A Nice Plug for Cat6 Sponsor

Taken from an article on CNN Money. This is one guy that went about things the right way after winning the lottery. I guess I'll follow his lead after tonights Powerball Drawing.

Brad Duke won a $220 million powerball jackpot in 2005. Here's what Duke has done with his money so far.

$45 million: Safe, low-risk investments such as municipal bonds
$35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate
$1.3 million: A family foundation
$63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends
$125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400-square-foot house
$18,000: Student-loan repayment
$65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike
$14,500: A used black VW Jetta
$12,000: Annual gift to each family member

I wonder if it was the Time Machine?

I'm not sure what other BMC's are that expensive. DS or others can chime in if they know or have ideas. Maybe we should send him a petition for a Cat6 sponsorship. Can you imagine $65K in new bikes, effing a man.

Welcome a friend

So I’m not sure on her policy about providing a real name, but a good friend of mine in NC has started a blog (sometimes we call her the Oracle). Check her out here. As I started drafting this post, I was thinking I would tell a good story about her as an introduction. Before I knew it I had so many stories that it would have taken me the better part of the day to get them written down, so I’ll make it brief. There are three major things that will forever bond us. These are only a few, and are pretty silly, but hey that’s what makes us cool. They are, 1) Books about people with really fucked up lives. Think along the lines of Chuck Palahniuk. 2) Lost. Yes the TV series. 3) Coors Light.

1) When I lived in NC we started a book club. Never mind the fact that the club only lasted for two books, thanks Dana. Well actually the blame lands on Jeff and Sumeet but I digress. The first book was on my recommendation as it was my idea to start the club. I selected Invisible Monsters by Mr. Palahniuk. I think it was a little over the top for some members, but she and I loved it from start to finish. That’s when we confessed our fascination with genre of literature.

2) I was hooked on Lost since the very first episode. I stumbled across it the day it aired. The show took a while before it took off, but I was hooked immediately. Anyway, I was always looking for someone to re-cap with. Well one day on a DRIVE to Kentucky, she found the episode being aired on AM radio. When she got to work after the trip we would have Thursday morning meetings to re-cap. The meetings were usually a complete play-by-play replay of the episode because Jeff forgot to watch and wanted to be in the loop.

3) Coors Light. Although we are both pretty liberal folks, we can’t stay off the Republican crack. The Oracle is one of those rare women in the world that can be considered one of the guys. This and her love for CL Smooth led to another of her nicknames, which she is listed as on the right. She can hang with the boys so well, sometimes at the bar she is waiting for us to finish our beers before we order another. When we were all still getting to know her, someone commented that they thought she had a hollow leg that she was pouring her beer into. No matter how much she would drink, she was always in control and lady like, though still one of the boys.

So welcome Oracle to the web. I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

So last Sunday after the Buckeye/Gopher game, I came down with what I think was either the West Nile Virus or the Bubonic Plague. I was immobile till Wednesday, dealing with severe GI issues. Just when I started coming around I got nailed with a 45 lb weight on my head, sore throat, and congestion. I finally came around yesterday and was able to get a workout in. After eight days of sickness it felt great. I’m still poppin Sudafed, but feel like the sun is starting to shine again.

Well we’ve got lots of snow to play in. I got up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to shovel with Louie. There aren’t many things better than watching a young dog play in deep snow. I cam in and started a fire so G and I could re-lounge with coffee and breakfast. It was a great snowy Sunday. Cap it off with a solid win by the Bucks and a trip to the Y, life is good again.

Foiled by IT

All this week I was being blocked by all blogger sites, but today it seems to be working. Anyway, I got the wheels home and they look freakin tits. I'm heading to NC the third week of mark for 5 days of riding and one race. I cant wait to get out on the road, not to mention race with the new wheelset. I'll post a picture of the ride all decked out soon.

I spent the last two night cleaning the basement for the out-of-towners that are getting here tonight. With a little remodeling work it is going to be the spot to be. When you walk down the steps you are greeted by the bar. Immediately to the left if the bike repair stand and various wheels, bikes and other stuff. On the wall facing the bar is a fireplace (I had the first fire in ti this week wile cleaning), flanked by another nook type area with the couch, TV, PlayStation, stereo, and love sac. I'm gonna tear out the carpet by the bar/bike area, get an espresso machine for behind the bar, a fridge for the homebrew, and decorate with lots of beer and bike stuff. It'll be sweet. Once that's all finished I'll just need to make some friends so that I'm not drinking alone in dim light of the fireplace. Feel free to sign up, it doesn't cost anything.

My Hero..

So T3 is not only Cat6 tech support, he is also my social events planner. I have some friends coming into town this weekend that had some specific requests. The first was ice skating. I thought this would be an easy chore since it seams like Mpls. Park Board has rinks set up all over the city. The problem is that none of us have skates. So, rumor has it that the Kenny Activity Center has a bunch of loaners. If anyone has other ideas let me know. The only alternative is to go to the rink in Depot Downtown. The problem here is that you need to pay a decent amount for the rentals and the admission. Well, not that much I guess ~$15/person. Not a big deal, its just I’d rather spend $15 on something else. But hey, if that’s what the people want, that’s what they get. I looked at the pictures on the Depot website and it looks pretty cool. It might be worth supporting something like that in downtown to keep it up and running.

The second was a request on good coffee houses. My friend is a real coffee geek, so he has compiled a short list of places he picked off a message board that are near me. I’m sure we’ll hit up CRC, but I just don’t think its will suffice for the entire weekend. I’m looking for someplace open, with a pretty friendly feel, probably with couches or big chairs. It goes without saying that the coffee has to be above average. This is the short list he came up with. If you know anything about them let me know what you think.

Anodyne on 43rd
4301 Nicollet Ave

Coffee Fool (Roaster-Retailer)
7760 France Ave

Pandora's Cup
2516 Hennepin Ave

Black Sheep

T3 has been to Anodyne, though he didn’t have an opinion on it either way. He said he was there while building WMD’s in the basement below the coffee house.

I pulled the trigger

Well Last night I spent a bit of my tax return. I got a set of race wheels. Here's a picture courtesy of HED.

They are carbon tubulars. I got them from Hollywood Cycles. Well, I ordered them from Hollywood. Jay is going to pick them up from HED on Thursday and then I'm going to head back to the shop and we'll glue on the tires. I've never really talked to Jay, so it should be an entertaining hour or so hanging in the shop with him. It will be hard to wait till April to bust them out on the road.

I was debating for a long time between Zipp and HED. After talking to Steve and Jay about HED, and some others about Zipp, the choice for me ended up being easier than I was making it. Zipp wheels are out of control expensive, not to mention having licenses on their shape from HED. That’s right, Zipp pays HED for the right to produce some of their wheels. Some of you may have known that, or may know more about the specifics, but it was all news to me. For a fraction of the cost, you get a great product.

I’ll post a picture of them on the Cervelo as soon as I get them home. I should be rockin the bike split this year!

So I hope our wedding goes better than this one started out.

Also, completely unrelated, I started a new undershirt tucking method. I now tuck my undershirt into my boxers/long underwear. I creates way less of a jumble around the waist when you are wearing dress pants and button down shirts. Maybe a lot of people already do this and I am just late catching on. Wouldnt be the first time.