Well, after eating lots of delicious ribs last night, I set out for my first day of work this morning. I have to say that starting a job the second time is a lot easier than the first time, because you know a little bit more of what to expect. There's still a lot of, "Wow, I really don't want to have to do that, but oh well..." that happens, but that's why it's called work I suppose. Most of today was learning about how to bill hours, meeting some folks, and making travel arrangements to Portland. I leave tomorrow directly from work, have a 10 hr training session on Wednesday, about 5 hrs on Thursday, and land back in Oakland at 10:15pm on Thursday night. I have a feeling the trip may not afford me much time to have fun, but again, that's why it's called work. I already feel behind, because the big drive is for me to be in the field, but I can't go into the field until I go through copious amounts of safety training, so now it's mostly having to wait for all of the scheduling to work out with training. Anyway. One thing that will be new for me is billing hours. I have to always bill my hours to some sort of project, one way or the other. It's a little different from just showing up and working. The upside is that if I am reading relevant material on an airplane, bill it. I also have a somewhat flexible schedule, where I can work remotely if need be. That's about it for now I suppose. Mostly I just want to eat and go pack for my trip to Portland tomorrow.
Oh yeah. And my supervisor (A) orders 200 lbs of New Mexico Green Chile every year and (B) is a cyclist. I'm actually convinced that 60% of the reason I got this job is because I went to New Mexico Tech, and I've already met a handful of people that went there.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
El Camino del Diablo (JPB)
Today I gave the road to the top of Mount Diablo a try on my bike. Rumor has it that Mt. Diablo was once listed as one of the 10 toughest climbs in the US by Bicycling Magazine. Lists can be bunk though. I went up the N.Gate road, and managed to make it all the way to the top (surprisingly enough). It was hard, but I did it. I'm pretty excited, because when we first got here, the hills were killing me. Up the North Gate road from the park entrance kiosk to the top is 3,320 ft (1012m) of climbing in 11 miles (17.8km). It's a slog. I'm glad I did it. Now it's time to start bringing down the time.
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Tub Plug
Among the various manly things that I enjoy, like driving a truck, grilling food, debating about whether or not to shave my legs, is taking baths. WHAT? It's a good place to read and you don't have to stand up. Unfortunately the drain mechanism doesn't work in the tub of our new house, so instead of dealing with having it fixed (note: plumbing is not one of the things on my 'manly' list) I decided to look for a drain stopper, which seemed like it would be an immediate solution. It has been very difficult to find just a regular, flat, drain stopper like I wanted. So today I went to the hardware store (manly) to get a replacement nut for my weed-eater (even more manly). While there I found the exact drain stopper that I've been needing. So why does all of this constitute a blog entry? The drain stopper came with instructions, I kid you not. They read, "Instructions: place drain stopper over drain." Really.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Announcing the Tour de Fun (JPB)
There have been a lot of rumors going around in my head about the 'Tour de Fun.' I am glad to announce that they are true (mostly. the one about the monkey on a penny-farthing isn't, unfortunately). What is the 'Tour de Fun?' Well, the Tour de Fun is a bike event founded June 05, 2008 in Walnut Creek, California (actually, I may have officially been in Martinez at the time...so...let's say Contra Costa County) by Joel Bensing, a full time idiot, part time bon vivant, burgeoning hydrogeologist (HA!), with a hint of lime, and artificial flavoring. (yes, if you add all those up they are greater than one 'full time.' That's what makes me great). The Tour de Fun is a non-competitive cycling event that happens 1-7 days a week, and may have 1-6,602,224,175 (+/-) participants. There have been a lot of questions asked about Tour de Fun, mostly asked by me somewhere between Castro Ranch Road and my eyes popping out of my head going up Pig Farm Hill. I will answer those questions here:
Q: Do I have to go to France, Quebec, Algeria, or Martinique to participate in Tour de Fun?
A: No. You do not. Despite the name, there is nothing particularly francophone about the Tour de Fun, unless you happen to be particularly francophone. The name's origin lies in marketing. Tour de Fun just has the quasi-french, euro-je ne sais quoi sound to it, sort of like the Tour de Georgia: Presented by AT&T, only Tour de Fun is fake and made up by an idiot.
