Fat Boy Deluxe

Been a while since I’ve been in here - you should see the level of spam!  Hmm, lot’s I could write about, but not much of it really matters.  There was no SSWC08 after actually getting through registration and everything.  There was a lot of reasons for missing it, but I’ll lump all the reasons together under low finances.  Kristin and I were really looking forward to throwing down with all our friends, but it just wasn’t meant to be this time.  Thankfully our little rough patch seems to be passing and we can’t wait to start catching up on some trips we’ve been promising - DC, Ocean City, Philly - you know who you are! You all are always welcome up here, we got spare bed space, beer on tap, and miles and miles of trails outside the door…

So what’s been going on?  My parents made the trip to Bedford a couple of times.  The last time they brought my grandparents to see our house for the first time.  They spent a full week and it was nice to have some visitors.  We sat on the back porch, listening to them tell stories of growing up in a very different time.  Getting your history from somebody who lived through it is an amazing experience.  I only wish I was a better writer, because the book that could be written on my grandparents would not soon be forgotten.

Let’s see, spent my 31st birthday up in Maine. We stopped by Portsmouth Brewing on the way up and Kristin let me get one of their growlers of IPA as a present. Pretty good IPA, even better growler…

Growler, photo by Kristin

Work has been good.  It’s slowed down quite a bit recently, which means I’m working a more normal schedule.  Still locked away in a lab, away from internet, email, phone, etc., but at least when the day is done I can head out and it’s still daylight outside.  I’ve been using ESRI’s ArcGIS more lately and I gotta say, it pretty much sucks ass.  For those who don’t know what ArcGIS is, it’s basically a very large GIS (Geographical Information System) software set.  Most of the stuff we use it for is highly CPU intensive, so we have pretty beefy computers.  Here’s the rub, all the computer power we can buy and all the software does is slow down!  It can’t take advantage of a 64 bit machine and it can’t can’t take advantage of multi-core technology (this is a killer, because it means a single processor machine is actually quicker)…talk about lame!  Oh, but wait, ESRI is on it…should be ready sometime in 2010…nice, jerks.

Anyway, I’ve also been doing some riding, not as much as I’d like, but a lot of the rides have been excellent.  A few mini-epics here and there and I’ve been riding the Minuteman path and it’s BCT dirt extension more and more lately just to put in the miles.  From the house to the end of the bikepath and back is right at 20 miles.

There was an awesome ride that I kind of pushed my way into, the BADASS, only to have it all go horribly wrong.  You know it’s going to be a good time when you’re the first one to drop out before you reach the PR, which is like 3 miles into the ride, ha.  It was mostly because I had jammed my thumb a day earlier and it was really difficult to grip the bar (boohoo, I know).  On top of that my rear wheel was tweaked before the ride, so I put on a different wheel (with different tube/tire combo).  First set of rocks I got a slow flat that didn’t rear it’s head until reaching the first road climb.  I dropped out right after talking to one of the guys and telling him people shouldn’t wait for me (I noticed my rear flat as he was making the turn ahead of me).  Got home, pulled the wheel, trued the original rear wheel, threw on a new chain from deep in the parts box, even found a set of rotors that were in better condition than the ones I was using, so I switched those out.  Now the bike is running well, but a few weeks later and I still have a bum thumb…something must be cracked/broken.  At least the road/path riding is now tolerable.  It just sucks though, I was really looking forward to the long ride and if I was them I probably wouldn’t be too quick to invite me back.  Oh well, just gotta ride hard and get stronger, so if there is a next time, it’s not such a disgrace.  The first time I rode with of them I ended up cracking my collarbone, the second time was in some crazy snow and I was just sucking wind, then this for the third time!

Finally decided to pull the OMM rack off the commuter and put it on Aretha and now it’s all ready to go for some S24O action.  Plenty of loverly spots for it out here.  Ride, ride, ride…pull off, camp, crack a semi-cold beverage, wake up and head back home - hopefully using a different route.  Should be a good Fall activity, considering temperatures are dropping and leaves are already changing.

One fun thing Kristin and I did manage to do this summer was get down to NYC to see 2 Skinnee J’s live.  We took a new Skinnees fan, Notte (Kristin’s friend from Syracuse who now lives in the Boston area) and our beautiful as ever hostess, Kim.  It wasn’t the best show I’ve ever seen the Skinnees play - that honor belongs to the time they came out in spaceman outfits, lots of smoke, and playing Irresistable Force, not to mention they were touring with Fishbone!  It was still a great show, especially considering they haven’t played live in something like 5 years and this was only a one week tour.  Lot’s of crowd participation and one of my favorite parts of the night were when they released 500 or so bouncy balls with glow sticks in the middle.  Talk about pure chaos!  Check out the video taken from the other side of the room…

Oh, and the opening band was Tragedy - a metal tribute to the BeeGees…talk about some funny shit!

I guess there has been a lot going on, considering I didn’t talk about going to Maine, hanging out with Mike & Cindy, brewing up some beer, or even the 3rd anniversary of being married to my incredible wife Kristin…at least that gives me a few fun things to write up now that I’m back and trying to dig through the memory banks.  More to come!