Party time!

 Oh man.

Here he is at three days old, in one of the extremely rare quiet moments early on.  He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

And here he is almost a year later,taking steps and about to have a birthday party.  I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by, and thank god for that too.  The early parts were rough!

The smile makes it worth it though.  Every damn time. What a year.

Current beer-scale: 8.9

That backfired

More early morning adventures got me out of bed today, with a baby who takes great joy in being wide freaking awake at 3 AM.  The really funny part is that sometimes singing to him will only make things worse, as it did this morning as I tried to sing the Beatles' "Good Night" after he was done with his bottle.  His eyes shot open as soon as I started and he babbled through the entire first line. 

Eventually he got back to sleep, and I realized I should stick to shushing him.  Now to have my third cup of coffee in the hopes of making through the afternoon.

Current beer-scale: 7.7

And that's why

Two tubs of formula

ziploc bags

Little Tummies gas relief

Ipad & case

bike pump & tools

two tupperware containers & a coffee creamer nalgeen

Plenty of room to spare.  As much as I loved the bag that had been through ten years of wear and tear with me, it never would have gotten all of that home in one trip.  Cool cool cool.

Current beer-scale: 7.1

And speaking of beer, I could have even fit some in the bag as packed too.  That is awesome.

Whew!

80 degrees on March 15? I'll take that. Fire up the grill.
I almost ran over a dog on the way home tonite. A jack russell got away from some kids playing with him and ran across State street as I was heading out. I actually stopped to help grab him just b/c I hate the thought of a dog getting run over. The kids were so cool about it I didn't even bother yelling at them about getting a leash. They said thank you and everything. It kind of made my night, and made the craziness that was the LFP that much easier to handle. Good times.

Now to have some Guinness and enjoy some bbq. Fan-fucking-tastic.Current beer-scale: 7.7

heh

I forgot I had this pic to post from the holidays of the dog enjoying a trip in the car. The look of pure joy on her face made me laugh the entire time we were in the car. She can immediately tell if we're going out to the burbs and she loves it.

That day was from over new years when we went out to look for baby furniture. B/c the babies r us on Western is a total craphole and we couldn't get anyone to stop and help us spend $700. Oh well, we spent it somewhere else. This whole "getting ready for the baby" stuff is insane. If only we could agree on names.

Current beer-scale: 8.7

maybe they're not all bad

Kids, that is, not cars.

It's starting to get great outside, so that means more people, more crowds, more lines of traffic. Even usually quieter streets like the ones I take home at night start to get back-ups that for the most part I heartily enjoy zooming past.

Like last night, except there was a Navigator with a kid in the back seat trying to get a high five from me, which actually made me laugh a little. He waived for me to catch up once he passed and I smiled. But traffic was so slow that eventually I caught up and gave him a heads up, and I think we made each other's day. He actually said I was awesome as his mom was yelling at him from the front seat. That really cracked me up.

It's time to be careful out there, especially with a holiday weekend coming up, but that doesn't mean we can't all get along.

Current beer-scale: 4.1

there's always at least one

Damn you roadie, you just had to be socially well-adjusted and hit me up at a time when I was enjoying the sun and the heat and willing to entertain the idea of a spandex hero I didn't instantly dislike.

On my way home yesterday I found myself in-front of a roadie as we calmly made our way through the craziness of the path on a hot June afternoon. It actually wasn't as insane as I was expecting (all the punk crowds had migrated to the Taste set up I guess) so I was happily taking it easy when the roadie asked if he could hitch a ride for a while.

"Sure," I said, wondering why exactly this guy was so tired. "Intervals," he said, stating that he had nearly puked on the last one and was gingerly making his way home. I managed to stop myself from asking why in the world he was doing a sprint workout during rush-hour and just said he could stick around but I was in no rush to navigate the crowds. Cool.

If the interaction had ended there I would have continued on my way unchanged. However, the guy noticed the ND on my bag and started talking about college football and before I knew it, the guy seemed alright despite the fact he almost sprinted to the point of barfing during the busiest part of the day. We chatted until he turned and I kept going, and now I'm cursing myself spending the morning thinking not everyone in a race kit is a jerk, even when there's so much evidence to the contrary on a daily basis.

Live and learn I guess.

Current beer-scale: 4.2

mmmmmm beer!

Saw someone in a Half Acre cycling jersey this morning and it prompted me to give them a thumbs up as I went by. We just took the tour last Saturday and it was a blast. It's only two rooms so it's not much of a "tour," but you get three full pint samples and a pint glass for $10 and Rog the guy doing the talking was entertaining.

Even better, they had shirts with the owl-squid that their cafe press store has been out of forever. You can't buy cycling team gear but you can show your local brew pride with different glasses, shirts, hoodies, etc.

This was the can line for the entire operation, and the upstairs loft was crammed full of empties waiting to be processed. A pretty big difference between this and the miller tour, where the bottle & can lines never seem to be shut down and are screamingly loud. This was a lot more pleasant to stand around and drink by.

When we were done I remembered I wanted to ask them to bring back the scavenger hunt pog again, but at that point I was sitting down across the street for some of their Meatwave IPA so I didn't care. All in all a fun way to spend a few hours on a Saturday, despite having to show up an hour early and wait in the sun to make sure we got a spot on the tour. I'd do it again, and now that we're so close we likely will. For sure I'll be there in a week or two when the next session brew gets tapped.

Current beer-scale: 7.1

Grown up time

I wasn't out buying marshmallow shooters, but the wife and I did meet with our mortgage guy yesterday and things seem to be lining up pretty well for us. The bank approved the short sale contract, and unless the sellers are total douchebags about it we should be closing on May 27th. Which makes me think they'll be total douches about it but we'll see.