Q: Do I have to shave my legs to participate in the Tour de Fun?
A: While some participants may choose to do so, this is not required. In fact, some people prefer to NOT shave their legs, so they can sandbag the "more advanced" riders. This sandbagging technique increases in effectiveness as your gender approaches 'female.'
Q: Is it true that you HAVE to eat ice cream after the Tour de Fun?
A: Yes. That is our officially sanctioned benediction.
Q: Do I need a fancy road bike to participate?
A: No. Unicycles, little big-wheels, training wheels, cruisers, mountain bikes, low riders, etc. are all equally encouraged.
Q: Do I have to wear tights with pads (a.k.a chamois) in them?
A: Not necessarily, but you should. Everyone from Stephen Hawking to Joey Buttafuoco will tell you that I suck at math, but I did a quick back of the envelope calculation that proves the more you ride, the more you will want bike shorts. Shorts, while silly, help with nether-region comfort and control, aerodynamics, and muscle fatigue. (it's true. so called "science" says so).
Q: Will I get REALLY bad tan lines?
A: Yes.
Q: Sure this sounds fun, but how much does it cost?
A: That's the great thing about the Tour de Fun! All you need is a bike, a helmet, and some time (and possibly sunscreen. See Above).
Q: Where do I sign up?
A: That's the easiest part. Just get on your bike, and you'll find it.
Q: Do I have to go to France, Quebec, Algeria, or Martinique to participate in Tour de Fun?
A: No. You do not. Despite the name, there is nothing particularly francophone about the Tour de Fun, unless you happen to be particularly francophone. The name's origin lies in marketing. Tour de Fun just has the quasi-french, euro-je ne sais quoi sound to it, sort of like the Tour de Georgia: Presented by AT&T, only Tour de Fun is fake and made up by an idiot.
Q: Do I have to shave my legs to participate in the Tour de Fun?
A: While some participants may choose to do so, this is not required. In fact, some people prefer to NOT shave their legs, so they can sandbag the "more advanced" riders. This sandbagging technique increases in effectiveness as your gender approaches 'female.'
Q: Is it true that you HAVE to eat ice cream after the Tour de Fun?
A: Yes. That is our officially sanctioned benediction.
Q: Do I need a fancy road bike to participate?
A: No. Unicycles, little big-wheels, training wheels, cruisers, mountain bikes, low riders, etc. are all equally encouraged.
Q: Do I have to wear tights with pads (a.k.a chamois) in them?
A: Not necessarily, but you should. Everyone from Stephen Hawking to Joey Buttafuoco will tell you that I suck at math, but I did a quick back of the envelope calculation that proves the more you ride, the more you will want bike shorts. Shorts, while silly, help with nether-region comfort and control, aerodynamics, and muscle fatigue. (it's true. so called "science" says so).
Q: Will I get REALLY bad tan lines?
A: Yes.
Q: Sure this sounds fun, but how much does it cost?
A: That's the great thing about the Tour de Fun! All you need is a bike, a helmet, and some time (and possibly sunscreen. See Above).
Q: Where do I sign up?
A: That's the easiest part. Just get on your bike, and you'll find it.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Last Place I Looked: a Nouveau Appreciation (JPB)
So it's always a good laugh to make fun of people who say stuff like, "Why is what I'm looking for always in the last place I look?" Think about that one for a little while....
Today, well, the past month really, I could've really used a can opener. Now that our stuff arrived I finally made a full on assault on trying to find our can opener. I'm not sure why I needed the can opener so bad, but I did. Those who know me well, know that I can get like that sometimes [think back to me obsessing in trying to find the lid to the peanut butter as we're trying to pack up camp during a tornado (no exaggeration). The lid just had to be found]. Our can opener was, obviously, in the last place I looked. Unfortunately, out of all the boxes delivered to us, I managed to open every single other box before I got to the can opener. This box was hidden inside another box underneath a pile of pajamas. It must've been one of those random last minute packing boxes where you just haphazardly throw stuff into any open box. At least I finally found it, in the last place I looked.
