18 May 2007
10 May 2007
fitness update and cookies
Yesterday we baked cookies. I made the recipe that's on the back of the bag of chocolate chips (toll house). Laurie made vegan cookies. Luckily I froze 1/2 the batch, hoping to save some for a later date. So now there are approximately zero thawed toll house cookies left (ate em), and I'm real close to digging into the rest that are in the freezer; only thing holding me back is my 'belly ache' from eating all the cookies. There's still quite a few vegan ones left though. I have pretty much zero self control when there are cookies in the cookie jar. dang.
So the fitness is coming together. I was able to keep up on the Tuesday night 'hammerfest' ride from sunny side sports. Chris Sheppard was in the house, and Megan Elliot (GF of euro pro Chris Horner). This year, the Tuesday ride has become the CSLB ride (Chase Steve Larsen's Brother). Mike Larsen moved to town a few weeks ago, and he can ride. Anyway, after getting my ass dropped many times this spring on this ride it was sweet to be in the front group until the end, especially since the group that started out this week's ride was huge. Yeeaa! I'm also running a fair amount. The bend olympics is coming up, but I have not XC skied since late March, and I haven't alpined or kayaked since last years ppp. In fact (this is sad) I've taken 4 chairlift rides since moving to Bend in May 2004, All of them having to do with doing the PPP twice. 1 ride for warm up, 1 ride up for the race. I am going to TRY to get up to the mountain once before the PPP but if I don't, oh well, the race will start for me if I can make it to dry land after the nordic leg, then watch out, cause I'll be chasing!
After the bend olympics, I'm doing the Mt Hood stage race. It will be my first Cat 3 endeavor that was not during weekly phlebotomies. I raced in and finished the Cat 3 cascade classic stage race last year, and it was pretty bad, but I finished and not DFL and not even bottom podium (but close). I raced good in the Cat 4s at hood last year, (I even won some money for being top 10!) and am looking forward to racing at hood again, but this year in the 3s. This year the format for the 3s is 4 stages in 4 days starting on May 31st. I'm a bit concerned that I haven't done any road races yet this spring, but Hood consists of 2 climbing stages (Thursday's 66 mile circut race and Saturday's epic 87 mile road race), an 18.5 mile TT on Friday and a 30 minute criterium to wrap it up. I hope to have the fitness to hang on on the climbing days, and the TT is solo, and the crit is only 30 minutes. Back in my triathlon days, the TT would have been a cinch, but the lack of a TT series in Bend this year, and my unexpected withdrawal from the DRVTT fest, I have not had much practice. Oh well, that's why I have a disc wheel :P
I'm thinking I'm going to sport THESE at Mt Hood this year... (whadya think?)
that's all, Thanks for reading.
So the fitness is coming together. I was able to keep up on the Tuesday night 'hammerfest' ride from sunny side sports. Chris Sheppard was in the house, and Megan Elliot (GF of euro pro Chris Horner). This year, the Tuesday ride has become the CSLB ride (Chase Steve Larsen's Brother). Mike Larsen moved to town a few weeks ago, and he can ride. Anyway, after getting my ass dropped many times this spring on this ride it was sweet to be in the front group until the end, especially since the group that started out this week's ride was huge. Yeeaa! I'm also running a fair amount. The bend olympics is coming up, but I have not XC skied since late March, and I haven't alpined or kayaked since last years ppp. In fact (this is sad) I've taken 4 chairlift rides since moving to Bend in May 2004, All of them having to do with doing the PPP twice. 1 ride for warm up, 1 ride up for the race. I am going to TRY to get up to the mountain once before the PPP but if I don't, oh well, the race will start for me if I can make it to dry land after the nordic leg, then watch out, cause I'll be chasing!
After the bend olympics, I'm doing the Mt Hood stage race. It will be my first Cat 3 endeavor that was not during weekly phlebotomies. I raced in and finished the Cat 3 cascade classic stage race last year, and it was pretty bad, but I finished and not DFL and not even bottom podium (but close). I raced good in the Cat 4s at hood last year, (I even won some money for being top 10!) and am looking forward to racing at hood again, but this year in the 3s. This year the format for the 3s is 4 stages in 4 days starting on May 31st. I'm a bit concerned that I haven't done any road races yet this spring, but Hood consists of 2 climbing stages (Thursday's 66 mile circut race and Saturday's epic 87 mile road race), an 18.5 mile TT on Friday and a 30 minute criterium to wrap it up. I hope to have the fitness to hang on on the climbing days, and the TT is solo, and the crit is only 30 minutes. Back in my triathlon days, the TT would have been a cinch, but the lack of a TT series in Bend this year, and my unexpected withdrawal from the DRVTT fest, I have not had much practice. Oh well, that's why I have a disc wheel :P
I'm thinking I'm going to sport THESE at Mt Hood this year... (whadya think?)
that's all, Thanks for reading.
