mile back. I was still in the group but starting to really feel worn out. I looked back at them and decided I could drop off and just ride with them...no need to kill myself from the effort so soon after riding again, I thought. Another rider had dropped way off and was of no concern. I waited for Tim and Grant, and soon they flew right by me! I caught up to them and realized they were trying to catch back up to the group! So we team-time-trialed it...I even took one or two pulls....and we ended up catching the pack!
Not more than a couple of seconds after we caught on, 12 miles in, my rear tire popped...I've had such bad luck this year...and I pulled over, watching the pack disappear around a tight downhill corner at 28 mph. I got off and found myself sucking air heavily, and that took me almost 3-4 minutes to overcome before I could work on the tire. Took a pee, changed the tire and continued on my merry way. This fast-paced ride was now a saddle-time-and-get-in-the-miles ride. Just as well, I wouldn't have been able to hang on much longer anyway. I was glad I had put my 25-tooth cogset on since the last few hills were pretty decent leg-breakers for this part of northeast Louisiana. All told, I got in 66 miles and some good hill workouts.
My '98 Dakota turned over 200,000 miles on this trip! It'll be ten years old next April. I got 265,000 miles on my old Datsun King-Cab (1980-1998). The miles came faster on my Dakota but it doesn't feel like I've driven that far. Of course, I have driven on sepaate trips to Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Los Angeles in it so maybe I have?
After the ride I went to the ULM-Grambling football game that afternoon. A very historic event with Grambling playing a predominantly white Louisiana school for only the second time in its history (Northwestern State was the other, in 1976 and the G-men winning 14-13). ULM's defense was the story in this game, holding the Tigers to minus 4 yards rushing and about 165 yards in total offense. We would win 28-14 although the gap should have been around 42-7 except for the mistakes our offense kept making. The other storyline from this game was the crowd: a record for Malone Stadium of 30,101 people...capacity crowd. Yeah, it was probably 2/3's Grambling fans but it was great to see the stadium so full of people. A great experience, for sure.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Change
Plenty has been happening around here, both in everyday life and around the household. The kitchen renovation is moving along. We got our new countertops last week...putting the old sink back in was more fun than you can shake a stick at (if that's your idea of a good time). But I could put another one in a lot easier and quicker now that I know how it all works. The countertops look really good, especially with the painting that we've done. The kitchen is much lighter looking, even looks bigger. There's plenty more to get done and there's some things we're deciding not to do...like replacing the cabinet doors. I'm working on recycling a number of the hinges by removing old paint from them and we'll just repaint and rehang the doors.
Other things are happening, too. Yesterday the support posts on the back patio were replaced and that changed the look out there. Instead of the decorative supports, which were rusting out, we have these lean round poles instead. A little plain looking but I've grown attached to them very quickly.
Today, we're replacing the heating and cooling systems completely. This decision was reached on Monday when we had the system inspected in preparation for the coming cold weather and to see what shape it was in for when we sell or rent the house eventually. The previous system had been installed in November of 1993 so it was already reaching the end of its life cycle. A guy named Tom came by early Monday morning to do the inspection and it wasn't long before he came down from the attic to show me some damage done to a piece of tubing by mice in the past. I had gotten rid of the mice almost a year ago so I knew that was old damage. Tom fixed that pretty quickly but a half hour later he came back with bad news. The heater coil had a crack in it. This meant that CO2 was being released at 2100 parts per million (normal is 100 parts per million). He tested it three times before he told me and let me watch the fourth test to see for myself. Here's the odd thing: the holes the mice chewed into that tubing kept much of the CO2 from entering the house. In a word, that make-shift chew-toy probably saved our lives last winter! The gas dispersed into the attic and out the vents, hardly entering the living spaces below. It might not have killed us but it sure would have made us sick otherwise.
Tom disabled the heating unit, as the law requires. He also said the A/C unit probably had 1-5 years left in it. We had to replace the heating unit and we got a guy to quote us for replacing everything or just the heater. Jonnene and I decided to do it all. It would make the house easier to sell if there's new heat and A/C. We can include the cost to the price of the house to get our money back later.
So for the last three days, I've had people at the house for various things. Today it's two guys removing the old units and putting in new ones. It's kinda neat to see all the shiny stuff that's way more efficient than the 1993-era stuff. For instance, the old heater burned natural gas at 60% efficiency which was standard and met EPA requirements of that time (that meant 40% of the gas escaped into the air). This new unit operates at 80% efficiency! That means more heat from the same amount of gas and should reduce our gas bills by almost 30% over the winter. I can live with that.
