Friday, March 31, 2006

He's blogging again!

I know, I know... I actually sat down to blog and the goofy thing kept asking me for my password over and over and then told me it was wrong. I finally gave up. So, that said, here's a weeks worth of blogging from my noggin'.

We saw Delirium at Alltel last Thursday night. Very cool show! I hope it comes back again some time!

Melissa, my niece is having twins and everyone is so happy for them. I sent here a list of hot names used by young parents these days. They got to see the 2 little heart beats and everyone cried.

Terri and Emily are in Memphis shopping today. Emily is on spring break.

Terri's parents were here from Navarre, FL and the pollen has kicked in up here and sent them straight back home with runny noses. I'm sure we'll get a letter saying something to the effect of, "We don't have that stuff down here."

Tyler is working at Journey's (out selling everyone) and at Jones Productions doing his video magic. He seems happy to be back in Arkansas and not living in downtown among the high rise buildings. The warmer weather seems to be a plus for him too.

I lucked out and was the 10,000th person to visit my nephew Jim's blog. That was cool since I don't luck into stuff like that very often at all. He said he was sending me a prize and I told him I just couldn't wear on of those "I Bleed Orange" t-shirts.

I have decided not to ride the two week bike trip around the state like I did last year. It’s just not a good time to be able to put that much work into it. I think I'll do something again but not 2 weeks worth. I do plan to ride a lot of the charity event rides as well as rides with friends.

Last week I went out to Two Rivers Park in Little Rock to ride Wye Mtn. As the guys were getting their bikes ready they ALL had areo bars on. This is a bad sign! They all ride for Carve and are all about 10 years younger and much leaner. So we take off and I told them not to wait if I get dropped. I did good until about half way up the mountain and zoom there they come and go! I saw them a couple more times but in the end the drooped me like a rock when we reached Hwy 10. It was ok because I slowed down and started enjoying the ride for me rather than competitive riding. I saw a couple of wild turkey's crossing Hwy 10. I saw a flock of geese coming in for the evening at Lake Maumelle. That sort of scenes is what makes a ride for me.

Oh yeah, and we got another puppy. Actually, Sean, Emily's boyfriend got a puppy but he lives at our house. I said, well, what if y'all break up will you have joint custody and each gets the pup every other weekend? Ok, here's the kicker... Max is a 12 week old Chow/Rotweiler (sp?) mix. He eats more than Saydee and is a brick of muscle. I've spoken with several that have Rotti's as they are called and all have said, it depends on how you raise them and train them. Max will be our outside dog. I just hope he stays as loveable as he is now. Yes, Saydee is very protective of him. I thought it was jealous but she treats him like it's her baby. Fun to watch them play. Sean has to buy Max's food and upkeep and knows that if he (Max) eats the house then Sean has to pay for it.

Next week I will be riding the Tour de Hills in Harrison with several friends. 62 miles of hills then a drive home! I'll spend the night up there on Friday night but I'm thinking I'll drive home on Saturday after the event. Probably will stop and eat a dozen times on the way home! HA!

Well, my favorite part of the weekend is coming up! The start of the weekend... Friday at 5pm!!!

Y'all have a fun weekend!

Friday, March 24, 2006

Friday, March 17, 2006

Happy Saint Patrick's Day (And happy birthday Jim)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day (And happy birthday Jim)

Traditional Irish Blessing and Toast
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall softly on your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

It's my nephew Jim's birthday and it's really easy to remember it since it's on this day. I can still remember the day he was born. I was in the 6th grade and it was cold and rainy. Our school had grown so the sixth grade classes were in portable buildings. My little sister Barbie came and knocked on the classroom door and told me while class was going on. I remember yelling, "It's a boy!". The only other little person I had that made me an uncle was Shannon, so a boy was a big deal. Oh by the way, Jim is the family member that broke all the rules and moved to Texas. Well I should take that back, Jason, the nephew that came a few months after Jim, moved there first.

In case you are wondering I ended up with Shannon, Jason, Jim, Melissa, Brit, Linsey, Matt and then a whole nother herd of them that got in as families changed (divorce/marriage).

Tyler has been busy with Jones Productions and he has already worked on Backyard Burger and Lee's Chicken animations for their TV spots. I got to see the Backyard burger animation and it was really cool looking! Way to go kiddo!

I drove in record time to the hospital even though I didn't leave until 7:28. The school's are out and it's just a nice day and the Hogs are in Dallas in the tournie so no one went to work. I even got a prime parking spot that is never open! Luck 'o the Irish ya say?!

I'm planning to bust out by 4 and take a ride. With 3 days of rain heading this way, I better ride while I can. I can only hope the luck 'o the Irish smiles on me again today and gives me a ride like yesterday! It was just o'dandy!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Babies, tornados, and good days

Nice title huh? Here's the scoop ...

There were tornados in Arkansas up where Melissa, my neice, lives. They just found out they are having a baby (possible MULTI) and I just had my best riding day of the year today.

First, Congrats to Ryan and Melissa! Yes the family is jinxing you with 2 little mini-ryans It's the least we can jinx you with! Serious, everyone is excited. I've prayed that God will instill a hate for the color burnt orange and cow with horns. They are instruments of evil!

Second, Melissa said they have hail in their freezer the size of baseballs. They thought it was going to bust out their windows. The tornado that hit was only about 4 miles from their house.