07 May 2007
Moving to PDX
So goes the story of life, we've lived in Bend almost exactly three years ago, and now we are making plans to move to Portland, Oregon. By June 15th, we'll be fully moved over to the 'rainy side' (but on the plus side, I'm hearing that it's supposed to be pretty nice weather there from about now, until about September when it starts raining non stop for 8 or 9 months). I'm wrapping up my duties with Merrill Corporation. That means I QUIT!!! And no, it has absolutely nothing to do w/ the convention I went to last week.
Why in the hell are you moving out of bike mecca, xc skiing paradise, trail running heaven, that is Bend, Oregon, you ask?? Well, that's a good question. I once told my wife on lovely winter day XC Skiing, "it was hard for you to get me to move out of MN, but it will be even harder for you to get me to move out of Bend!". Well, turns out, I'm the instigator this time... I will be going to school full time starting next fall at OIT's Portland campus. The program I'm enrolled in, is a BS degree in renewable energy systems, and it lasts 3 years. Essentially it's an engineering program that focuses on renewable power. We'll see where that road leads.
Laurie found a nursing job at OHSU and we found a place to live in a SE Portland neighborhood, that should be good for bike commuting. It will be the first time either one of us will have lived in a city larger than Bend, (or Fargo, ND, or St. Cloud, MN if those are counted as larger than Bend) We're both anxious, excited, scared. It seems like I already miss Bend a little bit. But Bend will still be here, only 3 hours away.
We sold our house, and holy crap. we're moving. It was a tough decision to
move away from Minnesota 3 years ago, but we wouldn't trade it for anything. We've met so many great friends here. Moving now will be a bit easier, although we've got quite a bit of stuff, and some of that stuff might have to go, or find storage. I'm still going to do a bit of skiing (XC Oregon - PDX squad), but snow will be further away, so maybe I'll have to sharpen the hockey skates, as Portland actually has some ice arenas, that is if I have time between the homework.
Our new address will be
8005 se 8th ave
pdx, or 97202
Write that down.
email is the same.
cell phone will be the same (541+619+9679)
blog will continue.
Why in the hell are you moving out of bike mecca, xc skiing paradise, trail running heaven, that is Bend, Oregon, you ask?? Well, that's a good question. I once told my wife on lovely winter day XC Skiing, "it was hard for you to get me to move out of MN, but it will be even harder for you to get me to move out of Bend!". Well, turns out, I'm the instigator this time... I will be going to school full time starting next fall at OIT's Portland campus. The program I'm enrolled in, is a BS degree in renewable energy systems, and it lasts 3 years. Essentially it's an engineering program that focuses on renewable power. We'll see where that road leads.
Laurie found a nursing job at OHSU and we found a place to live in a SE Portland neighborhood, that should be good for bike commuting. It will be the first time either one of us will have lived in a city larger than Bend, (or Fargo, ND, or St. Cloud, MN if those are counted as larger than Bend) We're both anxious, excited, scared. It seems like I already miss Bend a little bit. But Bend will still be here, only 3 hours away.
We sold our house, and holy crap. we're moving. It was a tough decision to
move away from Minnesota 3 years ago, but we wouldn't trade it for anything. We've met so many great friends here. Moving now will be a bit easier, although we've got quite a bit of stuff, and some of that stuff might have to go, or find storage. I'm still going to do a bit of skiing (XC Oregon - PDX squad), but snow will be further away, so maybe I'll have to sharpen the hockey skates, as Portland actually has some ice arenas, that is if I have time between the homework.
Our new address will be
8005 se 8th ave
pdx, or 97202
Write that down.
email is the same.
cell phone will be the same (541+619+9679)
blog will continue.
30 April 2007
Twenty one.
Well, here I am back in Bend, Oregon after a nice weekend of not being in las vegas at a convention. The whole trip to Vegas was sort of a blur, basically worked the whole time and slept the other time. We did get done at about 4:00 on Thursday, and had a nice dinner at the NY NY hotel. I was surprised at the will of some of my co-workers to 'hit the strip and gamble' after 2.5 long days of convention work with very little sleep. But then after thinking about it, most of them have children, and when they are away from home they have to take advantage. I was perfectly content with going up to the hotel room to sleep. But I did manage to hit a few slot machines.
I put 5 bucks in a nickel slot, pulled the lever, and BAM 48 bucks. Cash out, after one spin. Then I went over to the deal or no deal slots and within about a minute i was up 8 bucks. So, I wasted the rest of the 8 bucks and change, and stormed out of there with almost 45 dollars more than I came in with! Hot damn. If everyone could say that when they left vegas it wouldn't be vegas! I had some temptations to play some 21 (three card poker), but the minimum was $10 per hand, and I figured if I played 4 hands, and lost all four, I'd be down, or where I started, and depressed that I just lost all that money. Even though it wasn't that much... One of the wives of my co-workers won a Grand. sweet.