Today, well, the past month really, I could've really used a can opener. Now that our stuff arrived I finally made a full on assault on trying to find our can opener. I'm not sure why I needed the can opener so bad, but I did. Those who know me well, know that I can get like that sometimes [think back to me obsessing in trying to find the lid to the peanut butter as we're trying to pack up camp during a tornado (no exaggeration). The lid just had to be found]. Our can opener was, obviously, in the last place I looked. Unfortunately, out of all the boxes delivered to us, I managed to open every single other box before I got to the can opener. This box was hidden inside another box underneath a pile of pajamas. It must've been one of those random last minute packing boxes where you just haphazardly throw stuff into any open box. At least I finally found it, in the last place I looked.
Maniacs (JPB)
I'm sure most people have seen pictures of, and read the story of the drunk driver in Mexico who plowed into a bicycling group ride (sanctioned event w/ police escorts no less...). If not, I encourage you to read about it here, but be warned the picture is SCARY.
There's a fair amount of controversy revolving around this in cycling forums on the
web. There is an uncropped photo that makes it appear that the police escort dodged out of the way of the oncoming car, leaving the cyclists exposed to the car. That's not a topic worth getting into here, though...
Stuff like this scares the absolute crap out of me. Just yesterday I met a cyclist in the city who rides for Roaring Mouse cycling team. I've heard of Roaring Mouse, but I didn't tell the guy this yesterday, because we were having a good time, and I didn't want to bring down the mood. I've heard of Roaring Mouse because during a training ride a member of their team, and a member of another team were killed by a car. A third cyclist was hit, but lived.
Stuff like that sometimes makes it hard for me to get out the door to go on bike rides. It's a strange cultural thing. As a cyclist, I sometimes forget that the majority of motorists have no idea what I'm doing on the road. Most of them probably think I'm insane. They don't understand it. "Why is this guy decked out in lycra, and riding in the road?" "Doesn't he have a driver's license?" I think most people think that road cyclists are some sort of demented maniacs.
A similar realization came to Marlene and I last weekend when we were camping. The topic of discussion was about cycling kits (cycling outfits, basically). As cyclists, it's kind of fun to get cool cycling gear, including slick looking jerseys and shorts. To us it's cool, and we get the mental image of looking, 'cool' or 'fast' or 'fancy' etc (on top of the performance benefit of such clothing). As the group was talking it came up that, yeah... to the average person we look like tools. OR even worse, they don't see us at all. We go unnoticed. Sometimes as a cyclist you forget that we're a pretty huge minority, and you forget that passing cars probably don't think, "Cool New Mexico flag jersey, dude." or "Wow, that dude is FLYING down that hill." or "That person has decided to adopt a healthy lifestyle." Nope.
I think most people reading this know Marlene and I well enough to know that we once had a run-in with a guy who tried to purposely run us off the road, into the curb in Kingston. It sucked. The thing that's scary is that he had no idea that we had the right to be there, and he probably thought that he did the right thing, and did the rest of traffic a great service by teaching us a valuable lesson. I sometimes shutter to think if he was successful, and we had flown into the curb. Likely over our handlebars. Broken collarbones would probably have been a minimum. The guy had 2 young kids in the car too. Would it be worth it? I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about him. How would he feel if he put us in the hospital, or killed us. Stupid way to prove a point. The man is probably a generally reasonable person. He probably wouldn't shoot a gun over someone's head, just to scare them a little bit during a disagreement, but in a car....nearly killing someone is fine. People tend to lose all rationale behind the wheel.
Cycling is fun to me. It's nice to have a form of exercise that motivates me and keeps me healthy. I just hope it doesn't kill me. I encourage everyone here to go to Yeild to Life and read the info there. It's a foundation set up by David Zabriskie (Joel's a big fan of DZ), a pro-cyclist from Salt Lake City who has been hit by a car on his bicycle 3 times, all in the US. I read the tips for motorists and the tips for cyclists. It's good to get a refresher on this stuff every now and again. If you care enough about us to read our blog, then you probably care about us enough not to hit us or other people like us with your car.
