Live With The Nerds
Don't Be One
February 2002
Downside of biking is that its pretty tough to carry everything on the bike, even
though I got the tank bag on, I still had to bungee the gym bag on the back. Worse
is that I still don't have a set of textile overpants, I thought that my one-piece
rainsuit would suffice for a bit, but it doesn't fit very well now (big surprise eh?)
Guess that set of overpants will be next up, and maybe another (smaller) tank bag
too cuz the one I have is good for travel, but too big for the daily commute.
Saturday was shopping mania, managed to buy Elena a helmet (blue Shoei RF-800 on sale) so that she can
ride safely, She almost bought a jacket, but there is still debate, although I did
tell her to buy something blue, cuz she's really just another accessory to the bike ;)
In any case my new favorite store is Cycle Gear in San Jose, they're very friendly
and the prices seem pretty good.
That night we headed out to see Collateral Damage before I headed home. Sunday
was work at home day in the morning, I managed to get my new dresser (IKEA of course)
assembled, finally, but its nice to have more storage. That afternoon it was more
bike accessory shopping, still didn't find pair of textile overpants that I really
like, and Elena is having a hard time finding gloves that'll fit. I did, however
buy some trinkets a disk lock, bungee webbing and cords as well as finally
installing the mounting clips for my tank bag.
Because of all of the bike work (and pictures) I'm now well behind on all of my
ski pictures, hopefully this week they'll be organized in some fashion, but the
weather has been extremely good and it'll be hard to stay off the bike ;)
Anyway, back to the weeks recap, it was up to Seattle for most a long weekend,
unfortunately the Sonics lost (d*mn Lakers ;) but at least they had my long sleeve
shooting shirt. That night it was carnivore dinner with Kat at Flemings Steak House,
pretty good really, large, large portions. We split a 40oz porterhouse and didn't finish
it, and the brocolli florets were the size of softballs (no we didn't finish those either)
I was working remote from Bellevue both Thursday and Friday but I still managed to
lunch with Linda, pack and ship myself a box, lunch with Barri, and finally catch
dinner and a movie with Miyo K. Saturday was fun, got to see Carey & Jo's new
sidecar, shopped for motorcycle stuff a bit, then off to see the Sonics just wallop
the Celtics, I think Miyo's good luck.
Sunday was vball at SMB with most of the gang, Kat was exhausted from her race
(sailing) so she only made lunch, but I got to play with Kelli, Chuck and Will so
that was pretty fun. There was even an appearance by the "tall couple" (Scot and
his tall girl ;)
Monday being a holiday, I got to just hang out with Elena while we both recovered
from our colds (gee its sure knocking out a lot of people) but the best part
was heading over to Bike World and paying for my new SV650S, blue, and then finding
out that in addition to giving me a contact, Chuck's friend Richard, had arranged
a decent discount for me. Since I shipped my helmet, jacket and rain suit I'm probably
going to pick it up later this week.
Tuesday I sub'd for vball again, still feeling a bit off, sore throat but the
body isn't tired, seems like its getting better though, perhaps it'll all burn off
when I start exercising more.
Tonight I spent most of my time cleaning the garage, moving most of the boxes
out of one side so I can get 2 cars and my bike into the garage at the same time,
still lots left to do, but 2 cars will now fit, tomorrow I'll get to the other
side and then it'll be bike time !!!.
Saturday was the NCVA tourny, we sucked badly, and the chemistry was off, it didn't
help that my rotator cuff was hurting and I wasn't setting too well. Sounds like
we may kick the troublemakers off of the team so we can have a more fun time at
the next tourny -- we'll see if they actually do it though.
The rest of the weekend I just vegged out at Elena's to I bird-sit Gilbert
while Elena visited her mom in LA. Surprisingly he wasn't much trouble, and it
gave me a chance to whittle down the VCR backlog I'd generated while I was gone.
I really needed the rest, still, I was under the weather this week too so no
yoga or bball, just dinners with Elena before I head out to Seattle for the
rest of the week.
When I get back next week, I'm supposed to go see a guy at Bike World cuz Chuck's friend
(also a Suzuki dealer) has recommended a reliable sales guy to work with. So maybe
just maybe, I'll be picking up that new bike next week some time.
Site news, thanks to my co-worker (SteveK) I now have a thumbnail generating
script, which is allowing me to catch up on the backlog of pictures that I
haven't gotten around to publishing. New on the site (but historical) are:
Friday night I'd started packing 2 days earlier, still it was a late night,
but at least Elena was around to keep me company. Saturday morning it was up
at 4am to drive north and get Darren up at 5 so I could get to SFO on time. All
of that other flying I've done paid off, no line for the Alaska MVP's, re-seated
to an exit row aisle *yah*.
The ride up to Whistler was uneventful, and we managed to get a bit of shopping in
as well as dinner at the Crab Shack with some of the east coast gang. Since my
room wasn't ready yet, I unpacked just before dinner, only to find that I had
forgotten to pack my ski suit. Luckily I had packed a bib, but I had to run around
looking for a jacket. Found a decent one (columbia sportsware), on sale, and it rang
up cheaper, add to that 10% discount card we got, as well as the GST refund and it
wasn't such a bad deal.
