I’ve been terrible about blogging this summer. Our impending bicycle trip to Italy has left me with relatively little time to do much else other than cycle and hit the gym in my free time. As such has been the case, I’m terribly delinquent in posting this little rant.

Three weeks I got thwarted on my weekly lunch run. There’s a McDonald’s just up the street from my office it is usually fast, reliable, and will supply me with my weekly fix of a Southern Style Chicken sandwich & fries. While I completely agree that I would do much better to search for a healthier option, I like it… it is my vice.

But when I arrived to the driveway I found a big banner stretched across the entrance announcing “We’re Remodeling!” Annoyed, I kept driving and headed to the other McD’s across town (the one that is not so friendly, is horrible to go through the drive-thru, and who often screws up my order).

The following Saturday, (August 14th) my mother and I went for a long training ride and on our way home we passed the McD’s. Or at least we passed where the McD’s used to be. In it’s place was a huge pile of rubble.  I was so shocked I was speechless!  That had to be the worst remodeling job I’d ever seen.  After all, the idea of remodeling is taking something that exists and redoing it or upgrading it.  My understanding of the term remodel does not, however, include razing something to the ground and starting all over!

Exhibit A: The razed McD’s

The fact that McD’s had been leveled really started to eat away at me.  I wondered if there was a translation error on the part of the construction crew or if they just couldn’t find a banner that said, “We’re closed for rebuilding!” so they thought that their remodeling sign would do.  So, I did what I always do and I googled it.  What I out was that on August 15, just a single day before the building bit it into the ground, the Town of Leesburg approved the McDonald’s plans for a new restaurant & drive through and to demolish the old structure (see the town news & updates for the full text).  The new restaurant will look like this:

I still contend that it is not a remodel.  I think people need to really utilize the correct verbiage so as to eliminate any possible confusion.  I’m on the fence about how I feel about the new design.  Our McD’s, after all, had been an icon since 1967.

Random Posts

• February 6, 2009 -- Individually Collective Blogging: On Being Publically Humiliated
• February 1, 2008 -- Always entertained
• December 18, 2004 --
• May 12, 2010 -- I have joined the club…
• February 25, 2009 -- Individually Collective Blogging: Lent (not to be confused with “lint”)

For some reason whenever we fly into Little Rick Airport something always gets lost. Last Christmas it was DH’s baggage that went to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This trip has been no exception.

Before leaving Dulles, we fastidiously checked the tags on all our bags to ensure that our names and final destination appeared perfectly printed on each baggage label. Feeling sure that there was no chance for error, we dropped our bags off at TSA and went along on our merry little way. The flight from Dulles to Atlanta was uneventful (the last leg into Little Rock I can’t say the same for, but that the subject of a different story entirely).

We arrived in Little Rock, relieved to be on the ground and interested in retrieving our baggage and getting on our way further south.

One polka-dot bag came off the conveyor belt. A sigh of relief, and a slight apprehension that maybe Mom’s bag didn’t make it.

After not a terribly long pause, and being reassured as bags were steadily coming onto the conveyor belt, Mom’s bag appeared. Another sigh of relief. I momentarily forgot that my parents didn’t share a bag, and by the time Mom reminded me that we had one more bag Dad’s bag popped out all ready to be retrieved.

There was just one thing left to collect… The Golf Clubs (and yes, they require capitalization).

We made friends with a nice retiree who has three dogs (a lab/beagle mix, a rat terrier/whippet mix with a sensitive tummy, and a white lab) and the meanest cat you’ll ever meet who’s a private pilot for hobby (Cessna 182) while we waited for the golf clubs to arrive. We waited a little longer and heard how the cat, scared at the vet one time, bit nearly clean though his finger which subsequently got infected and to this day he’s never got feeling to return to that finger. The Golf Clubs still hadn’t arrived. The door to the oversized baggage slammed shut.

Story goes that “there were weight issues” and that “this kind of thing happens all the time” and then they said they would “try” to get the clubs (failing to use their proper name and use the respect they deserve) to us within the week, but citing that since it’s a two hour drive they weren’t sure if it was possible.