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/cyclists
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/motorists
http://yieldtolife.org/about
This isn't an advertisement for the foundation, and I'm not asking anyone to donate money (I personally haven't either...yet...) but there is good info here.
Just remember:
1)Always drive cautiously and be aware of all your surroundings (not just cyclists)
2)Don't Drink & Drive
3)Hang up and drive
4)Cyclists aren't obstacles, they're lives
5)If you decide to be impatient, and push it with a cyclist, the best case scenario is that you saved a few seconds MAYBE one minute on your transit time. The worst case scenario isn't worth those few seconds.
Preachy time over.
PS: For a little lighter bicycling fare, head to Fat Cyclist and read this story. This guy's blog is great! I would suggest reading more of his stuff while you're there.
There's a fair amount of controversy revolving around this in cycling forums on the
web. There is an uncropped photo that makes it appear that the police escort dodged out of the way of the oncoming car, leaving the cyclists exposed to the car. That's not a topic worth getting into here, though...
Stuff like this scares the absolute crap out of me. Just yesterday I met a cyclist in the city who rides for Roaring Mouse cycling team. I've heard of Roaring Mouse, but I didn't tell the guy this yesterday, because we were having a good time, and I didn't want to bring down the mood. I've heard of Roaring Mouse because during a training ride a member of their team, and a member of another team were killed by a car. A third cyclist was hit, but lived.
Stuff like that sometimes makes it hard for me to get out the door to go on bike rides. It's a strange cultural thing. As a cyclist, I sometimes forget that the majority of motorists have no idea what I'm doing on the road. Most of them probably think I'm insane. They don't understand it. "Why is this guy decked out in lycra, and riding in the road?" "Doesn't he have a driver's license?" I think most people think that road cyclists are some sort of demented maniacs.
A similar realization came to Marlene and I last weekend when we were camping. The topic of discussion was about cycling kits (cycling outfits, basically). As cyclists, it's kind of fun to get cool cycling gear, including slick looking jerseys and shorts. To us it's cool, and we get the mental image of looking, 'cool' or 'fast' or 'fancy' etc (on top of the performance benefit of such clothing). As the group was talking it came up that, yeah... to the average person we look like tools. OR even worse, they don't see us at all. We go unnoticed. Sometimes as a cyclist you forget that we're a pretty huge minority, and you forget that passing cars probably don't think, "Cool New Mexico flag jersey, dude." or "Wow, that dude is FLYING down that hill." or "That person has decided to adopt a healthy lifestyle." Nope.
I think most people reading this know Marlene and I well enough to know that we once had a run-in with a guy who tried to purposely run us off the road, into the curb in Kingston. It sucked. The thing that's scary is that he had no idea that we had the right to be there, and he probably thought that he did the right thing, and did the rest of traffic a great service by teaching us a valuable lesson. I sometimes shutter to think if he was successful, and we had flown into the curb. Likely over our handlebars. Broken collarbones would probably have been a minimum. The guy had 2 young kids in the car too. Would it be worth it? I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about him. How would he feel if he put us in the hospital, or killed us. Stupid way to prove a point. The man is probably a generally reasonable person. He probably wouldn't shoot a gun over someone's head, just to scare them a little bit during a disagreement, but in a car....nearly killing someone is fine. People tend to lose all rationale behind the wheel.
Cycling is fun to me. It's nice to have a form of exercise that motivates me and keeps me healthy. I just hope it doesn't kill me. I encourage everyone here to go to Yeild to Life and read the info there. It's a foundation set up by David Zabriskie (Joel's a big fan of DZ), a pro-cyclist from Salt Lake City who has been hit by a car on his bicycle 3 times, all in the US. I read the tips for motorists and the tips for cyclists. It's good to get a refresher on this stuff every now and again. If you care enough about us to read our blog, then you probably care about us enough not to hit us or other people like us with your car.
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/cyclists
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/motorists
http://yieldtolife.org/about
This isn't an advertisement for the foundation, and I'm not asking anyone to donate money (I personally haven't either...yet...) but there is good info here.
