So I took today off. Well, working from home, actually. It’s friggin’ beautiful outside. Not a cloud in the sky, refreshing breeze, 65 degrees. Perfect for a ride. So I get my gear on, grab the bike, go downstairs, and there, right behind my car, is a large mound of dirt, completely blocking my ability to pull out. The window installation started today, and the parking area is cordoned off with caution tape. The guys working were apologetic, and said that they’d have the pile moved by the end of the day. So I rode around the streets (looking like a muppet on a full suspension bike, gear, and camelbak) for a few minutes, before I came back in a cranky arsed mood. I’ll go for a run or something instead….

Grrrr!

So on the way to my game Monday night, I stopped off to feed the Jetta, after the “I’m thirsty, feed me” light came on. Pulled into the Exxon on Old Keene Mill. $45 later, I’m back on the road, reeling from paying what I used to think of as the gas bill for an SUV. (Bet those fuckers with Excursions and Hummers are loving life right now.)

So today, kicking back with my energy bar and diet coke (mmm, diet lunch!) I was perusing washingtonpost.com and proceeded to shower my monitor with half eaten Pria Carb Select. Exxon Mobil posted profits of $8.4 BILLION for the FIRST QUARTER ALONE. That’s right. Think of a million bucks. Then multiply it by 8,400. That’s what they made in three months. That’s the fifth highest profit EVER POSTED by a publicly traded company. And yet our newspapers are being peppered by ads from the oil and natural gas associations claiming innocence, and that the rage that consumers are feeling is being caused by OPEC, not the poor beleagured oil companies. Poor things. I should make a point of sending those poor CEOs a muffin basket, or something.

Fuckers.

To be honest, there’s a large part of me that would love to see gas prices keep going up. America has become far too dependant on oil, and it’s a long presented theory that if gas were to ever hit the magical $5 a gallon mark, it would alter consumer perspective nationwide. The switch from gas guzzling SUVs to hybrids, more reliance on public transportation, and (gasp!) walking and biking to destinations, rather than hopping in the car and driving 100 yards. But wthe other side of this coin is that gas prices just don’t hit you at the pump. They hit you too when you ship a package. Take a cab home from the bar on a Saturday night. Book a plane ticket. (last year’s cheap flights to Ireland are gone, for instance. What cost me $500 round trip with taxes, now costs $700 for the same dates.) That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The only bright spot I can see from this situation is that at least it’s shooing away the swing voters from the Republican camp in droves, making November’s elections promising for some change. Can’t say that the Democrats will do a better job of handling the country – but damnit, they really can’t do any worse at this point.

There’s no point to this post. I’m just ranting and pissed off. And glad I bike to work now.

Well, they took a while, but the allergies are here. Monday night, it was like someone flipped a switch – or rather turned on my nasal faucet. Tuesday was dismal, I got no sleep the night before, so I stayed home and watched the Arsenal (boring) game on ESPN. The drugs seem to be helping though – better living through chemistry.

I noted on Drew’s blog that his Dos Niner project is almost at the “commence build” point (or more likely, “bring it all over to Pete’s with a couple of six packs and have him commence build” point!) and of course, it’s reigniting the urge to invest in another steed. I’m remaining firm though, and keeping to just the two I have. I’m so envious of folks with garages/sheds/basements, and not have to try and squish crap into a one bedroom condo. But there’s no point in whining – we could get a house, but it would consign us to another 2-3 years in DC, and that’s not something either of us want to do.

Speaking of bikes, shimmyed on over to City Bikes last night for another installment of Mike’s tool skool series. Ergonomics. Almost blew it off to head to the gym, but glad I didn’t. Was most happy to know that while the Turner’s cockpit needs help, I at least made the right choices in terms of stem, seatpost, height, and saddle position. Phew. A hacksaw and some fiddling with the brake and shifter positions before this weekend should help the ride a lot.

Soccer didn’t go too well. A 2-2 tie, and I played particularly crap. That said, I’m just gratified that the foot held up. Just need to get my touch and fitness back. Pickup this weekend, prior to the BBQ, and hopefully a ride on Sunday will help with that.