Thank you Delta Airlines for yet another über fail

Related Posts

• July 8, 2010 -- Report on the “successful” camping trip
• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• January 6, 2010 -- Delta Airlines Uber-Fail

This weekend was a crazy rollercoaster of insanity.  My friend Christina recently wrote about how you’re never prepared for home-ownership, and this post partially addresses that issue.  But since my comments regarding this all under “The Bad” let me first start with “The Good.”

The Good

Friday night, DH and I went out with some friends with all the good intentions of trying out the “luxury” bowling lane that opened in our town, King Pinz.  Unfortunately, when we arrived we found out that there was nearly a 2 hour wait for a lane.  Like any good luxuary bowling alley, they take reservations; a convenience that twarted our spontenaity.  With nothing else to do on a Friday night we ended up at the movie theater taking in Inception, the newest flick by Christopher Nolan.  While I had not at all seen the trailers or read about it, one of my co-workers had talked about it before I left work on Friday and it peaked my curiosity.  Lately, I’ve been completely avoiding the movie theater scene because I think it’s absolutely astronomical to pay $11.00 a person for a movie.  However, Inception was worth every penny.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that I would actually pay $11.00 to see it again!

This movie absolutely blew me away.  I was on the edge of my seat for nearly the entire film and I followed the crowd as the theater erupted in cheers and applause when the movie ended.  I would take a leap and say that this was by far my favorite movie since American Beauty (which I ended up seeing 4 times in the theater and it’s one of the few DVDs that I actually own).  The acting was top notch, Leonardo DiCaprio has really come a very long way from his early days when I wasn’t so sure that he was going to make it a serious film actor.  I really don’t want to say anything about the plot other than it twists and turns so fast that it will make your head spin… and despite that you might not understand what’s going on in the first 5 minutes of the movie, stick with it… it’ll get you in the end.  It was absolutely thrilling and it comes highly recommended from me.

It was kind of Momento meets Matrix meets edge-of-your-seat-thriller Bourn Series, and I hope to write a fuller review of it after I rewatch Momento.

The Bad

All good things have to come to an end, and of course the best scenario is that a good thing is followed up by a good thing.  Unfortunately this wasn’t the case for coming home after seeing Inception.  DH and I walked in the door and I kind of tripped over our floor; which I thought strange since neither one of us had done any drinking that night.  Of course, I’m clumsy so it could have just been my feet getting in the way of the direction I was headed in, but the floor felt strange underneath my Vibrams; and since Vibrams really let you feel the ground underneath you, I knew something was up.

I looked down and noticed that our hardwood floor was buckled all across the front of the refrigerator.  I also noticed that the tray that collects overflow water on the in-door ice/water dispenser was full.  I made a snarky comment to DH about making sure that he cleaned ice out of it if it spilled.  He told me then that he had already cleaned a ton of water out of it earlier in the week and that I need to be careful when I filled up my water bottles to not miss.  Of course I hadn’t filled up my water bottles at home all that week.  Thinking back, I had cleaned out the tray myself at least one other occassion that week.  This curious happening prompted me to open the freezer to inspect what might be causing the excessive water leaking out into the tray.

What I found was an entire freezer full of dethawed food, and a completely empty ice bin.  DH thought maybe the temperature controls got changed accidentally so he opened the fridge side to change them.  When he did, we were disappointed to find that the fridge was nearly warm inside.  All the water in the tray that we kept cleaning up all week was actually all the ice melting out of the ice bin and running out of the freezer down the front of our fridge; incidentally landing on the floor and warping our hardwood floor.

Since we were having a party the very next evening, we knew that a new fridge was inevitable and an immediate need, so Saturday morning we headed out to Home Depot where we found an awesome deal on a floor model.  To be honest, I think buying a floor model is the only way you can get a fridge with a 1-day turn-around service.  Two hours later DH and my BIL had the thing installed and it was already cooling down!  I’ve got a little throw rug down in front of it to hide the horribly warped floor which we hope to replace the damaged parts this winter.  The cats are enjoying the rug greatly; both as a bed and an endless source of entertainment when it acts like a slip-n-slide across the floor.

Home-ownership… the joys never end.  Neither does the sarcasm.

The Detour

The detour that I speak about is actually the detour on the W&OD multi-use path that had to be put in while Dominion Power ran new underground lines for the extension of the grid in our area.  About a month ago my mom and I tried a very teeny portion of the detour and I gave up quickly due to the steep climbs that happen to be a part of it.