Latest news on the iron overload front is I'm officially 100% de ironed, with no phlebotomies in sight. I stopped going in for weekly phlebs at the end of February, when my ferritin was 30. A month after that (at the beginning of April), my ferritin went up 5 points, so I had another phleb. Today my Ferritin tested out at TWENTY ONE. That was the best news I could have hoped for. Now it's time for some steak!!!!!
Parting shots from Las Vegas:
Convention before:
Convention during:
The strip, as seen from the walkway between MGM and NYNY:
Statue of Liberty, NY NY hotel:
We actually did make it down here on the last day (view from Bellagio entrance):
I was still smiling after the chaos.
With this post a new format is also being rolled out, to accommodate larger photos. Thanks Blogger, for making this easy.
I put 5 bucks in a nickel slot, pulled the lever, and BAM 48 bucks. Cash out, after one spin. Then I went over to the deal or no deal slots and within about a minute i was up 8 bucks. So, I wasted the rest of the 8 bucks and change, and stormed out of there with almost 45 dollars more than I came in with! Hot damn. If everyone could say that when they left vegas it wouldn't be vegas! I had some temptations to play some 21 (three card poker), but the minimum was $10 per hand, and I figured if I played 4 hands, and lost all four, I'd be down, or where I started, and depressed that I just lost all that money. Even though it wasn't that much... One of the wives of my co-workers won a Grand. sweet.
Latest news on the iron overload front is I'm officially 100% de ironed, with no phlebotomies in sight. I stopped going in for weekly phlebs at the end of February, when my ferritin was 30. A month after that (at the beginning of April), my ferritin went up 5 points, so I had another phleb. Today my Ferritin tested out at TWENTY ONE. That was the best news I could have hoped for. Now it's time for some steak!!!!!
Parting shots from Las Vegas:
Convention before:
Convention during:
The strip, as seen from the walkway between MGM and NYNY:
Statue of Liberty, NY NY hotel:
We actually did make it down here on the last day (view from Bellagio entrance):
I was still smiling after the chaos.
With this post a new format is also being rolled out, to accommodate larger photos. Thanks Blogger, for making this easy.
25 April 2007
Arb0nne N.T.C. 2007, Las Vegas
What am I doing here? How did I get here? When can I go home?
I'll just start from the beginning. I signed up to help out at the convention, as the 'IT geek'. Merrill (company I work for) does -alot- of printing work for Arbonne. It was a trip to Vegas and hey, what the hell, why not. Can't be that bad.
Left Bend @ 4:15pm tuesday, when I thought my plane left at 4:45pm. Needless to say, the gal at the ticket counter basically said, if I'd have been one minute later, they may have not let me board.
The airport in Vegas. Notice, there are very few signs that say "to Baggage Claim". They want you to gamble at the airport.
Got to NY NY Hotel at about 9:50pm, call Stephanie (the project manager for this task, think NBC TV show apprentice). the task: sell as much arbonne stuff as possible in 2 days. Go to MGM grand garden arena to help setup the computers. La la la, that happens, and when it's all said and done, it's about 1am, off to bed ASAFP. Slept horribly.
Next morning wake up call at 5:30, in hopes to find breakfast, before going to the convention to begin selling crap. Best I could find with the time frame given: 2 Starbucks scones and a coffee. Yippie skippy.
Arbonne doors open up at 7:30am. we had 2 stations, with 4 registers (read: laptops running a db program) each, and by 7:45am, both areas had lines until about 4pm. That whole time I was running a laptop that was acting as a cash register with one 15 minute break. I'm not really complaining but it was extremly busy, overall it wasn't too bad, everyone was nice, nobody was mean, and there were no computer melt downs (whew). out of the what seemed like five thousand people that came through my spot there were literally 3 men. (there are some 16500 people here, 99% women). yea.
We also had drop boxes where people could drop off an order for pick up tomorrow. We got WAY more of those than we expected. We were assembling those until about 11pm.
Photo inserted 4/30/2007
Here's what the scene looked like at 9:34pm:
If this get's pulled off tomorrow (it will), it'll be a work of art from Stephanie. It seemed like we were in way over our heads at times today, and would never get done. now all we have to do tomorrow is alphabetize ten thousand bags for pickup. How long will that take if we start at 6:30am. If big races (like the Birkie, or Twin cities marathon) can do this for participants post race bags, we should be able too...? right? we'll see...
4/30/2007 update: We did get them mostly alphabetized. Except somehow the S and T piles got overlooked, and there was madness trying to get those alphabetized while people were trying to pick up their stuff.
Anyway, this blog post was way too long for how late it is, and how tired I am. But my blog has been lame lately, and I needed to spark it up a bit.