I feel like an ankle biter on Christmas Eve.

Five more hours to go until the new footy season kicks off at Rolling Valley tonight. Against a team that’s never scored a goal against us in our 5 year history. Five more hours until I get back to being out on the pitch with the gang.

That said, I’m a tad nervous – as much as I love, love, LOVE it, I’ve never gone into a season so out of shape, and still sporting a quasi-busted foot. I’m expecting to suck somewhat, and be severely outrun.

Still can’t wait though!! Ooooooooh!

Tracee rocked her workout this morning, and isn’t working tonight, so she’ll be out there cheering me on. Think I’ll bring the camera along and give it a run…

Dismal weather this weekend saw my riding plans cancelled and me confined to the apartment, apart from a foray to the gym. Invariably, this meant that Tracee and I ended up having a “talk”, but it actually was a good one. Things were aired, and I think a state of the union chat was long overdue. So we did have a fun evening curled up on the couch, munching on bad Chinese food, watching Brokeback Mountain. (The idea of which made me squeamish. The movie, not the Chinese. But in the end, it turns out it’s a pretty amazing and tender movie, beautifully shot with amazing scenery, and… the occasional asspounding scene. Not bad though, if I can get through it, everyone can.)

The rain came in useful, since I needed time to think. After meeting with Bukit last week, the idea of ditching NASFAA and going back to studio life has been pulling me like mad. NASFAA has really lost it’s lustre, and not only does Think look like the work would rock out, the people (at least Kent and Dallas) were awesome too. But, after much pondering, the head won out over the heart, and I decided to stick it out here for the remaining year. With a wedding and a move, fiscally I don’t really have a choice.

Jeff and Liz were added to the wedding party last night, which closes the book on that. Everyone’s been asked, which means I don’t have to think about wedding stuff for a while. I hope.

So the other night I had the bright idea of BikeChecks. Same as metrochecks, but instead of getting a stack of farecards every 6 months that you pay for pre-tax, you get a certificate to be used at a participating bike store, to buy a commuter bike pre-tax. Seemed like a great idea, so I posted up on MORE about it, submitted it to the Appleseed project, and emailled a couple of folks who might be able to help. One of those folks was Nicholas Ramfos, the director of Commuter Connections, who wrote me back. Rather than cut ‘n’ paste the whole thing, the upshot is that they and others have actually pushed for something similar many times before, but there “was not enough support in the House or in the Senate due to the current budget deficit.” Basically, public projects have no funding any more, thanks to the war in Iraq.

Thanks a lot George, ya feckin’ langer.

In other news, fellow MTB’er, Bukit, mentioned that his company thinkdesign were hiring. I shot him a message expressing interest, and am meeting him tonight to chat about it. There’s a huge part of me that thinks this is not a good idea, since Tracee and I have pretty much made up our minds that we’re out of here next year, and until then I make a nice wage at NASFAA, have lotsa good benefits, and time off out the yin yang. That said, there’s a teeny weeny voice that says “Maybe if you were in a job that you found more fulfilling, you wouldn’t be in such a hurry to move?”

We’ll see what happens. More I think about it though, the more likely I am to stay put…

Alright, I need to vent. Actually, it’s not venting in the traditional sense, it’s more airing an issue I have. Not with others, but myself.

So, frequent readers of Drew’s blog (ie, nobody, har har) may have read his issue concerning his 29er build. The upshot of it all being that when it comes to bikes, there are some people out there who have difficulty displaying self control.

I am currently in turmoil over this very issue.

I have two bikes. Ike (Turner) and the K2 hardtail. The Turner is strictly an offroad bike, the K2 does basically everything else. My commuter, Tracee’s bike for when we ride together (ie, never) That’s enough. Plenty bike for a weekend warrior enthusiast like me. I’m not Pete. I’m not Jeff. I’m not even Drew. I don’t NEED a “stable.”

Then, for some reason, I got it into my head that I need a singlespeed. I think it’s because of the commuting – they seem to be the weapon of choice of most of the couriers around town. This is planting the seed. Then, of course, me being me, if I do get a singlespeed, I can’t just get a generic steel frame, and build up a basic commuter. Oh no, of course not. I need to get a top of the line one. The eye of Sauron the Bike Builder fell upon On One. (Because everyone else has a Surly, I have to be different.) Then I noticed that On One have a 29er. Oooh. I want one.