The map looks harmless enough, but it doesn’t give you the elevation map to go with it.  I guess if it did, people might just turn around!  Well, my friend Cece and I tackled it again this past Sunday!  And much to my surprise, I was able to go all the way East-bound on it, and most of the way West-bound.  I only had 2 briefly humiliating moments.  The first was when I attempted to power up an East-bound climb in a rather difficult gear, giving myself a fairly impressive asthma attack in the process.  Wheezing and seeing stars I made it to the top of the climb though!  The second slightly humiliating moment was when I underestimated the severity of a climb and didn’t downshift fast enough, lost all momentum and hit the wall.  My bike and I went up that hill on two feet instead of two wheels, two bikers passed me in the process and I sheepishly made a ridiculous comment about the severity of the hill when I saw two more taking a water break at the top.  All-in-all the detour is quite fun with a bunch of little dips, turns, and runs interspersed between the two major climbs.

You can check out our ride here from my Garmin Connect page – the detour is on the end to the far right:

Random Posts

• February 6, 2009 -- Individually Collective Blogging: On Being Publically Humiliated
• April 20, 2004 -- Not sure that I agree… but ok…
• July 9, 2005 -- Konstipated Kitty
• June 27, 2008 -- Reference post
• July 16, 2004 -- The Flight of Socrates

I apologize for those of you who are sitting on pins and needles wanting to know how the camping trip turned out… and those of you who are dying to know if I managed to one of those rare, but ferocious, Pennsylvania Hyenas.  And I am happy to report that the camping trip was 100% successful; not one hide nor hair of a Hyena, Pennsylvania or otherwise.

Albeit, it wasn’t a particularly rural camping trip since we were staying on the York Expo Fairgrounds in York, PA and there was a Hess gas station within stone-throwing distance from our campsite, but hey…. you gotta start somewhere, right?!  For the trip, DH and I raided REI during their Annual Sale and bought some awesome necessities.

• REI Kingdom 6 Tent: while this is certainly a larger tent than two people really need, most of the reviews said it was great for families with big dogs and we figure that we might grow into it eventually or invite friends along.
• REI Camp Folding Cot: DH was fond of this cot. It really looks like one of those army cots. I thought it was a little too wobbly for my tastes. It’s long enough for a fairly tall man to sleep on comfortably and still have room for a dog at the end.
• REI Camp Stowaway Cot XL: This is the cot I chose. It felt more stable to me, and I thought I would really like how it cradled my body when I slept; it was kind of like a camp chair converted to a bed. But I really didn’t take into consideration that I’m a side sleeper, so it was a bit weird as I moved around at night.
• REI Halo +40 Women’s sleeping bag (long): Yes, it was a bit overkill for June, but I get chilled pretty easily and I wanted a bag that would be good for November as well. I thought I would love it. But I actually kind of felt a little claustrophobic at first. The only time I’ve ever really slept in a sleeping bag was when I was a kid and I was sleeping in my parents’ bags… which I literally swam in. I didn’t realize how close they were supposed to fit. I’ll give it another whirl and see how it goes.
• Coleman Retro Rechargeable Full-sized lantern: We only used this piece of equipment briefly. Both DH and I were completely exhausted after flyball that we just used it for a minute to locate the cots and fall down on them. But we bought this one over others for the “green” rechargeable feature. And it just looked cool.

We brought along a Coleman InstaStart Grill stove but ended up not using it at all. It was a gift from my parents for our 5th anniversary and sadly I was so frantic to get on the road at the last minute that I never got around to packing any food.