Just remember:
1)Always drive cautiously and be aware of all your surroundings (not just cyclists)
2)Don't Drink & Drive
3)Hang up and drive
4)Cyclists aren't obstacles, they're lives
5)If you decide to be impatient, and push it with a cyclist, the best case scenario is that you saved a few seconds MAYBE one minute on your transit time. The worst case scenario isn't worth those few seconds.
Preachy time over.
PS: For a little lighter bicycling fare, head to Fat Cyclist and read this story. This guy's blog is great! I would suggest reading more of his stuff while you're there.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Ball Game, Stuff, and Job Report (JPB)
Lately it's been pretty hard to blog. Things are starting to make that magical switch from "New and exciting" to "Part of the routine." Funny thing though, is that if I stop and think about it, everything is still new and exciting. It's just that in the Bay Area, I think "new and exciting" is pretty much normal. So it's a weird feeling. It's like being desensitized to having fun. haha. Anyway. We're still totally loving it here, and things are going well. Yesterday was a big day though, so it's time to fire up the ol' Blog-o-roo and blather.
1) Marlene got her first pay check. Yay! First pay checks are great! As someone who once dabbled in employment myself, I feel like an old salt at the job-game with my solid 8 moths of work history, so it was fun for me to watch the, "Yay! I made so much money, wait a second where the hell is all of it? You mean that's all taxes? Really? What for? But... I... It's... You mean...." Then she said, "All that, and you don't even get healthcare?" touche Canada. Touche... As an American, you should learn to never argue with a Canadian about anything, ever. You may think your, winning, and you may think the topic of Coke v. Pepsi is unrelated, but when a Canadian plays the healthcare card, you have no where left to go really. They solidly believe they have displayed a history of being right about important topics, and you go away thinking "well, I like the taste of Pepsi over Coke, but what do I know? I come from a place that doesn't provide healthcare to all people." It's kind of like the "I know you are, but what am I" argument all grown up. Once it's played, you're done. We're happy to have money flowing in all the same though. "New and exciting" isn't always inexpensive.
2)I got a phone call at 10 am saying, "I'm the mover I wanna deliver your stuff. I'll be there in 2 hours." So maybe I didn't understand this properly, but I thought they said they'd give 24 hours notice. I could be hard of hearing though. Maybe they said 2-4 hours notice. No wait.... they typed that to us. It was definitely 24 hrs, not 2-4 hrs. All the same. I don't really care because I was home when he called so no biggie. It also simultaneously gave me something to do and nothing to do. I got to sit around and wait for the movers, instead of going to do anything else productive. So I can say I did something important all day while mostly trying to keep myself entertained on the internet. Hey! You know, that's EXACTLY like a real ("real") job! Anyway. Long story short. We got our stuff delivered. FINALLY! After 1 month of no pots, 1 pan, free furniture from the side of the road, it's exciting to have our stuff. Sure it's all in boxes, but those boxes are packed full of the promise that all of our earthly possessions have to offer. Sure, that promise might be a little dinged around the edges, and maybe a few of the more fragile bits of promise were shattered when a box or two was dropped, but I can be pissed off about that later. As for now I can sit and dream about eating carbohydrates other than potatoes or bread for the first time in a month. Seriously. I think we are going to just pound through pasta for the next few weeks. Can't cook that on the grill, can you? (For those of you assuming I'm dumb enough to try, you're wrong! HA! I win!)
3) Giants vs. Mets. We went to a MLB game last night and had pretty good seats. 10th row up, right in front of the Giants bullpen. About 3/4 of the way up the 3rd baseline. All thanks to Marlene's work. We think we'll be going to a number of games this year, as it was fun, and free (aside from expensive stadium fare). It was a lot of fun. We had a hot dog, and enough peanuts to kill an elephant. I still feel it today. The 1st inning was definitely the most exciting. Giants batted through the entire rotation. The Mets had to pull their starter, and the Giants hit 2 bombs, one of which was the first MLB HR for a young kid. His 3rd at bat ever. Pretty cool. He's now batting .500. After that things mellowed out. I think we left in the 8th inning when it was 10-2 Giants. It was a fun night, but a late one. When all was said and done, we were home at 11:30. Tonight we're going to go out for dinner in the city, as I have to go back to the HSBC to show them my passport. We figure we need to make the most out of my trip downtown.