One more full day in viva LV, and then back to Bend on Friday. Big races coming up.
Photos added on flickr, may be inserted into this blog post at a later date.
I'll just start from the beginning. I signed up to help out at the convention, as the 'IT geek'. Merrill (company I work for) does -alot- of printing work for Arbonne. It was a trip to Vegas and hey, what the hell, why not. Can't be that bad.
Left Bend @ 4:15pm tuesday, when I thought my plane left at 4:45pm. Needless to say, the gal at the ticket counter basically said, if I'd have been one minute later, they may have not let me board.
The airport in Vegas. Notice, there are very few signs that say "to Baggage Claim". They want you to gamble at the airport.
Got to NY NY Hotel at about 9:50pm, call Stephanie (the project manager for this task, think NBC TV show apprentice). the task: sell as much arbonne stuff as possible in 2 days. Go to MGM grand garden arena to help setup the computers. La la la, that happens, and when it's all said and done, it's about 1am, off to bed ASAFP. Slept horribly.
Next morning wake up call at 5:30, in hopes to find breakfast, before going to the convention to begin selling crap. Best I could find with the time frame given: 2 Starbucks scones and a coffee. Yippie skippy.
Arbonne doors open up at 7:30am. we had 2 stations, with 4 registers (read: laptops running a db program) each, and by 7:45am, both areas had lines until about 4pm. That whole time I was running a laptop that was acting as a cash register with one 15 minute break. I'm not really complaining but it was extremly busy, overall it wasn't too bad, everyone was nice, nobody was mean, and there were no computer melt downs (whew). out of the what seemed like five thousand people that came through my spot there were literally 3 men. (there are some 16500 people here, 99% women). yea.
We also had drop boxes where people could drop off an order for pick up tomorrow. We got WAY more of those than we expected. We were assembling those until about 11pm.
Photo inserted 4/30/2007
Here's what the scene looked like at 9:34pm:
If this get's pulled off tomorrow (it will), it'll be a work of art from Stephanie. It seemed like we were in way over our heads at times today, and would never get done. now all we have to do tomorrow is alphabetize ten thousand bags for pickup. How long will that take if we start at 6:30am. If big races (like the Birkie, or Twin cities marathon) can do this for participants post race bags, we should be able too...? right? we'll see...
4/30/2007 update: We did get them mostly alphabetized. Except somehow the S and T piles got overlooked, and there was madness trying to get those alphabetized while people were trying to pick up their stuff.
Anyway, this blog post was way too long for how late it is, and how tired I am. But my blog has been lame lately, and I needed to spark it up a bit.
One more full day in viva LV, and then back to Bend on Friday. Big races coming up.
Photos added on flickr, may be inserted into this blog post at a later date.
18 April 2007
Wild vs Ducks: hockey live
http://www.comcast.net/sports/nhl/hockeylive/
4/19/07, 7:30pm pacific daylight time
found link on versus.com
4/19/07, 7:30pm pacific daylight time
found link on versus.com
15 April 2007
Go Green.
In case you don't know who this guy is, he wrote the book The World is Flat. The United States is going to look pretty silly in a few years, when we look back at and wonder how we made this a political issue.
10 April 2007
Round 1
NHL Playoffs, Round 1
East:
Sabers vs Islanders: Islanders in 7, because they have Richard Park.
Devils vs Lightning: New Jersey in 6, because Tampa Bay doesn't belong.
Thrashers vs Rangers: Rangers in 6, because Atlanta doesn't belong.
Pens vs Sens: Pittsburg in 5, because Sidney Crosby is the next Great one.
West:
Detroit vs. Flames: Wings in 7, because I want see Derek Boogaard (w/ MN Wild) beat up Bertuzzi in Round 2.
Canucks vs Dallas: Vancouver in 5, because I hate the Dallas Stars.
Sharks vs Nashville: Sharks in 6, because they are Pacific Time.
Wild vs Ducks: the State of Hockey in 6 games.
What a great NHL hockey mind. We'll see.
East:
Sabers vs Islanders: Islanders in 7, because they have Richard Park.
Devils vs Lightning: New Jersey in 6, because Tampa Bay doesn't belong.
Thrashers vs Rangers: Rangers in 6, because Atlanta doesn't belong.
Pens vs Sens: Pittsburg in 5, because Sidney Crosby is the next Great one.
West:
Detroit vs. Flames: Wings in 7, because I want see Derek Boogaard (w/ MN Wild) beat up Bertuzzi in Round 2.
Canucks vs Dallas: Vancouver in 5, because I hate the Dallas Stars.
Sharks vs Nashville: Sharks in 6, because they are Pacific Time.
Wild vs Ducks: the State of Hockey in 6 games.
What a great NHL hockey mind. We'll see.
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