I don’t have a whole lot to work with here.  In a rare work-related reference, I will mention that I started a new position on Tuesday and it has cut into my entertainment time somewhat.  In a good way though.

Wednesday night Munkirs drove out to my house for a bike ride.  Alas, it was not to be.  Our well-laid plan was to take off at 5:30 and get a good hour in, leaving plenty of time for mowing the lawn and other such mundane tasks.  By that time it was raining pretty good.  We stood in the driveway with our bikes for a good 20 minutes, convinced it was some kind of hoax, since there wasn’t any mentionable rain in the forecast.  When the thunder and lightning kicked in, we called it quits.  Since my lawn-mowing plans were likewise cancelled, I spent the night on the couch watching Netflix movies.  I watched “Isolation” and “Hot Tub Time Machine,” both of which proved moderately entertaining.

Last night Munkirs again made the drive to midtown, and we joined the Hoopers ride to get some miles in.  Good ride, such as group rides go.  I think it was just a bit faster than last weeks group, but we stayed with them fine.  About 3/4 the way through, the main group zigged and we zagged, opting for our own slightly shorter route the rest of the way.  We did the same last week and a pretty good crowd followed us, but we didn’t get any takers last night.  All the better.

Alright I guess I gotta update this thing.  I knew the streak had to end some time.  I have myriad excuses for my lack of updates though;  I was busy over the holiday weekend, then dis-interested on the holiday itself, and then yesterday morning I spent 3 hours in the dentist chair which threw me into such a foul mood I never recovered.  That leaves me with the conundrum of just how far back to go in recounting my boring exploits.  I’ll just skim over the entire span.

So, all the way back to last Friday…  Donette was gone for the weekend, off to her nephew’s graduation in Houston.  On the way out of town, her sister Ronda dropped off her two pups at my house, Cooper and Millie.  That pretty much defined my entire weekend.  Cooper and Teagan needed supervision whenever they were together.  Those two clowns had two modes:  Trying to kill each other, or napping with their heads laying on each other.  They were actually funny, in a scary kind of way.  They would be sleeping together, then they’d wake up, stretch out, yawn a few times, and start scrapping again.  And poor little Millie, she was so distressed she kind of… Ummm….  Had a bad tummy all weekend.  There were several indicators of her condition waiting to greet me in the mornings when I woke up, after I’d watched TV for a few hours, when I got home in the afternoons…  Ewwww.  Eventually I just conceded she wasn’t going to make it inside and I just left the sliding glass door open all weekend.  A few bugs in the house or a few piles on the rug;  I’ll take the bugs.  Hopefully she feels better by now back in her familiar environment.  I have a few good household tips I gathered from the experience though:  1)  Don’t walk barefoot in the dark looking for dog poop, and 2) don’t run the Roomba until you are sure you’ve found all the messes.  I did get out of the house a few times during the dog-sitting though.  Martin came down Saturday and joined me at 75th Street, where we spent a good afternoon on the patio.  Sunday I headed down to the Brooksider and watched the Royals game with the boys.  Those two events gave me enough excitement to get me through the weekend I guess, because Monday I didn’t do anything at all.  Watched movies all night and well into the afternoon, and waited for the weary travelers to return.  Unfortunately I didn’t see any movies of note, unless you count that “The Human Centipede” is probably one of the top three disturbing movies I’ve ever seen.  I suppose that’s “of note.”  Geez I might never sleep again.

Last night I went on a bike ride, the weekly Mission Farms route.  I don’t suppose that bears re-telling.

Well that was a nice change of pace, a day without rain!  I took advantage of the nice weather and went on a group bike ride last night.  I got my bike back Tuesday night, complete with new carbon fiber fork, but hadn’t gotten to ride it yet due to the intermittent monsoons.  I was quite pleased with the new part incidentally;  It’s pretty well used, a little dinged up, but at the price Volker gave me (with installation) I sure ain’t complaining.  Not to mention, it actually fits, unlike the old one.  As a matter of fact, I had enough money left over to get some new brakes too.  My friend Chris (not Martin, a guy I used to work with) came over before the ride last night and put them on for me.  He seemed a bit confused as to why I was replacing my perfectly good (and actually very nice) Ultegra brakes with the new ones.  I pointed out the obvious:  “Because these are black.  I like black components.”  He didn’t say anything, but I’m relatively sure I saw him roll his eyes.  He put them on though, and they look infinitely nicer than the others.  Probably make me faster too.  So, with my super-duper new fork and brakes, we rolled down to Brookside and met up with Munkirs.  Chris is significantly younger than Munkirs and I, and we let him talk us into taking off with the “fast group.”  Turned out to be a good choice;  We didn’t have any problems keeping up and I liked the riding style of this group a lot better.  (I thought they did a much better job of following some basic traffic rules that absolutely drive me nuts when I ride with the “slow group.”)  Chris saved the ride on his nifty GPS, and posted it here so we could see the results.  That Garmin is pretty sweet, I might have to look into one of those.  He noted somewhat sarcastically that maybe if I didn’t spend my money on color-coordinated parts I could get one.  Ahhhh, youthful foolishness, what does he know.

That was an interesting day of weather in KC.  I got my first-ever tour of the basement in the building where I work;  Perhaps an over-reaction but nobody was complaining.  By the time we went back upstairs, the sun was shining and it actually looked like a decent day out.  After work the sun was still out, so I pulled my motorcycle out of the parking garage where it had spent the last few nights because of all the rain, and made the ride home warm and dry.  Emboldened by my good luck, I hopped on my bicycle and rode down to the Brooksider to hang out with the boys for a while.  That’s pretty much where my luck ended.  It sprinkled on me all the way down there, and as soon as I pulled up a seat on the patio it started pouring.  It would stop for a little while, then start up again.  Donette cruelly refused to come get me, so I had to ride my bicycle back home in the rain.  After that we headed up to 75th Street for some dinner, which was delicious as always.  Actually I sort of had my heart set on some mexican food but we have some Groupons that are about to expire so that dictated the menu for the evening.

In lieu of any actual content, I again offer up a fascinating tidbit of news I came across this morning.  The USDA has revised their recommended cooking temperature for pork to 145 degrees.  I’ve followed that for a long time myself;  I hate dry pork chops.  Nothing wrong with a lil’ pink in a nice lean cut of pork.  Now I have to buy all new food thermometers for the kitchen though.