4) It's official! I'm starting work on June 16th. I got the final thumbs up from the company last night when I checked my email after the game. The exciting part is that on June 18th (yes, that's right, my 3rd day of work) I get to go to Portland, Oregon for training. I'll be there for 2 days. My impression of this job is that I will hit the ground running, and be going the entire time. That's good though, as it will keep me entertained, and keep me going. I get bored REALLY easily. I have a short attention span, as is quite clear from my long rambling blogs. Anyway, what was I talking about? Traveling for business a few days at a time is fun. Traveling for business for an entire month to Houston is not fun, unless your family comes to visit you, and you go to Austin to see them, and you eat at Chuy's. Then it can be fun. It'll be interesting to compare though. I'm pretty sure that environmental consultants don't get to stay at super fancy suites and eat $150 meals every night like the O&G crowd. That's alright with me though. I'll be just has happy staying at a Comfort Inn and eating at Stucky's or Denny's or any of your other high class restaurants ending with the 'long-e' sound that allow you to order any meal smothered in gravy; or Fuddruckers. They're good too.
Well. That rounds out yesterday, dear reader. Now it's time for me to go start unpacking all the promise I was talking about... Not so excited about getting our stuff now, am I... That's ok. I'll intersperse the unpacking with bike riding.
P.S. Hopefully my camera cable will turn up today so I can start posting pictures, and Rik and stop hassling me. They will show up on flickr sometime in the next few hours to days:
http://flickr.com/photos/jpeterb/
1) Marlene got her first pay check. Yay! First pay checks are great! As someone who once dabbled in employment myself, I feel like an old salt at the job-game with my solid 8 moths of work history, so it was fun for me to watch the, "Yay! I made so much money, wait a second where the hell is all of it? You mean that's all taxes? Really? What for? But... I... It's... You mean...." Then she said, "All that, and you don't even get healthcare?" touche Canada. Touche... As an American, you should learn to never argue with a Canadian about anything, ever. You may think your, winning, and you may think the topic of Coke v. Pepsi is unrelated, but when a Canadian plays the healthcare card, you have no where left to go really. They solidly believe they have displayed a history of being right about important topics, and you go away thinking "well, I like the taste of Pepsi over Coke, but what do I know? I come from a place that doesn't provide healthcare to all people." It's kind of like the "I know you are, but what am I" argument all grown up. Once it's played, you're done. We're happy to have money flowing in all the same though. "New and exciting" isn't always inexpensive.
2)I got a phone call at 10 am saying, "I'm the mover I wanna deliver your stuff. I'll be there in 2 hours." So maybe I didn't understand this properly, but I thought they said they'd give 24 hours notice. I could be hard of hearing though. Maybe they said 2-4 hours notice. No wait.... they typed that to us. It was definitely 24 hrs, not 2-4 hrs. All the same. I don't really care because I was home when he called so no biggie. It also simultaneously gave me something to do and nothing to do. I got to sit around and wait for the movers, instead of going to do anything else productive. So I can say I did something important all day while mostly trying to keep myself entertained on the internet. Hey! You know, that's EXACTLY like a real ("real") job! Anyway. Long story short. We got our stuff delivered. FINALLY! After 1 month of no pots, 1 pan, free furniture from the side of the road, it's exciting to have our stuff. Sure it's all in boxes, but those boxes are packed full of the promise that all of our earthly possessions have to offer. Sure, that promise might be a little dinged around the edges, and maybe a few of the more fragile bits of promise were shattered when a box or two was dropped, but I can be pissed off about that later. As for now I can sit and dream about eating carbohydrates other than potatoes or bread for the first time in a month. Seriously. I think we are going to just pound through pasta for the next few weeks. Can't cook that on the grill, can you? (For those of you assuming I'm dumb enough to try, you're wrong! HA! I win!)