As for the actual camping experience…. The first night the plan was to have the dogs sleep in their crates in the Navigator. It was cool enough outside that we could open up the hatchback window and roll the other windows down and they’d get a good breeze. I think the theory behind that was that we’d get more sleep if they were comfy in their own beds and not trying to share ours. Too bad that didn’t work out. Every tiny noise, every car door slamming (because there were other flyball-ers who were van-camping near us), every anything that I heard I sat straight up in bed paralyzed that either a serial killer or a Pennsylvania hyena was coming to eat me (and yes, the serial killer was really more like the Silence of the Lambs type who would not only kill me but also eat me). So I begged for DH to bring the dogs into the tent with us. After all, there is no better deterrent for serial killers, Anthony Hopkins, and Pennsylvania Hyenas than a Dalmatian and a Belgian Malinois. Granted, the Dalmatian looks cute but she can pack a punch if you’re trying to hurt her person. The Malinois…. that’s another story…. he not only is badass, he looks it too so he doesn’t even have to do anything to be a good deterrent other than sit there by the door. And sit by the door is exactly what he did! No sooner than both dogs settled down in the tent (because that took a little while), did I fall completely asleep feeling safe and sound. Needless to say, the dogs slept with us Sunday night too and will forever be fixtures in our tent when we camp.

Here are some shots from our first successful camping adventure:

Related Posts

• July 24, 2010 -- Flying into Little Rock is always an adventure
• July 2, 2010 -- Race to the ONYX!
• June 25, 2010 -- Potential for ONYX & no Hyenas
• April 19, 2010 -- Our dog is a Klepto & Other Running News
• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?

I mentioned in my last post that I was incredibly excited about last weekend because we were traveling to York, PA for an awesome flyball tournament and that I fully expected Magnolia to receive her ONYX award there.  I am happy to report that all went exactly as planned and in the 2nd heat of the last race of the first day, we crossed the threshold of 20,000 flyball points!  I also mentioned that I explain what an ONYX award is… so read on…

In 1984 the North American Flyball Association (NAFA) was organized to act as a sanctioning agency for this relatively new dog sport.  With as little as 12 teams that began the sport, tournaments were few and far between.  It wasn’t until the late 1990s that the sport really began to catch on and tournaments started to gain popularity and become less infrequent.  Back in 1993 an event occurred that no one thought possible, a dog amassed 20,000 racing points.  To date, no dog had ever acquired that many points.  He’d completely gone out of his league.  He’d surpassed the last title by a full 5,000 points.  There was only one thing to do… name an award after him.  And that was the birth of the ONYX award.

Since that time, NAFA has added 2 more official titles and 6 intermediary titles.  After the ONYX and another 10,000 points you can earn the Flyball Grand Champion (FGDCh-30) and the 6 intermediary titles are at intervals of 10,000 points between the first FGDCh and the highest award, the Hobbes Award for 100,000 points.  Again, the Hobbes Award was named after the first dog to obtain that many racing points.  To date there have only been 5 total Hobbes Awards, and none of them have been awarded to a Dalmatian.  Maybe Magnolia will be the first!?!

The ONYX award is the first of the “big” awards that the dog receives a commemorative plaque for.  To some it marks the end of a hard earned flyball career.  To others it marks the beginning of climbing within the national ranks of your breed.  But to us it is a testament to the incredibly long hours of training, proofing, and practice that it took to get to this point in the relatively short period of time that we were able to achieve it in.  I couldn’t have been more proud to have gotten to this point in our flyball career with my heart dog.  There have been times that I wanted to quit, that I cried and though it would never happen.  But there hasn’t been a more rewarding moment in the lanes with that dog… it was music to hear the words “Go SPOTTED DOG!’ after they announced her ONYX award.

Just in case you don’t happen to follow my twitter account, here’s a blow-by-blow of the Race to the ONYX.

Race to the #ONYX: 260 pts to go, we just won all of our races for the first race of the day & we are ROCKIN!! #fb#flyball10:20 AM Jun 26th via Twittelator

Race to the #ONYX: We’re about to go in for race #2 of the day… Point update in just a bit!!! Wish us luck! #fb #flyball12:12 PM Jun 26th via Twittelator

Race to the #ONYX: 100 more points on that race… That’s just another 160 points until 20K!!! #fb #flyball12:37 PM Jun 26th via Twittelator

These are the most awesome portable fans on the face of the planet. @Rebel_Dog <3s me for finding them! #geargeek#flyball12:45 PM Jun 26th via Twittelator

There’s some awesome racing going on today! Some team just ran a 16! #flyball (@Memorial Hall)http://4sq.com/9T2Ppb12:47 PM Jun 26th via foursquare

Race to the #ONYX: Now the only thing that stands in the way of us & this ribbon is 36 pts! #fb #flyballhttp://twitgoo.com/15g1w84:48 PM Jun 26th via Twittelator