Sunday it was cold, very cold, and we were up really early for the "fresh tracks"
breakfast on Whistler -- at least the food was pretty good. I got a few runs, and
a major crash, but the snow was great, but cold, so cold. I then headed over
to Blackcomb to watch the World Cup Freestyle finals -- boy can those men and women
fly. Monday was Blackcomb with Wes, Sherman, Margaret, Kyle, Karen and Kevin, still
very cold, lots of runs but I had to buy glove liners at lunch to keep warm -- only
then I noticed that I had ripped my gloves so during the evening shopping spree
I had to buy a pair of mittens.
Tuesday it was Blackcomb with Karen, Margaret, Kyle, Wes, Bertha and Jadine, not
as cold, but probably because the mittens are a lot warmer, dinner that night was
at Umbertos, still excellent, and I managed to nibble on Rudolph again. Wednesday
I opted not to join the Ski Nazis on their 8:30am sharp, no tree stops, and only a 45
minute lunch. Instead Wes and I shopped, and then help setup for the evening Karaoke
before our shiatsu massages. Dinner that night was at Hy's Steakhouse, Sherman's favorite
the food (and dessert !) was excellent, but pricy (Steak & Lobster for ~$50)
Thursday was a powder day, Whistler and the bowls were awesome, ran the fun race
and managed not to crash, but didn't place. Had been worrying about my skis
being too soft, and they are for hardpack, but they excelled in the softer stuff
and the moguls -- even still was very tempted to get a pair of the regular
Atomic 9.22's since they were on sale ($599 CDN) Margaret liked hers so much
that she bought a pair, as did Karen and Melanie. Dinner that night was at
Sushi Village, pretty good, but we were too late for any of the soup bowls.
Friday was another decent day at Blackcomb, still warmer, but fog cover low, even
so, at mid mountain there was plenty of deeper untracked snow by the trees -- we
even got to ski with Mia, who's normally off with the elites but spent the afternoon
with us on her telemark skis (we even saw her fall). Lots of glading and trees
and a fairly good sized group. Dinner that night was the awards banquet, and dance
but I was feeling kinda ill so I cut out early. Saturday was an uneventful trip
back, kind of exhausting and the legs were totally burnt out.
At least my MP3 player performed flawlessly, even after falling on it.
Interesting things that "you had to be there" for ... Wes making snow angels
as well as writing in the snow (by the trees), Ski Nazis, Wild Wendy at Karaoke,
mad (unsuccessful) shopping for ski pants, the never ending vest search, and the
missing bus food.
Sunday Elena and I trucked up to San Rafael to lunch with Curtis and Margaret, so I could
bring her skis up to her -- good thing she sent her skis with me, as Curtis' bag
and skis didn't make it on our flight and were still in Canada. Then it was off to
IKEA to shop, picked up a kinda cool expanding table for the kitchen and a new
dresser for my room.
Monday it was back to the work grind, 700+ emails and just a few smouldering fires
to tend. Dinner was with Elena and her ex-carpool buds -- Birks for more meat ;)
Today was easier, think I'm finally recovering, but still opted not to play bball
tonight. Had our annual chinese new years dim-sum lunch, then
after work gave Kiz a ride to her mom's to pick up her car, then off to
dinner at a the Taiwan Resturant in Willow Glen (ok, but not great)
Ok so the bike is now my regular commuting vehicle, good thing too, cuz
I took the car in for its inspection 2 checkup and they're gonna be keeping
it for a while to see why the break circuit light shows up when it rains.
I even managed to play bball again on tuesday, wind was good, shot was a bit
off, but way better than I thought it'd be, especially since its been about 2
months.
Ok this was a fun weekend, it started friday when I went to go pick up my
new bike (you can see pictures here)
then it was the (almost) all Elena shopping weekend. First we wandered off to
see The Count of Monte Cristo (Elena got a kick out of the swordplay since she's taking
fencing) then it was off to dinner.
Yeah, what a week, been busy trying to get all of my picture backlog up
and I'm just finishing up the set of images of the house work from about
a year ago (finally) guess this'll have to do until I finish the baseboards
and have that housewarming parties. The pictures are at:
http://www.notanerd.com/lamesa/index.html
Just be a bit patient, I'm still poking through there and rotating
some of the pictures.
Still kinda ill most of the week, managed a dinner outing with Kiz on
Tuesday, saw Elena frequently, but the bulk of the week was a blur, lots
of work to catch up on, and still foggy headed.
Caroline's Going Away
Party
Rod's Going Away Aloha
Sunday
Rod's Kahlua Pig Visit
and, finally
NSC Jackson Hole
2001
Late on the skiing recap since it was extremely cold and I was a bit
under the weather when I got back. I also have plenty of pictures to work
through, and I even found the Jackson Hole pictures from last year's NSC
so hopefully I'll get those done RSN. I'll also be getting 3 rolls of normal
pics back next week so that should add to the work load. On to the recap:
Background graphic & layout courtesy of:
Windy's Fashionable Page Designs