*begins furiously masturbating*

McLaren just released a new car for the unwashed masses, the MP4-12C.

Okay, it’s not as nice as the original F1, but I still wouldn’t say no to it. And available in that orange colour that Tracee likes, so she’d be sure to let me get one.

Now where did I leave that spare £150,000….?

You can tell I’m running out of snappy titles to my posts, eh?

Interesting news out of jolly old San Francisco yesterday. Former head of the City College and my current boss (well, überboss – he’s the current head of the association) got charged with 8 felonies including money laundering, electioneering, and misuse of public funds. A few days before our national conference.

Hmm.

Minor bragging. Excellent footy match today – put in 4 miles, won 2-0, didn’t put a foot wrong. In fact both goals scored by yours truly, and nice they were. Should have had a couple of helpers too, but people on my team couldn’t @#$# finish. Came home, feeling good, saw the scale sitting there in the corner.

Taunting me.

Come on, fatboy, you haven’t lost an ounce the last two weighdays. You know it’s time. Waddle over here, and take your medicine.

Seven days. One short ride, one short hike, one decent hike, two footy games, two sessions on the bike trainer, and sticking to the diet like glue.

Down 4lbs.

I’m back, baby!

In other news, United’s good luck charm is offski. £80 million later, and Ronaldo’s off to Real Madrid. While on one hand, it’s terrifying knowing that they have that much money in their pockets now, I’m giddy at the news – the two players that saved United’s arse last season were Ronaldo and Tevez, and it’s looking like neither of them will be at Old Trafford next year. Add to that the fact that Giggs and Scholes are past it, Van Der Sar’s getting up there as well, and you KNOW Ferguson’s not going to have the entire wad to spend on new players (not with the debt they have), and they’re looking likely to get knocked off their perch next season!

And the icing on the cake, is that I think I sold my 29er singlespeed wheels! Hooray!
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Now playing: The Weeks – Buttons
via FoxyTunes

Dusting off the total annoyance of the week leading up to it, Tracee and I got out for a nice hike on Sunday. The day before, we’d headed out to the Marin Headlands with the Brown Clan, to check out the Marine Mammal Center. Tracee’s parents are donors for the place, so we got a sneak preview at their open house, before it opens to the public on the 15th. The weather was absolutely stunning – quite a contrast from the weekend before when we tried the same spot with Mikey and Asia – and the word was the following day was going to be even better.

Didn’t need to tell us twice.

So Sunday mornin’, we hopped out of bed, hit up the Farmer’s Market, and headed out for a nice hike. A little over five miles – up the Coastal Trail from Rodeo Beach, cut along Wolf Ridge, and back down the Miwok Trail to where we started. Not a bad hike – not the most strenuous, but enough to get the blood pumping – and then a game of chuckit and a picnic on Rodeo Beach. Click the pics, yo:
So a nice blast of exercise, and a healthy end to the week. Felt awful for Mikey and Asia though – the weather was woeful while they were here, and as soon as they leave, we get glorious sunshine.

Thing that got me was seeing mountain bikers out and about here. Don’t get me wrong, the trails they were on were hardly epic (the Headlands has *some* mountain biking access, but not a whole lot without poaching) but some of the riding was just a fraction of what these nuts were doing. For example, one dude and his band took the ferry from Larkspur, rode from the City over the Bridge, up into the Headlands (that’s a SUCKY climb!), around and onto Tam, before FINISHING with a loop at Tamarancho. 52 feckin’ miles!! Check out the dude’s post on the MTBR forums for pics of his ride (well worth checking out!) Serious inspiration there.

So with that in mind, it was back to footy today. Considering I’d only had that hike for exercise in the week, I did alright, still had energy at the end, while others were doubled over and wheezing. But that wasn’t enough – scoured Craigslist, and found me a nice used CycleOps Fluid2 trainer for $100. This’ll get me an hour in the saddle at home every day, so that takes care of the “I don’t have the three hours to get ready, and head out to China Camp and back.” JB’s out of town for the week, so that’ll be my riding until Monday. Hopefully I can get my fitness back up to where I can at least avoid crapping out on the switchbacks like the last time…

Alright kids, off to bed.

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Now playing: Voxhaul Broadcast – Why Not
via FoxyTunes

Badum-bum!

Yes folks, Ike’s back in action. After giving her a spot of TLC – installed new rockers bumping the travel up to 4″, replaced the shifting cables, bled the brakes, (finally dremelled out the cable stops for the rear hydro hose!), cleaned her up, and popped on a new front derailleur – I hit the trails with JB, and learned some interesting things:

I’m fat and out of shape. Seriously. But not as fat and out of shape as I thought. Yes, I had to walk a couple times on the switchback climb (in my defense, it’s a 600ft climb over 2 miles, which may not be REALLY bad, it’s more than I’m ever did in DC… which was what… 300ft over 3 miles – on road?) but I pedalled up for the most part. And when we got to the top, I felt pretty good – not bent over and puking like the last time I tried it. (Which, granted, involved a lukewarm triple espresso on an empty stomach beforehand, but I was also 20lbs lighter!)