And in other #flyball milestones, @Rebel_Dog & Rebel the Dog made their very first perfect start of their career! 0.0004:50 PM Jun 26th via Twittelator

Race to the #ONYX: At just before 7:20pm Magnolia walked in a dog… And walked out an #ONYX #flyball dog!!! 20K, Mission Accomplished! #fb7:59 PM Jun 26thvia Twittelator

My #flyball friends are awesome. They got Magnolia & I an#ONYX cake to celebrate! http://twitgoo.com/15hc1w #fbJune 26, 2010 9:51:32 PM EDTvia Twittelator

And Rhonda got me this awesome #ONYX pin do I’d have bling to show off immediately! #fb #flyballhttp://twitgoo.com/15hc2tJune 26, 2010 9:52:30 PM EDT via Twittelator

Related Posts

• June 25, 2010 -- Potential for ONYX & no Hyenas
• July 8, 2010 -- Report on the “successful” camping trip
• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• March 4, 2010 -- It’s all about the Malinois
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them

We’re headed up to York, Pennsylvania for an exciting weekend full of flyball!  But it’s not just any flyball tournament.  This is the Coconut Classic Flyball Tournament.  In my personal opinion it is the premier flyball tournament of all flyball tournaments.  This is the exact tournament where my DH became the 2009 Dream Team Box Loader.  It also happens to be our “anniversary” tournament.  We started training (and being brain-washed into loving) flyball at this very tournament five (yes, I said FIVE) years ago.  Of course it wasn’t for another two and change that our gorgeous Dalmatian, Magnolia, finally got the hang of it and debuted at the Blacksburg, Virginia tournament… but hey, everything can’t be perfect.

Well, this year should be extra special for a couple of reasons.

First, Magnolia is only 386 (short) points away from her ONYX title.  And lest I spoil it, I’ll explain why the ONYX is so coveted in a later post.  For now, just be satisfied with knowing that many dogs get to their ONYX on the brink of retirement.  Magnolia has only been racing since 2007… 3 short years to be rocketed into Dalmatian Flyball Stardom.

Second, we will be camping… in a tent… which is something that I swore I would never do again.  You see… the last time that I camped in a tent the likelihood of my being gutted and eaten by hyenas was in the 95% percentile.  And frankly, I like the percentage of being gutted and eaten by hyenas to be lower than 0.01%.  I know… I’m no fun, am I?  For the record, DH will say that I’m being overly dramatic and that the percentage  was probably only like 5% (still much higher than my ideal statistics), but I’ll bet my best friend Lauren will back me on this; Hyenas = scary + possibility of being eaten.  So, this will be my first foray into camping after the last near death experience (yes, yes, DH… more drama).  We will consider it a success if I don’t see a hyena.  One of my coworkers has said that if I do happen to run into one of those looney, slobbery, hairy beasts (actually, I don’t know that they’re slobbery, but I would imagine that they would be salivating over how delicious my entrails would be after they removed them from my thoracic cavity) she would take me to dinner where ever I want to go.

Wish us luck!  Luck to secure those last 386 points for Maggie’s ONYX… and luck that I get to keep my entrails free from the jaws of any wild Pennsylvania hyenas.

Related Posts

• July 2, 2010 -- Race to the ONYX!
• July 8, 2010 -- Report on the “successful” camping trip
• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• March 4, 2010 -- It’s all about the Malinois
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them

Despite the massive crisis that most people experienced last Tuesday, my iPhone 4 ordering was an absolute breeze.  I woke up thinking that it’s quite possible that the pre-ordering bonanza hadn’t begun, had no expectations of obtaining one, and then by 6:35am the whole pre-order process was finished and went through without hardly a glitch.

Yes, Apple’s site was experiencing something that could only be described as the biggest SNAFU in tech ordering history.  But I breezed through AT&T Wireless’s ordering process without any trouble.  This must have happened minutes (or maybe seconds) before their site also crashed, leaving people floundering and unable to complete pre-orders.  When I heard about people’s orders being cancelled from AT&T I was certainly concerned, but a day or so later I received a very nice email saying that my order went through and would be processed in the order it was received.

