Some kind of wonderful

The last of John Hughes' teen dramas from the 80's. I was watching it while waiting for the UPS driver to drive by. She usually comes down my street around 5:30 or 6:00 and is happy to pick up packages as she passes by. Saves me a trip to the UPS store. Anyway, back to the movie. Is it me, or did Eric Stoltz wear extra eyeliner and blush for his role? - ostensibly to show off his dreamy eyes. And he had the biggest hair in a big hair movie. What's up with that? Any more estrogen, and I'd swear he had a vagina. Now, Mary Stuart Masterson as Watts was a complete hottie. She was like a latter day Emma Peel with her chauffeur's outfit and red fringe driving gloves. And how can you forget the best line from the film, "I'd rather be with someone for the wrong reasons then alone for the right." Nice. For the remake of the movie, I understand Watts will be a fixie girl. And instead of the red gloves, she'll sport knuckle tattoos that read BAAD ASSS (in an old English-ish font, of course). I can't wait.

Ok, Happy New Year. And I mean it this time.

Bonestock

Built up my Kelly recently. Took it out for its maiden voyage this morning. A little shake-down cruise on my usual Far West - Spicewood Springs loop. Steel OS Platinum frame with Campy Centaur. The gruppo is a mix of 2006 shifters, hubs and front derailleur with 2008 carbon rear derailleur and skeleton brakes. The 12-25 cassette is Chorus, and the cranks are FSA SLK compacts. The green Michelin Axials are an homage to Chris. Initial impression - the bike rides really well. The shifting is a little slower than on my IF, but certainly within my tolerances. Bike feels pretty responsive too. For you weight weenies, the bike weighs 19 lbs with pedals. I could easily shave a pound or more off with lighter components, but what's the point? It feels good as is...

Bite my lip and close my eyes...

Back from East Texas. Spent xmas with Kate's family in Longview. In case you're unfamiliar, Longview is known for producing men with broad smiles, and for it's hot Taiwanese women. Overall, a nice time. We made dinner (turkey and all the fixin's), and I also played round two of 20 questions with Kate's mom. Always entertaining.

Hope everyone has a happy new year.

A Long December

A melancholy soundtrack for the solitary drive back to Austin from Houston. Repeating 29 times as xmas eve transitioned into xmas day. I know, I counted.

I'm too hopped up on caffeine to sleep, but I guess I should.

Nah, nah, nah, nah...

Yeah... yeah... yeah... yeah...

Definitely, Maybe

I'm a sucker for romantic comedies. Watched Definitely, Maybe tonight while eating dinner and wrapping presents. If you haven't seen it, it stars Ryan Reynolds and a number of leading ladies. Reynolds sure has come a long way from his Van Wilder days. He kind of reminds me of a more accessible Will Ferrell. Maybe accessible is an unfair term. Anyway, it's a decent movie, told in a Princess Bride kind of way, albeit without Fezzik and the annoying Buttercup.

In one scene in the film, they're making tea using a tea kettle. It made me nostalgic for my old Alessi Michel Graves kettle, the one with the bird whistle that chirps when the water boils. It's an excellent kettle. Nowadays, I use one of those instant hot water dispensers, like the one they have at my office. It's quick, efficient, and de-chlorinates, but kinda soulless. Much like the difference between CDs and records.

The tea was appealing because I was making my way through a huge brick of baked salmon and could have used something to wash it down. I had pulled 3 lbs of Alaskan salmon out of the freezer Sunday night for dinner, but didn't end up using it. Rather than re-freezing it today, I decided to cook the whole thing up. In case you've never purchased 3 lbs of salmon, it's a lot of fish, probably enough to feed 7 or 8 people. I baked half of the fillet with butter, Italian bread crumbs and sea salt. The other half I used a cracked pepper marinade. After 8 ounces of the breaded version I was done. It was good. I'll report back on the marinated version another day.

I also spent much of the day rooting through my storage shed looking for a Shimano down tube shifter. It took an hour, but I was victorious. And look what else I also managed to find in the hay stack. Yes, it's a set of Precision Billet ProTwist shifters from the mid-90's. There were a number of indy derailleur manufacturers back then, but I believe Precision Billet was the only one brave enough to make their own shifter. Damn, these things are sexy! They are CNC nirvana. I'm sure I'll get another IM telling me what a bike dorque I am, but I'll chance that. You know, these things are selling for over $300 on eBay these days. Crazy to imagine, considering you couldn't give these things away just a few short years ago.