JB’s a really good rider. The few times I was able to stay on his back wheel through the descents, I was really impressed. He takes awesome lines, and is a graceful rider to say the least (as opposed to his head down and hoof it approach playing footy). And – this really surprised me – he was more than content to ride at his own pace, and was surprisingly supportive to the fat Mick huffing and puffing along with him.

China Camp SP is a feckin’ AWESOME place to ride. It’s always busy, especially on weekends and right around quittin’ time in the evenings. It also doesn’t help that it’s one of the few legal trails in Marin. But feck me – it was a blast once the climb was done. 2 miles of switchback climbing (which took almost a half hour), followed by 3 miles of pedal free downhill (which took about 5 minutes), followed by 6-7 miles of beautiful swoopy singletrack that reminded me a lot of Rosaryville back in DC.

Turns out I’m not a very good wrench. I know what I’m doing. I took classes. I bought the books. I even read the instructions!! But apparently I have NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING. My brakes were bled, and felt good. But as I was popping Ike on the roof of the Subie, I noticed my front brake no longer worked – it felt like there was absolutely ZERO fluid in there. Luckily, I was able to pop the bleed syringes on, and shoot fluid through to get it working again in time to ride. Add to that, my cable install was piss poor, with my rear derailleur slipping all over the place. Thankfully there was enough give on the barrell adjuster to tighten it enough to get me through the ride. (Stupid cable stretching!!) Looks like I’m either going to have to get back to work on it, or drop the cash to take it in for service – but there’s always funny looks doing that. Along the lines of “Dude, you have a Turner – and you don’t know how to do simple shit like bleed your brakes or change your cables!?”

But mechanical issues, and my flabby arse aside, ’twas a great ride. An absolute blast that got the blood pumping, and the urge to get back out there flowing. Minor clicky!

Oh, and for those keeping score, I’m down another 3 lbs this week. 15 total. Booyah!

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Now playing: Clutch – Sea Of Destruction
via FoxyTunes

Every St. Patrick’s Day, it’s always the same. A few days before, I start getting offhand comments from coworkers and friends, saying things like “I bet you’re not coming to work on the 18th!!” and “So how much are you going to drink?”

The day arrives, and people are asking me where I’m going out. And when I politely tell them I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than set foot in a bar on St. Patrick’s Day, they wonder why I’m not going to “represent”.

Even yesterday, when I had a checkup on the periodontal work done, the hygeinist asked how much I had to drink. On a conference call at work, folks were asking me if I recovered yet. Jesus – as if I need some sort of holiday or excuse to drink!

This folks, is why I never go out on St. Patrick’s Day. Because despite the stereotypes, the Irish aren’t raging drunks who need to get hammered until we can’t stand – but most of all, there’s no feckin’ way I want to be the token mascot for a gang of Budweiser-swilling, plastic green hat wearing Americans who think they’re Irish just because they’re so drunk, they vomit every few minutes. Case in point…

For the record, on St. Patrick’s Day, I spent a couple of hours in the front garden pulling weeds, and rewarded myself afterwards with a hot shower, and a beer on my couch with a bowl of stew.

Oh man, now I got to think about some remodelling plans for the house, after getting inspired by this:

A little over a week into the Barack Obama presidency has seen a lot of stuff we’re not used to – work. But amidst the closing of Guantanamo, the reintroduction of stem cell research, attention to climate change, action on the economy with the creation of jobs and infrastructure (as opposed to just tax cuts, so the Republicans obviously hate it) I have to admit, for sheer comedic value, I kinda miss the old guy. Step forth David Letterman… (Thanks to JB for the link!)

“They’re booing!”
“This is unexpected!”
“This is bad form!”

Proof that most of America’s media have had their heads up their arses for the past eight years.

Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out, you treasonous bastard.

I’m in a pissed off mood this morning, and someone on Yelp said I should blog about it. Thinking that it might be therapeutic, why not…

I’m pissed off because I’ve had awful sleep so far this week.

I’m pissed off because the family that lives across the street are annoying as hell. The kids SCREAM at the tops of their lungs all the damn time, and their morbidly obese nanny thinks she’s Mary Feckin’ Poppins. (Starts singing to them every morning, outside while she’s loading them in the car at 7:00am)

I’m pissed off because I have a bad headache this morning.

I’m pissed off because I can’t shake the sneaking suspicion that McCain is going to win the election.

I’m pissed off because I’m put on 30lbs since I met Tracee, and don’t feel particularly motivated to lose it.

I’m pissed off because TRACEE put on 30lbs since she met ME, and SHE doesn’t feel particularly motivated to lose it.

I’m pissed off because the fucker that SWORE he’d have our loan refinanced within 30 days of buying the house STILL hasn’t done it 6 months later, and isn’t returning my calls or emails.

I’m pissed off because my job has gotten stale, and my boss thinks that the “way forward” is spam emails. (Or “targeted electronic marketing pieces”. Fucking marketing people.)

I’m pissed off because I spend way too much time on Yelp!, and have gotten way too worked up over a right wing sociopath who spends all day every day baiting people.

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!