3) Giants vs. Mets. We went to a MLB game last night and had pretty good seats. 10th row up, right in front of the Giants bullpen. About 3/4 of the way up the 3rd baseline. All thanks to Marlene's work. We think we'll be going to a number of games this year, as it was fun, and free (aside from expensive stadium fare). It was a lot of fun. We had a hot dog, and enough peanuts to kill an elephant. I still feel it today. The 1st inning was definitely the most exciting. Giants batted through the entire rotation. The Mets had to pull their starter, and the Giants hit 2 bombs, one of which was the first MLB HR for a young kid. His 3rd at bat ever. Pretty cool. He's now batting .500. After that things mellowed out. I think we left in the 8th inning when it was 10-2 Giants. It was a fun night, but a late one. When all was said and done, we were home at 11:30. Tonight we're going to go out for dinner in the city, as I have to go back to the HSBC to show them my passport. We figure we need to make the most out of my trip downtown.
4) It's official! I'm starting work on June 16th. I got the final thumbs up from the company last night when I checked my email after the game. The exciting part is that on June 18th (yes, that's right, my 3rd day of work) I get to go to Portland, Oregon for training. I'll be there for 2 days. My impression of this job is that I will hit the ground running, and be going the entire time. That's good though, as it will keep me entertained, and keep me going. I get bored REALLY easily. I have a short attention span, as is quite clear from my long rambling blogs. Anyway, what was I talking about? Traveling for business a few days at a time is fun. Traveling for business for an entire month to Houston is not fun, unless your family comes to visit you, and you go to Austin to see them, and you eat at Chuy's. Then it can be fun. It'll be interesting to compare though. I'm pretty sure that environmental consultants don't get to stay at super fancy suites and eat $150 meals every night like the O&G crowd. That's alright with me though. I'll be just has happy staying at a Comfort Inn and eating at Stucky's or Denny's or any of your other high class restaurants ending with the 'long-e' sound that allow you to order any meal smothered in gravy; or Fuddruckers. They're good too.
Well. That rounds out yesterday, dear reader. Now it's time for me to go start unpacking all the promise I was talking about... Not so excited about getting our stuff now, am I... That's ok. I'll intersperse the unpacking with bike riding.
P.S. Hopefully my camera cable will turn up today so I can start posting pictures, and Rik and stop hassling me. They will show up on flickr sometime in the next few hours to days:
http://flickr.com/photos/jpeterb/
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Update from the past week (MCV)
We've been really bad with the blogs lately... Sorry. We've been pretty busy and sometimes it's hard to put down in words things that would really be best said with pictures, but I will try. Last weekend we went up the north coast to a place called Russian Gulch, near Mendocino. Pretty much it's a crack in the coast rocks (a fault, I'm positive) with a little creek in the bottom leading to a beach. The camping was great, and the people we camped with were all really nice and welcoming. The weather Saturday wasn't that great so we pretty much sat around the campfire eating, drinking and taking a break to go see the beach. Sunday was much nicer and Joel and I went for a 48k bikeride up the coast. The road was busy but the shoulder was wide and we didn't really have any road related problems until we hit Fort Bragg (another Fort Bragg) where they had chewed up the pavement to repave. Oh yeah, it feels like nothing in a car, but I was sure my head was going to rattle right off my neck! Otherwise, we found a nice bike path right along the coast to ride on and enjoy the scenery. The Pacific was remarkably pacific and with the sun and the beaches and rocks it was pretty much picture perfect! Monday we took the long way home driving down along the coast and the scenery was again very beautiful and dramatic, and so was the drive! On some turns I felt like if I leaned over a little I would send us plummeting down a 300m drop to the rocky coast below. Wowsers, not for the faint hearted! We tucked back inland in order to catch the road heading down the Sonoma wine valley to see what it looked like. We stopped at a 'chip truck' that did not sell chips but sold $1.50 tacos instead! Booya! All they need to come up with now is a poutine taco... oh yeah, that'd be awesome!