Btw, my vacation officially started today. Woohoo!

No Rain, Part 2

Wasn't feeling well, so I went to bed at 9:00 last night... which means I can't sleep past 5:00 this morning.

Decided to run Genius againt Blind Melon's No Rain for some tunes while I work around the house.

I have to say this is the best 'like' list yet. Definitely Rob Gordon worthy. Can't really sum up the feeing in just 10 songs, so I'll give you the top 30. Enjoy.

No Rain: Blind Melon
Two Princes: Spin Doctors
Black Hole Sun: Soundgarden
Linger: The Cranberries
Basket Case: Green Day
Today: Smashing Pumpkins
You Oughta Know: Alanis Morissette
Blister in the Sun: Violent Femmes
Man In The Box: Alice in Chains
Just A Girl: No Doubt
Been Caught Stealin: Jane's Addiction
Give It Away: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Follow You Down: Gin Blossoms
Hash Pipe: Weezer
One Headlight: The Wallflowers
Zombie: Cranberries
Solsbury Hill: Peter Gabriel
Girl: Beck
Runaway Train: Soul Asylum
1979: The Smashing Pumpkins
Just What I Needed: The Cars
Better Man: Pearl Jam
Friday I'm In Love: The Cure
Come As You Are: Nirvana
Pigs In Zen: Jane's Addiction
Say It Aint So: Weezer
Interstate Love Song: Stone Temple Pilots
Should I Stay or Should I Go: The Clash
Everybody Hurts: R.E.M.
Loser: Beck

No Rain

by = Blind Melon. 3.39 = length of song. 17 = times I heard it on the 7 mile loop around Town Lake this morning.

I'll let you calculate the pace.

Actually, I was hoping for a little rain, but all I got was some mist towards the end of the run.

Crazy

Look what showed up with my new phone books. Yes, a digital copy of the phone books on a cd. I know for a fact that SBC and AT&T have produced cd versions of their phone books since at least 2001. In years past I used to have to call them to request one.

<soapbox>They're quite handy and save a bunch of trees. The question for me is why it took so long for them to advertise the cd to the general public (btw, the directory listings are also available on the internet). The cds probably cost pennies to produce. Weigh that against the cost of printing and distributing a hardcopy, and it seems like a no-brainer to me. Yes, there will always be people who do not own a computer or prefer the tactile feel of a hard copy, but imagine the forests they could save.</soapbox>

Also, I went running for the first time in a couple of months this morning. Soundtrack: Crazy by Gnarles Barkley (Charles' younger and hipper brother).

Stressful Reading

The publisher recently sent us their edits for the Pipe Stress Engineering book my Dad and I are writing. Been reading it before bed this week. It's pretty good. I'm getting to the exciting part where the protagonist anti-hero encounters the antagonist, charges him with violating Section VIII code, thus setting up the cliff-hanger that will be patly resolved in the final chapter. Seriously, it's good. Stay tuned for more.

Harumph.

I had lunch with June today. Part of my 'putting the X back in Xmas' campaign. It was good to catch up. She's still a lawyer, still in Houston, and still in a band. What is surprising is that she really gets domestic during the holidays, what with cooking up turkeys with all the trimmings and such. This week she made gingerbread men. Of the couple I received, I believe the frowning one is suppose to be me - because I used to say 'harumph' a lot.

Bueno Suerte

Dustin leaves for his bike ride to Houston tomorrow (via College Station). Wish I could say it sounds like fun, but I can't. Regardless, have a good trip and say hi to the Dixie Chicken for me.

I was watching The Replacements tonight while I was stripping down my Curtlo for eBay. Am I crazy, or was that Keanu Reeves finest role? He was all dark and serious - much like his Neo character in the Matrix trilogy, but in a football uniform. The Replacements also featured a couple of excellent songs, I Will Survive and Heroes (natch). Speaking of Reeves, have you seen him in The Lake House? It sucked. And so did he. Don't get me wrong, he was conflicted and brooding in that film also - but playing an architect as a romantic lead? Who are they kidding.