So it's time to get final approval, time to pack, time to kiss our shithole apartment goodbye. Time to get ready for a longer commute too, in both good and bad weather. So let's keep our fingers crossed that the sun stays out this spring.

We also found out that the in-laws bought us Bike The Drive spaces with them this year, so Memorial Day is shaping up to be a busy weekend. 15 miles was rough on Friday, I better get to it so I can handle 30 in a few weeks. Ah spring.

Current beer-scale: 7.7

Roller derby night. Nice.

It was a follow-through on our christmas present to the in-laws--dinner and roller derby on us. Tried a new Italian place by us, didn't love it, but had a great time at the derby.

It's getting crazy popular these days, which is cool to see. We got there just as the first match was getting to halftime, and the pavilion was packed. Enjoyed having a couple of Becks too.

Evidently someone's tried to bring in spikes and/or sticks before. Those crowds can get pretty rowdy. Good times.

Current beer-scale: 6.7

in for a dime

in for a dollar.


Man did I need my huge cup of coffee this morning. After sleeping like crap and slogging through the neighborhood I was looking forward to actually feeling warm.

With Fat Tuesday in the rearview I was debating whether I should give anything up for Lent this year. The charm of withholding something from myself that I immensely enjoy wore off some years ago but it never hurts to try and be a better person for a while. More than going without, I've tried to change behaviors I'm not particularly proud of in the past.

This was more fun in college, to see if I could go 40 days without beer or soda or anything else I enjoyed on a regular basis. But this year is going to be difficult. I've decided to try and curb my use of my middle fingers while out on the bike or walking the dog. Talk about something I do on a regular basis. It seems like I can't commute to work or take the dog out without some asshat rolling through a stop sign, texting through an intersection, or just plain being a douche. I usually feel completely justified in my judicious use of a middle finger salute, but it never accomplishes anything. People will be jerks whether or not some other idiot is flipping them off. So for the next 40 days, and possibly even longer, I'm going to try and slow my roll a little and be cool.

I wouldn't bet money on my not giving anyone the finger until Easter, but I'll do my best. I made it through this morning at least.

Current beer-scale: 4.9

Thank you to whatever power out there decided not to drop an extra 5-9 inches of snow on us last night. I was nearly despairing but awoke this morning to the sun struggling and succeeding to break through the clouds and a ride that was incident and ice-free. I appreciated it.

Current beer-scale: Friday 9.1

How to...

start the day off better than yesterday in four easy steps.

1. End yesterday with a few Guiness and some "Bored to Death" DVDs.

2. Leave early enough to walk to Starbucks after arriving at the office.

3. Find a $10 bill in the snow walking your bike to the curb as you're leaving.

4. Have enough to buy coffee and an apple fritter, end up $3 ahead for the day.

It's easy to skip the first step, or substitute other alcohol for Guiness. And actually, I usually remember to have a drink of whatever I have on hand. So that step is pretty much automatic for me. The key was the snow-covered $10 bill waiting for me as I walked frankenbike out this morning.

My street is still in pretty shitty shape as far snow at the curb and the only clear spots being the pair of tire tracks running the street. I've been debating how much of a douche I would be to ride the clear sidewalks up the alley before Fullerton and then out to the street, but I hate it when people do that. Just walk three feet off the curb and ride where you're supposed to or don't ride at all. So I walk through the slush and wait for an opening in traffic to take one of the tire tracks up the street. As I stepped off this morning, a little bit of light green caught my eye sticking out of the snow. Reaching down I saw it was currency, and picking it up realized it was a whole ten dollars. Woo hoo!

So even stopping at Starbucks, I'm $3 ahead for the day. Even after getting something to save for lunch. Throw in a quick ride in decent conditions and that's a Thursday off to a good start. Now I can start looking forward to pouring some whiskey tonite (I finished the rest of the Guiness last night).

Current beer-scale: 7.1

Back to the grindstone (in the best possible sense)!

Finally.

On Monday, an 11-month job search comes to an end. Over 8 months of actual unemployment. A 10.5 page list of resumes sent out. 27* different interview contacts. 3 new shirts, 1 new suit, 1 new tie. One accepted offer.

To again have a set of interviews that went really well and try not to get my hopes up was extremely difficult...to finally get the offer call was a fantastic feeling. It was even a few days earlier than I expected to hear back, so it was with the additional relief of having the "wait by the phone" time cut as well. I hadn't allowed my hopes to get too high this time, didn't tell many people about how close I thought I might be, and of course this is the one that comes through. That's just how life works sometimes.

So early retirement ends on Monday, and I head into a new office having learned a few life lessons. A lot of what I learned revolves around who I am and how I deal with adversity, which honestly is better than I first expected way back last August. But I feel I learned a great deal professionally as well. The biggest lesson? Enthusiasm makes up for a lot in an office. I'm not the most energetic person by nature, but I each time I was really interested in a job, that translated in my interview performance and most of the time, those were the jobs I expected to get. That really came through in my first round interview for this new job, and was carried over into the second round interviews as well.

I've recently read that it takes the average person 7.5 months to find a new job right now, the longest stretch in the US since 1948 (source, however dubious). Whether that's a different number for the unemployed vs. for someone just looking to switch I don't know. I've also heard rather daunting numbers for jobs to candidates ratios, and resumes sent to interview ratios as well. It's brutal out there, and everyone knows it. With this experience behind me, all I know is that I'm thankful to be going back to work, and am happy to have a chance to make a positive impact again.

Plus, I have somewhere to commute to again! Daily bike rides!

Current beer-scale: 6.1 low, but rising as celebrations near

*This doesn't include the two calls I've gotten this week since accepting the offer...my favorite part of the day is being able to say "Yes I would be interested, but I recently accepted another offer that starts next week." Fantastic.