I've been coughing like an aging smoker all week. My doctor says I have bacterial and viral infections and prescribed some antibiotics to help. That and Mucinex has kept my hacking to a tolerable level. Well, most of the time. This morning was not a good morning to ride.
However, I felt well enough yesterday to join Slow Food Austin on their farm to cafe tour, following the local food chain from Sand Creek Farm in Cameron to lunch at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown. If you're at all curious about the food you eat, you really should check out Slow Food Austin's site.
The tour started out at Ben and Alysha's Sand Creek Farm. They are a source for, among other things, raw milk, cheeses, and grass fed meats:
Ben tends the farm without the use of any tractors. Instead, the family (Ben, Alysha, and their 5 girls) uses work horses to pull farm implements. It's amazing how quiet and peaceful their farm is without the added engine noises.
After the farm, the group (all 50 or so of us) traveled to Georgetown to have lunch at the Monument Cafe. Our meal was prepared with ingredients sourced from Sand Creek Farm:
Afterward, we visited Monument's demonstration farm behind the cafe where Rusty Winkstern, the owner of the cafe, gave a short talk about sustainable farming, sourcing ingredients locally, eating seasonally and discussed the upcoming Monument Market opening soon that will feature organic food from a 300 mile radius of Georgetown:
All this food talk is excellent. However, I've been sourcing my food from two primary sources this week, Annie's and the Girl Scouts:
I do doctor up the raviolis just a bit with spinach, carrots, and portabella mushrooms to add a bit of excitement:
...with my car dealer, that is. I take my convertible in for an oil change and inspection once a year. I only drive it about 4500 miles annually, so the timing is about right. Besides, an oil change is $250 for some crazy reason, so changing the oil more than necessary seems like a complete waste of money. While the car was in this time I asked them to check on the passenger side door lock sensor. Seems on hot days the sensor fails in that door and the window won't roll down half an inch to clear the roof gasket when you pull the door handle.
After a couple of days, I got a call saying my car was ready. When I asked for the total bill, I was fully expecting some astronomical figure - there is no such thing as a cheap Porsche service visit. Remember, these are the same people who charged me $1.50 for a tail light bulb and almost a hundred dollars to install the tail light bulb.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when my bill came to $316. That's $250 for the oil change, $20 for the inspection, and the balance for installing a new license plate light and cleaning out my drains. I was shocked to find they took care of the door sensor as a warranty item. Pressing my luck, I decided to ask if they could give me the part number for the center caps on my wheels. Apparently, it's fairly common for the emblems to be pried off by vandals. I walked out to my car one day to find 3 out of my 4 emblems missing.
The dealer wanted almost $100 a piece to replace them. I thought if I could get the part number, I could search eBay for suitable replacements for a lot less. Anyway, the parts guy told me there were 2 versions of the center cap - one with full color shields, and another with black and silver shields. He said the black and silver ones weren't very popular, so he offered them to me for $30 for the set of 4. That was a major score, and I'm happy to report my car looks whole again.
Btw, Porsche drivers are a pampered lot. When day light savings time rolled around recently, my dealer called me up and left an automated message instructing me on how to adjust the clock in my car ahead one hour. If I still had trouble, I was told to bring my car by the dealership, and they would be happy to adjust my clock while I waited. Not only that, Porsche doesn't just send you a card saying your car has been recalled for a safety issue. No, they send a card saying your vehicle "may benefit from a product improvement campaign."
So Ursula and Gregg were married this past weekend. The ceremony was very nice, with a mix of Christian and Jewish traditions. I would like to point out the obvious here - Gregg is tall and Ursula is not. And they are one very happy couple:
The week prior, a number of us guys took Gregg out to San Antonio for his bachelor's party. Nothing really wild took place - especially if you're at a Denny's at 2:48AM:
I wished we had rented this late model Buick for the stud wagon, but alas, it was already spoken for.
I was pretty tired that weekend, because I decided to ride with Pete and Ondre from Hyde Park to Samsung for the Rosedale Ride - and then ride back home.
The wind and heat were brutal, especially on the leg back. However, I did get a nice tan:
All-in-all, we rode 84 miles - then I drove to San Antonio. Needless to say, I fell asleep during some of the bachelor party activities that evening.
This past weekend pretty much revolved around SXSW activities.