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We went riding on the bike paths again Thursday evening and managed to put in a decent 20k. Not bad for a weeknight ride. Joel's been riding a lot and may have narrowed down on the bike he wants to buy. Now all we need is for the tax return money to get put into the bank account so he can get it. As for me, work is work. It's funny, as much as I like my work, it's still just that: work. It's the thing that work both allows me to do the things I like and gets in the way of doing the things I like. Hum. Oh well, like I said, days like today make it all worth while. Now I just need to get into contact with the guy who runs the wind machine to tell him to turn it down when I want to go riding! Ha! Yesterday we went into Oakland (what went into Oakland? Why????) to meet up with some friends who live in El Sobrante (actually not too far from where we biked today) and visit Jack London Square. There's a bar there that is a old whaling ship that they beached and turned into a saloon in 1883!! Jack London apparently drank there! It's called Heinold's first and last chance saloon and is apparently (and I agree) the only thing worth seeing in Oakland. We had a few of their finest (outside because they only have three tables inside!!!) then headed into Oakland to test out a Chinese restaurant our friends had found. It was tasty! We must have ordered about 10 different dishes, and 6 of us ate it all! Let's just say it was carbo-loading for our ride today. Yes. And that brings us to today, which I have already covered. I think we're all caught up now. It'll be interesting to see what next weekend brings us: we severely need to clean the house, but when it's nice out and the bike calls... what can you do?
Oh and by the way, Joel accepted the job offer and his vacation will sadly end June 16. We're really happy with the offer but sad that we can't be a single income family and still live the way we want to. Maybe we'll win the lottery. Like everyone else!
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We went riding on the bike paths again Thursday evening and managed to put in a decent 20k. Not bad for a weeknight ride. Joel's been riding a lot and may have narrowed down on the bike he wants to buy. Now all we need is for the tax return money to get put into the bank account so he can get it. As for me, work is work. It's funny, as much as I like my work, it's still just that: work. It's the thing that work both allows me to do the things I like and gets in the way of doing the things I like. Hum. Oh well, like I said, days like today make it all worth while. Now I just need to get into contact with the guy who runs the wind machine to tell him to turn it down when I want to go riding! Ha! Yesterday we went into Oakland (what went into Oakland? Why????) to meet up with some friends who live in El Sobrante (actually not too far from where we biked today) and visit Jack London Square. There's a bar there that is a old whaling ship that they beached and turned into a saloon in 1883!! Jack London apparently drank there! It's called Heinold's first and last chance saloon and is apparently (and I agree) the only thing worth seeing in Oakland. We had a few of their finest (outside because they only have three tables inside!!!) then headed into Oakland to test out a Chinese restaurant our friends had found. It was tasty! We must have ordered about 10 different dishes, and 6 of us ate it all! Let's just say it was carbo-loading for our ride today. Yes. And that brings us to today, which I have already covered. I think we're all caught up now. It'll be interesting to see what next weekend brings us: we severely need to clean the house, but when it's nice out and the bike calls... what can you do?
Oh and by the way, Joel accepted the job offer and his vacation will sadly end June 16. We're really happy with the offer but sad that we can't be a single income family and still live the way we want to. Maybe we'll win the lottery. Like everyone else!
Biking in Briones (MCV)
We went on a little bike ride today. It was really fabulous. I put a map of it on the blog, but if you click the link, you can also go see the interactive map that shows you the elevation profile too (it's a toggle on the bottom edge of the interactive map). It was about 50k and included a few climbs that, for me the weekend warrior and out of bike shape from the winter, was pretty tough. I was pooped at the end and had a pretty hard time with the headwind (pretty much all the way along Pablo Dam Road). So we left from home and missed Castro ranch road, ended up in Pinole and had to double back to get to the Orinda BART station to take us back to the WC. The first climb we did: Pig Farm Hill was a good grind but we stopped at the top to look around and for me to savour our achievement before bombing down the other side. The second climb up Pablo Dam Road was the perfect pitch that we had to grind a bit, but didn't feel like we were ripping our legs off, which after nearly 40k of riding, would have sucked! The scenery up in Briones is really beautiful: dun coloured grass with dark green oaks in the rills and valleys. It's so incredible to think that we are surrounded by a city of several million people, but within 5k of our house we're in ranch and conservation land. I gotta say, there are so many pluses to living out here. We saw quite a few other riders out but since we started out pretty late today, I think the biking rush was over. The cars in general were really courteous and a lot of the busy roads had really wide bike lanes or shoulders so all in all it's a great area to ride. Tomorrow it's back to work, but a day like today makes it all worth while!
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