After hearing on Twitter this morning that some people had already received confirmations that their iPhone 4s were shipping, I popped over to AT&T to check the status of my order and literally had to do a double take as I was not expecting to see that mine had also shipped.

Can this be too good to be true??  My heart goes out to all those who share my iPhone Addiction who weren’t able to breeze right through everything or who weren’t able to have it shipped to the comfort of their own home.  I think if I had to go pick it up from the store I would have cried.  There’s no way I want to get within a 5 mile radius of an Apple Store on launch day…. or launch week, for that matter.

Related Posts

• June 10, 2010 -- Can it be June 24th already?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a little bit of a gear junkie.  When I find a new hobby or something that I really get into I want to buy the latest and greatest to outfit myself.  Sometimes I go a little overboard… which makes for some cramped storage space in our basement that my dear hubby can attest to.  My upcoming cycling tour in Italy has been no exception, except for the fact that if you’re not an avid cyclist from birth you really do have to acquire some stuff to make training easier (or endurable at all).

I’d like to tell you about some of my absolute favorite things so far.  This is Part 1 of a multipart series on my cycling gear.

Brooks B17 S – The Most Comfortable Saddle You’ll Ever Own

I’ve ridden my entire adult life on various gel saddles and I’ve absolutely never been comfortable.  Usually my rear goes numb after some period of time which will bring a welcomed relief to the pain I was experiencing.  In Ciclismo’s package that they sent out they said the best remedy for sore butt is to practice, practice, practice.  Basically, if you’re not in the saddle your butt’s just not going to build up a tolerance to the kind of abuse it’s going to take.  I believed them.

Until I got my Brooks saddle.

I had read on some of the cycling forums out there that Brooks made an exceptional saddle and that it was leaps and bounds beyond any gel saddle that you could buy.  Enough people were saying this that I got curious.  I had just bought a highly recommended gel saddle constructed specifically for women and I was kind of determined that I would love it (though we were quickly beginning to think that our relationship would end badly).

Perusing the Brooks site, I was skeptical.  Here was a whole line of bicycle saddles that were really nothing more than some leather stretched over a metal frame.  *sarcasm* Yeah, sure…. that sounds really comfortable *sarcasm*.  But the one thing that was getting to me was the fact that the design of these saddles hasn’t changed since 1898.  112 years is a pretty sufficient time to have a tried and tested product that is still on the market with literally no modifications.  So I figured what can it hurt?  These guys offer a return policy… what’s the worst that can happen?  I hate the bike saddle and return it?

Let’s just say that even though it doesn’t rhyme, once you go leather you’ll never go back!

I didn’t know that cycling could be this comfortable!  And I don’t need a seat the size of an overstuffed armchair to get that comfort!!  The best part is that this bike saddle is going to last forever.  There’s no gel to wear out, no neoprene to tear, nothing to get in the way of miles and miles and miles of cycling in total comfort and fashion.

I purchased the Aged version of the B17 S (“S” for short, which is what they recommend for their female cyclists) because I wanted total comfort up front.  Their site indicates that there is a nearly non-existant break-in period for the aged version vs. the normal leather B17 S.  If you’re really into coordinating your bike saddle with your bike’s paint scheme you might opt for the regular version that comes in a variety of colors.  The aged comes in only one color… beautiful untreated, undyed, leather.

Who this saddle isn’t for

I can only imagine a few situations where this saddle wouldn’t be for you.

• Mountain biking — I don’t know that I’d want to put this saddle on a bike that I knew would likely be getting splattered with mud and generally being wet and wild on each adventure I took it on.  I’m not exactly convinced that a leather saddle would be at all good for that, let alone the aged leather one.  Seems like that could cause some damage and stretching.
• Vegans — Sorry guys… Brooks doesn’t offer a vegan-friendly option here.  If you’re not into the use of animal products you’d better just skip this all together.  Brooks saddles are all made of genuine animal hide leather.
• Serious Speed Cycler — Just from browsing the “road cycling” saddles that Brooks offers, I’d say the B17 isn’t the best option for the next up and coming Lance Armstrong.  It’s nearly 100 grams heavier than the average road saddle offered in their catalog.  Weighing in at 530 grams it’s probably not going to break you, but they do have road saddles that are as light as 310 grams.  And from what I understand, every gram counts, right?