So let’s review. I’m already screwed in that I know as soon as I get it into my head that I want something, I fixate until I get it. Okay. So rather than taking the nice easy way out, I have to get a boutique frame. Fine, fine. Those frames can still be had for $275 with fork on ebay. No, now I have to get a 29er version. Which means instead of being able to get low cost wheels, I’m gonna have to find 29″ single speed flavours. With disc hubs, of course. Because of COURSE I can’t BELITTLE myself with V-BRAKES! How COULD I?! This will lead me into the land of custom built $500 wheels (WTB has a disc specific single speed hub that they just released.)

Therefore, instead of spending $400 or so on a bike that I don’t need, likely won’t use, and frankly don’t have the room for, I’m seriously considering dropping 3 times that.

The upshot of this is that I need psychiatric help. And a new place to live too, since Tracee will kick me out if I come home with another rig. So no new bike for me. But Christ help that woman when we get a place with a garage or basement…

Well, another Monday, another week, and another round of promises to get fit, lose weight between myself and Tracee. We watched a new TV show last night, something about a Brian (or something!) where two of the charachters who were married, had a brief period of “open marraige” since they stopped finding each other attractive. This startled poor Tracee, and we had another one of our bi-weekly conversations about how we need to get better about working out, and eating healthier. I simply informed her that she was preaching to the choir, and besides, I was biking back and forth to work now, and soccer season began this week. So she’s working out tonight. We’ll see.

Speaking of which, we’ll have to see if I’m playing tonight. The heart says yes, the head says no – while (of all things) walking to the bathroom, I seemed to roll my ankle slightly. No big deal, but for a moment, it seemed I put all my (substantial) weight on THAT part of my left foot, and all the throbbing and pain I hadn’t experienced in about a month came flooding back. Methinks I’ve reopened the stress fractures, and gone back to square one. And if that’s the case, no footy for six weeks. Which was fine six weeks ago, but now with the season starting… shite.

What a shitty weekend.

At least Liverpool won yesterday. God rose on Easter Sunday to smite the evil Blackburn Rovers…

John just rang. Tina’s mam finally lost her long and valiant battle with illness. The world is a gloomier place for her passing.

A few things I learned from my maiden bike commute in DC.

1. Many drivers are complete idiots (nothing new there.) Two seperate incidents saw cars (both way outta state) plow through red lights, one of which almost tagged me. Then there’s the other side of that equation, the feckers who roll into the middle of an intersection and just stay there…

2. Pedestrians are oft times idiots. Okay, I was that guy. I used to be the other guy. The guy who got pissed off anytime he saw someone riding a bike on the pavement. Then I tried riding on DC streets with DC drivers, and immediately hopped onto the pavement too, and got to see it from the other side. Nothing like pedalling along and having to hit the brakes, because one person ambling along, somehow manages to take up a 10 foot wide pavement. (And yelling “on your left!” doesn’t work since they’re invariably wearing their ipod.

3. Gay guys are REALLY posessive of Dupont Circle. I was headed down P street, almost there, when I again hopped onto the pavement to avoid a traffic throng. Two guys were coming out of a coffee shop, saw me approach, and deftly stepped out, holding hands, and proceeded to span the pavement. When I ground to a halt behind their 2 mile an hour stroll, one of them looked over his shoulder and lisped “Get that thing OFF our pavement!” Sorry sweetie, didn’t realize I was on private property.

4. The concierge in my building is cool. Building rules prohibit me bringing my bike in. But I’m not leaving a $1,000 hardtail outside with the Huffys and the Magnas. Sorry. She let me in “this once”. But when I stepped out to get my bagel, she suggested I ride into the garage, and take the service elevator up each morning. That way she doesn’t have to see me, and what she don’t know don’t hurt her.

5. Biking in, no matter how perilous, feels pretty damned good. My bike is tucked away in my office, and I feel like we bonded today. (Even though my hatred for Hayes brakes grows daily…)