Btw, I bought the Curtlo because it had 2 things, Cook Bros Racing crank arm bolt covers and Avid Arch Supreme brakes - the best V-Brakes ever made. Seriously, the Supremes are CNC goodness, totally adjustable, rebuildable and feature sealed bearings for the pivots. Gives me chills just thinking about them

Genius

New-ish from Apple. You pick a song and Genius mines your iTunes library for the top 100 songs that match it. I guess based on how other people group the song in their playlists - kinda like a nearest neighbor data-mining algorithm. Been playing with it lately. Tonight, I picked True Faith by New Order. The top 10 out of 100 that Genius matched it with:

True Faith: New Order
Policy Of Truth: Depeche Mode
Love Song: The Cure
Eyes Without A Face: Billy Idol
Rock the Casbah: The Clash
Once in a Lifetime: Talking Heads
I Melt With You: Modern English
Modern Love: David Bowie
Roam: The B-52's
Friday I'm In Love: The Cure
Missing: Everything But The Girl

I picked Many Shades of Black, Genius picked:

Many Shades Of Black: The Raconteurs
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground: The White Stripes
Walken: Wilco
Australia: The Shins
Incinerate: Sonic Youth
Dope Nose: Weezer
The Bends: Radiohead
Old Yellow Bricks: Arctic Monkeys
Cellphone's Dead: Beck
Slow Night, So Long: Kings Of Leon
Supermassive Black Hole: Muse

Fat Chance

I spend more than my fair share of time on eBay. It helps me trend where bike prices are heading. Yesterday, I came across one of the best ads I've seen in a long time. It's for a 1987 Vintage Fat Chance Wicked Team bike (that's a mouthful). The link to the ad is here. In case it goes away, I'm highlighting the pertinent passages below:

In response to other forum members who said it was a shame I was not describing the bike more and doing a poor job of "selling" it, I will now try to placate them with a flurry of unnecessary B.S.....The paint was lovingly applied by the master paintsmiths at D+D for Fat City. It glows like magic with little tiny sparkles that catch the eye in a way that can almost make you feel like you are swimming in pools of fairy dust. The rare and super special box style team fork has extra welded gussets on the inner blades that make this fork strong enough to hold up the Empire State building. The Salsa roller stem is personalized too, and exudes mystical powers when looked at. The frame is meticulously welded of special chromoly that is harvested from mines in the Amazon. It takes an average of 14 years to harvest enough Chrome and Moly to mix together to create the tubing for one frameset. Oh, and did I mention riding this bike cures cancer? The bike is so pristine since it was hermetically sealed in silk and kept in isolation on the space station for the past 30 years. I only rode it once to cure my prostate cancer, and I must say, now that I am cancer free I am enjoying a much better sex life. This spectacular bike will actually increase the size of that certain part of the male anatomy! I was thinking of donating it to President Elect Obama's cabinet since it is purported that this frame is the key to World peace, and that the warm glow of its paint was seen by three wise men 2000 years ago over a manger in Bethlehem. Merry Christmas.

Ho, Ho, Ho.

Party Like It's 1999

Retail gas prices keep falling. It's crazy. I paid $1.45 for regular unleaded when I filled up yesterday. This morning I saw $1.39 at Conoco. That's like 1999 prices. At this rate, I would be a fool for not buying that new Hummer after all. The only question that remains is H1 or H2? The H3 is for wussies. I'm a purist, so I'm thinking H1.

Speaking of car stuff, I just spent bushels of money on my convertible. It went in for an oil change and malfunctioning horn recently. You would think the horn would be covered under warranty, but it wasn't. $1100 later, I have a car that looks the same as it did the day it went in for service. However, the next day, I lowered my top and the rear window rips. $1200 later I have a new convertible top. At least that gave me a clear rear window that I can now see out of, instead of the glaucomic view I previously had. I was told by the dealer that my tires were old and needed to be replaced - at a cost of $1500. Ha! I thought. But an examination of the rear tires told me the dealer was right and the treads were too thin to pass inspection. Off I went to Costco. The cost? - $1200. It's probably the only time I'll ever wish I had the 16" wheels instead of the 18's. At least the new top arrived in time to prevent the freezing rain from entering my cockpit last night.

$3500 total. Sheesh! Kate tells me I could have purchased a lightly used Pontiac Grand Am for that amount. Truth is, I could have purchased 2 Grand Ams. A red one for those sporty days, and a white one for when I want to be more discrete. I think I would favor the red one. Why be discrete when you have a G-Am. Exactly.