So, now that you’re ready to run out and buy one, I’d also recommend that you buy one of their rain covers as well.  After all, you’ve just dropped a significant amount of money on this new, awesome saddle.  The last thing you want to do is throw a plastic “Thank You” bag over it and pray that there’s not a hole.

Up next: My intro into clipless pedal cycling.

Note: I am not a representative to Brooks Saddlery or a marketing affiliate.  I do not receive compensation for anything that I have written about Brooks bicycle saddles or on any purchases that may be made from links posted on this site.

Related Posts

• December 10, 2009 -- Why seeing in HD isn’t just cool…

It’s probably old news by now that Apple will be releasing the iPhone 4 on June 24th.  Of course, you can preorder it on June 15th; something that I intend to do as soon as absolutely possible next Tuesday.  As many of you know, my iPhone 3GS bit it several weeks ago.  As tragic as that event has been for me, it couldn’t have happened at a better time.  This way, I won’t be waiting until January to get my iPhone 4… I will be getting it right away.  Sure, this is probably going to cost me a bit more money, but I think it’s highly worth it.

And here’s why:

1. Multi-tasking.  I’m the queen of multi-tasking and now I finally feel like my iPhone will be able to keep up with me.  I am thrilled about this addition to the OS.
2. App folders.  I’m a complete app-a-holic.  So much so that I was the co-editor of iPhonespaz.com for awhile (I’d still love to write for them, but my schedule is so crazy!).  And while it might seem crazy, the 11 pages of apps that I’m limited to on the 3G & 3GS is just not enough for my obsession.
3. Gorgeous new 5-Megapixel camera.  I love taking pictures.  I hate carrying my camera around.  After using the 3GS camera for 4 months before my phone met a watery death, I got used to the increased quality.  But 5-megapixels on a phone camera?!  I think I’ll be in heaven.  I’m excited about the HD video as well… you’ll never know how bad flyball looks on YouTube until you see a grainy crappy image of dogs flying past the camera at speeds in excess of 25 mph.

Of course, the new iPhone 4 has tons more features that will be loads of fun exploring, but those were my top three.  I’m excited to see what the new inbox looks like for the Mail app.  And I’m dying to see what kind of library is available for iBooks (which just make or break me into a gadget-hypocrite).

Now for the disappointing news.  I did have some hopeful wishes for the new iPhone that it doesn’t look like Apple fulfilled.

1. Flagging in the Mail app.  I use this feature all the time, and I’d love to see it persist through the iPhone app.
2. Ability to change an event’s calendar after it’s been created.  I hate it when I’ve created an event and get a little too punchy and don’t change the calendar.  Then I’m stuck with deleting and reentering it.  How hard can this be??
3. Ability to remove some of the “staple” apps that I never use.  I may be an app freak, but I never use the Stocks app, and I hate the built in Weather app (I much prefer Weather Channel’s Pro app).  They don’t need to be on my iPhone.  I want them to go away.

Those are the main points.  Though I’m sure if I thought hard enough I’d be able to come up with a couple more things that Apple can work on for future releases.  How about you?  Any thing you’re thrilled with?  Do you plan on running out to get an iPhone 4 right away?  Are you sorely disappointed??

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• June 21, 2010 -- Can It Really Be True?

[translation: Victory, Irving Berlin... Victory!]

Contrary to what you might believe that title is supposed to mean, I am not gloating about the nearly unanimous dissent towards a comment posted on Monday’s blog post, 16.6 and Dropping! Rather, quite the opposite.  I spent a lot of yesterday seriously thinking about “Irving Berlin” and the things he had to say about my post.  And though the last line of his comment explicitly states, “I hope you cried at the end of this,” I did no such thing.  I did not shed one single tear over anything that Mr. Berlin said.  I went the opposite way… I laughed.  Long in hard, in fact.  And many other people laughed as well.  And again, lest you get the idea that I’m laughing at you, Mr. Berlin… I assure you I’m not.  Much of what was written was absurd given the actual content of the post.  I would like to touch on a few things first in response to Mr. Berlin’s comment.