Friday, the Gingerman hosted an Athens, Georgia showcase. Alison ran into June there during the day and later chatted with Peter Buck after his Baseball Project gig and was told "they" would be playing at midnight that night. With a surprise R.E.M. show on our minds, we revisited the G-man later that evening to catch Supercluster:
Casper and the Cookies:
and Flash to Bang Time (featuring Lynda Stipe, Michael's sister):
Anyway, midnight came and went, but no surprise R.E.M. performance. They were in the audience, however. And not always happy with each other:
Saturday, Pete was offered tickets to the Austin Music Awards, so he was kind enough to take Glenn and me along. Lots of great music was played that night, but The Wagoneers reunion after 21 years had to be the highlight for me. Even cooler was having Joe Ely play with them for their last song:
Also on the bill for the evening were the Meat Puppets with special guest Roky Erickson:
Traffic sucked getting to and from the Austin Music Hall, but once inside the hall, all was right. And all in all, it was a good night.
Last week was the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NABHS to the glitterati). The Austin Convention Center has never hosted so much bike porn. Desirous, lustful, gloriously naked and objectified - it was a sight to behold.
And as with any porn endeavor, there must be porn stars. Over the 2 days I attended, I had a chance to catch up with some of the finest:
Andy Hampsten at the Hampsten bike booth (I have one of their stainless frames):
Chris King (with his wife):
Mike DeSalvo (I have one of his 10th Anniversary frames that I still can't decide on the final build):
Sacha White (of Vanilla Bicycles, seen here talking to a poser Austin hipster - note the lack of the requisite messenger bag):
Richard Sachs (including a pic of the Sachs cyclocross team frame that I picked up last year):
More timely, this past weekend, Jeremy and his daughter Erin were in town for a wedding. We tried to go for a bike ride Saturday morning, but a cold front brought in a thunderstorm (replete with lightning). Instead, we went over to Pete's for Torchy's Tacos and a homebrew session:
Sunday morning we tried again. And what a glorious day for a ride. We took Jeremy around the Spicewood Springs loop. Afterward, we picked up Erin and Pablo and headed to Julio's for breakfast tacos:
Overall, just a very nice weekend.
Have a touch of insomnia, so I thought I'd update my blog.
Belinda flew in from San Jose a week ago Thursday. She brought some See's chocolates and mochi from my favorite mochi shop. Yes, we finished off the box by the time she left:
She also made a quilt for me, which was way cool:
We spent much of the time she was here eating. A little late night Hey Cupcake action:
And a post Marathon dinner Sunday at Parkside:
Speaking of marathon, the one this past Sunday set a bunch of PRs for me. A personal record for the slowest marathon I've ever run (5:19, 50 minutes slower than my 2009 time). A record for the number of times I had to stop to pee (7 times before mile 21). And a record for feeling the best after a long run (I was able to walk down stairs the following day). Race day was hot and humid, so fearing I would cramp up, I drank a lot of liquids. In hindsight, it was way too much liquids. After stopping for potty breaks at miles 1 and 3, I pretty much knew I had broken the seal. Good news is, I didn't cramp up. I was a little stiff-legged at the end, but no cramping. Yay! (small fist pump)
Here I am coming down the finishing stretch:
And crossing the finish line:
In bike related news, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show comes to town this weekend. Dustin and I went to the kick-off party at Mellow Johnny's and watched a couple of short movies (one on Dario P. and the other on the Rapha continental ride). Free beer, cool bikes - a good time was had by all. I was happy to see that MJ's is an Alchemy bike dealer now. And - this must be a blow to Crumpton - they're also carrying Parlee. The Parlee folks were at the party Thursday and showed off a number of nice rides, including this AC/DC inspired one:
I'm waiting for Belinda's flight to get in from San Jose, so I thought I'd do a quick update. The last week or so in reverse...
Ron came into town last Saturday night. We had dinner at Sao Paulo - where Ron discovered that caipirinhas can be just as tasty as margaritas. Sunday morning we hit the trails at Town Lake, did the 4.7 mile loop, and then met Pete and Pablo for brunch at the Hyde Park Grill.
Speaking of Sunday, this Sunday is the Austin Marathon. As usual, I've been training like crazy. I peaked with a 14 mile run last Saturday (followed by a burger and fries at Sandy's):
I thought I had a big mouth, but here's a shot of my squirrel hoarding nuts this week. Someone should tell him that winter is over:
Then again, the squirrel isn't the only one stuffing his face. My mom sent me back to Austin recently with leftovers from our Chinese New Year meals. I'm not sure what these are called in English, but trust me, they're good. Rice stuffed with meat and mushrooms:
This is what radish cakes look like before they're sliced and heated:
And after a little pan frying:
Btw, Belinda warned me that she was bringing See's chocolates with her from California. Yum.