The old house is a-changing, that's for sure.
I started riding my bike again on November 1st. I already have 150 miles in to prepare for a bike tour in West Monroe this Saturday. I'll try to push through for 66 miles...it was easier to do that a couple of months ago but it should be a little harder this time after taking all of October from the bike. My K2 is going to be my permanent time trial bike so I'm currently on my steel beast, the Bradley. After the tour, I'll be going to the ULM football game against Grambling, which should be quite interesting and historical. It's the first game ever between the two schools, one predominantly white and the other a famous black college. ULM, however, was the first white college in Louisiana to have blacks on its football team in 1968. Yeah, there's a lot of history here and I'm not missing it. Malone Stadium should be nearly full, maybe a sellout...I've never seen 30,000 people for one event in northeast Louisiana before and this may be it.
Other things are happening, too. Yesterday the support posts on the back patio were replaced and that changed the look out there. Instead of the decorative supports, which were rusting out, we have these lean round poles instead. A little plain looking but I've grown attached to them very quickly.
Today, we're replacing the heating and cooling systems completely. This decision was reached on Monday when we had the system inspected in preparation for the coming cold weather and to see what shape it was in for when we sell or rent the house eventually. The previous system had been installed in November of 1993 so it was already reaching the end of its life cycle. A guy named Tom came by early Monday morning to do the inspection and it wasn't long before he came down from the attic to show me some damage done to a piece of tubing by mice in the past. I had gotten rid of the mice almost a year ago so I knew that was old damage. Tom fixed that pretty quickly but a half hour later he came back with bad news. The heater coil had a crack in it. This meant that CO2 was being released at 2100 parts per million (normal is 100 parts per million). He tested it three times before he told me and let me watch the fourth test to see for myself. Here's the odd thing: the holes the mice chewed into that tubing kept much of the CO2 from entering the house. In a word, that make-shift chew-toy probably saved our lives last winter! The gas dispersed into the attic and out the vents, hardly entering the living spaces below. It might not have killed us but it sure would have made us sick otherwise.
Tom disabled the heating unit, as the law requires. He also said the A/C unit probably had 1-5 years left in it. We had to replace the heating unit and we got a guy to quote us for replacing everything or just the heater. Jonnene and I decided to do it all. It would make the house easier to sell if there's new heat and A/C. We can include the cost to the price of the house to get our money back later.
So for the last three days, I've had people at the house for various things. Today it's two guys removing the old units and putting in new ones. It's kinda neat to see all the shiny stuff that's way more efficient than the 1993-era stuff. For instance, the old heater burned natural gas at 60% efficiency which was standard and met EPA requirements of that time (that meant 40% of the gas escaped into the air). This new unit operates at 80% efficiency! That means more heat from the same amount of gas and should reduce our gas bills by almost 30% over the winter. I can live with that.
The old house is a-changing, that's for sure.
I started riding my bike again on November 1st. I already have 150 miles in to prepare for a bike tour in West Monroe this Saturday. I'll try to push through for 66 miles...it was easier to do that a couple of months ago but it should be a little harder this time after taking all of October from the bike. My K2 is going to be my permanent time trial bike so I'm currently on my steel beast, the Bradley. After the tour, I'll be going to the ULM football game against Grambling, which should be quite interesting and historical. It's the first game ever between the two schools, one predominantly white and the other a famous black college. ULM, however, was the first white college in Louisiana to have blacks on its football team in 1968. Yeah, there's a lot of history here and I'm not missing it. Malone Stadium should be nearly full, maybe a sellout...I've never seen 30,000 people for one event in northeast Louisiana before and this may be it.
Sunrise Down Under
All morning I've been watching the early morning sunrise shown on a webcam at the Adelaide, South Australia airport. Every 30 seconds the real-time picture changes. You can see the first rays of early dawn climbing over the mountains of the Mount Lofty Ranges in the background. There's nice streaks of scarlet and purple heralding the eventual arrival of the sunrise. I check on it every once in a while to see what's happening, to see the activity as the airport wakes up. There's always a long row of Qantas 767's lined up at the gates and as the day goes on, they leave on their flights to be replaced every so often during the day with more aircraft. I visited the airport a year ago this month and located the web-camera stuck to the side of a light standard. I've walked thru two of those walkways you can see in the image.
This is the link (copy and paste it into your web browser):
www.aal.com.au/media/webcam.aspx
Check it out for yourself.
This is the link (copy and paste it into your web browser):
www.aal.com.au/media/webcam.aspx
Check it out for yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)