First, as Cece so eloquently puts it, you haven’t the slightest idea how tall I am since I never mention that.  I could be 5’0″ and weighing in at 160lbs would certainly put my BMI in the obese category.  I am, however, not 5’0″.  I am actually 5’7″ so even at my top weight, it barely put me in the “overweight” category.  I realized that then and now, and I was simply unhappy when my personal state of fitness so I sought a change.  Also, Mr. Berlin… I do see a therapist, which if you read my blog, you would know isn’t a secret.

Second, it appeared that much of the issue Mr. Berlin had with my weight-loss program was that I did not utilize portion control and I did not exercise.  I would like to point out the following quotes from my plan in support that I do and am utilizing both of these concepts:

• If you’re out to dinner, eat half of your dinner and take the rest home for lunch. [I believe that this definitely qualifies for portion control and eating less]
• Step up the exercise; if you’re dieting and you’re not getting out there and moving around then you’re probably not doing enough. [*cough*Activity*cough*]
• …while I’m doing a 30-minute loop around town. [While I did not mention this in the post, my 30-minute loop around down is a distance in excess of 2 miles]

And while I did not mention it in my post, my weekly fitness routine involves several trips to the gym (mainly for running) and at least 4 bicycle rides that are, on the low end, 7 miles each.  I’m also beginning to implement a resistance training regimen to boost muscle building and stave off osteoporosis (which seems to run rampant in my family).  I attend a weekly yoga class that is 90 minutes and not for the faint of heart.  And I failed to mention all of this because since the beginning of the year 65% of all my blog posts are about how much exercise I’ve been getting.  Frankly I figured my readers were getting bored of listening to how much running I’ve been doing!

But really, more than anything else it pains me to know that you, Mr. Berlin, are carrying around such incredible hatred and anger that you had to write this crazy, anonymous tirade on my very small, insignificant blog!  I mean really… this blog rarely gets over 200 hits a month.  I’m by no means a World super-power when it comes to blogging!!  The likelyhood of many people seeing your comment is so very slight, except that you have garnered more attention to yourself by writing such inflammatory comments.  So, instead of making me feel sorry for myself… making me feel small, unwanted and pathetic, the only thing you accomplished, Mr. Berlin is make me feel nothing but remorse for your terribly dark and blighted soul.

It is for this reason that I did something that might be surprising to some (definitely to Joe Peacock and Wes)… I dedicated my entire 90 minute yoga practice last night to you, Mr. Berlin.  Every purposeful motion, every breath, every utterance of my mantra was dedicated in your honor that you might be able to experience a tiny bit of peace and joy that the rest of us are able to experience on a daily basis.

At the very root of yoga are 8 yamas (or limbs) by which to live by.  The first one is simply yama, or universal morality.  That limb is further broken down into 5 characteristics.  The first characteristic of the first limb of yoga is: Ahimsa, or compassion for all living things.  It is this characteristic that I am attempting to invoke when I dedicate my practice to someone other than myself.  It may be a small, symbolic gesture, but I feel that it is the least I can do.

And a truly miraculous thing happened last night…

As I was moving through the class, my instructor led us to a series of postures that eventually culminated in Urdvha Dhanurasana (or Wheel Pose), a posture that I have feared for years.  I know that my upper body strength is lacking, despite the flexibility of my spine, and every time I have to attempt it my body clams up and I fail miserably.  My instructor knelt on the floor close to me and talked me through my hand position, which apparently has been a contributing factor to my failure, and then suddenly a light coursed through my entire body and I lifted up with ease into the posture.  My whole spine literally felt like it was singing the most joyful song I’ve ever heard when it happened… and it was singing it for you, Mr. Berlin.  When I came out of the posture I was so overcome with joy and happiness that I could do nothing but laugh… and cry tears of utter happiness.  I hope, Mr. Berlin, that at that moment you were able to see a tiny pinhole of light, at least… because that is the best gift that I can give to you.

So in the end all your silly little comment did, Mr. Berlin, was fill my life with joy and inspire me to do the same for others.

I will leave you with our closing chant from our class:

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
[translation: May the entire universe be filled with peace and joy, love and light]

Jai Sri Satguru Maharaj Ki.  Jai!
[translation: Victory to the inner teacher. Victory!]

The icon for this blog post was borrowed from: Heavy Metal Yogi

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