Oh my it's snowing what will we do!

The big news around here (Milwaukee) is the first significant snowfall of the season. Even before it got here, it occupied the daily news way too much. I watched last night’s news and turned it off after 10 minutes because they would not move on to other things. Actually, I usually don’t watch the news but the TV happened to be on and I was fascinated that they were so involved with the impending storm. My gosh, it’s like it has never snowed before.

I think it’s rather exciting to see it snow and this morning was certainly exciting. Since I ride my bike to work, I was especially tickled for the invigorating challenge. Before stepping out of the house, I didn’t realize how much it actually snowed. Commuting in the winter is no worry usually because the roads and sidewalks are plowed but no plows had been out this morning yet. I got to tell you, riding my bike was the best choice today. For one, it’s a blast (remember to wear a helmet). Two, there are a lot of stuck cars this morning. On the way to get coffee I saw 3 cars, a tractor-trailer, and a city bus having a hard go of it to get up a slight incline. The tractor-trailer and bus were stuck in the middle of an intersection so traffic in all directions was stopped. I just pedaled and whistled right on by. The third, and best, reason to ride my bike today? When I walked into Starbucks, dusted head to feet with snow including a slight sugaring of frosty flakes in my winter beard, I was greeted with a high five and “heck yeah” from a lovely employee named Jen and some other staff. She even insisted on buying my coffee for being so “manly and cool.” Okay, I made up the “manly and cool” part but my coffee was complimentary today. I’m telling you commuting by bike is good for so many reasons.

When I lived in Lake Placid, NY (the best place to live), I would ride to work by bike. More than once I would encounter a shocked tourist comment amongst them to look at the guy riding his bike in the snow. By the tone of their voice they were either amused because it added flavor to their visit (as if I was a street performer) or they were appalled that a person would do such a thing. I love it! Eat my rooster tail and go back to Jersey! The best was when I was able to ski down Main Street during one huge storm we had. I actually heard someone say he must be on the U.S. ski team. Lake Placid is awesome.


Seeing what my new computer can do (read below). Do I look hip and un-effected? Might use this for my acoustic album cover. Rock on!

On a sadder note this week, I experienced the phenomena known as computer failure. You don’t realize how much you depend on one sometimes. Luckily I own an Apple so with the help of an Apple Genius named Rick we thought we had it fixed. But it didn’t last so I was faced with a decision to fix or buy a new one. I agonized about it and convinced myself that fixing was the short-term solution even it was cheaper. Therefore, I plopped down some dough for a new Apple MacBook. I’m sure this one is better and all that. I just don’t know the difference. I did manage to find a computer checkers game on the new computer. Since I suck at any computer game I thought I could handle this one. I GOT SPANKED BY THE COMPUTER IN CHECKERS! I’M NEVER PLAYING THAT AGAIN. The computer opponent even made some snide comment about my playing ability. WHO NEEDS THAT HUMILIATION?


More of what the computer can do to photos. That is the free coffee I savored at Starbucks.


Does this hat make me look funny?

On an interesting note. Well, this will be mildly interesting to bike geeks and former employees of bike shops in the last ten years (Kenny you’ll chuckle on this one). Back in 1999 there was a bunch of stuff stolen out of the Volvo/Cannondale Team truck. This week we got a call from the police that they found some of the remaining stuff in a guy’s basement. He was arrested for a more recent theft apparently but the police were able to track this stuff back to us. Eric went and picked it up and we thought it was going to be like Christmas. Uh no! All the good stuff was gone. There are some usable rims, tires, and odds and ends. The real kicker is the amount of Coda stuff we are in possession of now. Any one need a Magic crankset complete with bottom bracket and about 50 chain rings to go with it? (Funny side note. Two weeks ago I replaced a broken Magic crankset on Schuler’s bike with an FSA. At first he wanted to replace it with another one but I said he would never be able to find one let alone any rings for it.) How about Coda disc brakes? Four bolt disc hubs? They say you can sell anything on e-bay. I was happy to find a few chain rings for my single speed though.

On the table tennis front, I’m thinking of changing my grip to the “pencil grip” style. Tom Schuler is the champ around here and the switch seemed to work for me yesterday. It allows me to get some good topspin on it and the backhand it pretty good too.

That’s about it for now. It’s holiday party season on top of getting all the teams situated with product. Remember there’s a time for work and play.

Cheers,
DOUG