Third, today was one of those days that the after work training ride was just dandy. I started off and the wind was right in my face along with bugs and flying sand. I left my sunglasses on the back of the car last Sunday when I finished riding and the flew off on the interstate says the car that pulled up beside me. Awww crap! Now I remember why I buy cheap safety sunglasses from Home Depot. They honestly look like a lot of the ones I've seen in the cycling catalogs. Anyway, I rode for a bit then climbed Ft Roots 2 times and back out by the river and fought the wind thinking how fun it was going to be riding back when the wind is at my back. I decided to ride out by the soccer fields and around Burns Park. There is a hill that I enjoy training on and today I attacked the thing. I didn't drop the gears as I have other times this winter. I rode by several baseball and softball games as well as golf and tennis. Everyone was out enjoying the warm (72 degree) afternoon. So I rode on out to the landing and noticed that the sun was going down behind the mountain so I knew I'd best start heading back. Man oh man was that fun! I had the wind pushing me along and I look down to see myself flying along at a whooping 26 mph and enjoying it. I was in the groove! Some days are just meant to be outside!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

An 80 mph tailwind... now that's wicked!

Nah, I didn't really get out and ride as the storm was approching but when I heard that the north county got winds gusting around 80 mph I thought how wicked that would have been to go out and just jump out in it and not even pedal. Of course there would be a curve and the wind would send me straight out into some cow pasture and endo into the cow poop. By the way, the storm came through about 10:30 and I was downstairs conducting interviews and had left my office window cracked open (I love the fresh air!). When the storm hit it sent papers a flying and one of my coworkers had to come in and shut the window. When I got back up here I noticed a few drops of water here and there. Something tells me if Chris wouldn't have shut the window then my office would have been soaking wet.

I didn't ride yesterday due to playing Mr. Mom while Terri was out of town. Emily, Sean, and myself decided we had to have Olive Garden. We always slip out and go eat places when Terri leaves town. Yep, we are perfectly able to cook but why?

I've seen several of my friends that ran the Littel Rock Marathon last Sunday and all are doing well and most have gotten out to run light recovery runs.

Well the storm and it's 80 mph tailwinds have left town and the sky is returning to it's beautiful shade of "after the cold front" blue. Now it's looking like a good day to count down the minutes til after work riding time!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Counting down the minutes

You have have an event that you just want to count down the minutes? My "event" is not big by any means but it's something that I look forward to. I'm talking about my after work bike ride. Some days you just look forward to getting out there and feeling the fresh air rushing by. There are several trees and flowers already blooming and the smell of spring is really refreshing.

It's funny since I'm sitting here at my desk finishing my lunch and thinking, "Ok Geo, put your head into it and blast through the afternoon wiothout looking up and 5 0'clock will be here before you know it." I'm sure there are things you do the same with. My coworkers and I were talking about funny stuff like this a few weeks ago and it was a diffcult week and I told them that I loved Wednesday mornings because I got to take the trash to the curb. Yep, the lounge got pretty quite after that weird remark. Then I explained to them that on Wednesday mornings when I take the trash down to the curb that means the week is half over and the weekend is getting closer. I'll tell you this, Friday afternoon at 5 o'clock is by far my favorite part of the weekend! Friday at 5 means you have the whole weekend ahead. It's the time when you want to run to your car throwing papers in the air and lauging!

Hey, my neice Shannon did great at the LR Marathon! I got to see her at 2 different places and she was going strong! I saw several other friends and coworkers in the pack as well. I went down to the 20 mile mark and some of these folks were looking pretty rough. I couldn't get half that far even if they told me my hair was on fire. Marathon runners are a very cool breed. Guess what country the winner was from....yep, Kenya! 2 hours, 18 minutes to run 26 miles.

With the weather turning to our favor and the sun being out longer I've gotten in some good after work rides in.

There is a big meeting tonight at the city hall where Alltel Corporate is wanting to open the bike lane to car traffic. This is going to get ugly. There has been way too much money put into the bike/ped path system to open it up to cars. The new bridge will be completed in Oct and if they open the road the bridge will be a bust.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

SEC, riding and dough-dough eggs

Another beautiful day and I rode a quick 18 miles out and back on the north side. There was a thunderstorm orth of the city so there weren't very many riders out. Mark was going to work on "cruise intervals". I had said something about not being much of a conversationist the other night and he said I had the pace up high enough that he couldn't hardly talk due to labored breathing anyway. Sure buddy, whatever you say. He said the drills tonight would be painful. Hope he worked hard. He said the drills are from a book called the Cycist Training Book. Said it was awesome. I plan to look for it this weekend.

The women's SEC tournament is in town and I park close to the arena where they are playing. Tonight was a TN game and there were folks in orange everywhere! They love their Vols don't they!

Sean and Emily made dough dough eggs (chocolate no-bake cookies). My nephew Jason called them that when he was little so my whole family adopted the name.

I'm ready for the weekend!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

It's 3-1 finally!

I always get excited when we finally get to 3-1! That's March 1st. I noticed it this morning when I woke at a few minutes after 6 and it was daylight. I noticed last night when me and the guys were riding that I didn't turn my bike light on until almost 6:30. Take that and add some excellent weather we are having right now (Sunny and 75 degrees) and today should be the first day of spring! Honestly, outside my office there is a row of Bradford Pear trees and they have exploded into white flowers today. I also noticed when I took the trash to the curb this morning that the ants are waking up and letting me know it with there little ant hills down by the street.

Training for the summer ride is going better too. We have a mountian climbing ride this Saturday afternoon. It's going to be tough cookie but I'll be with friends that enjoy the ride as much as keeping the speed up. We are supposed to do Wye Mountain 3 sides. One of the clubs I ride with (the same as Saturday's ride) will be riding what's called Tour de Hills in Harrison on April 8th. I've heard it was 62 miles (a metric entury) of nothing but hills.

The Little Rock Marathon is this weekend and my niece Shannon is running as well as a bunch of friends. I plan to ride my bike down to different spots in the course and hoot and hollar. At one I have to lead the Little Rockers (ages 7-12) for the last mile on my bike. Yep, there are some kids in that age group that can run an under 6 minute mile.