Define "Soon".

Yesterday, driving - a light came on...

we're talkin' bout Josey the Xterra here. It said -Service Engine Soon. How soon???

D read to me what the Owner's Manual had to say about the light. Let me just say - I'm not a big fan of Owner's Manuals - I believe they contribute to people not knowing as much as they easily could about their own vehicles. Anyway - it said something or other about "mis-firing" as well as "exhaust control system"...

now what on earth is a person suppose to do with that???

Well - I asked D - When was the last time we changed our Spark Plugs??? We've owned Josey for a little while over two years, and about 80,000 miles. Now, our Plugs are suppose to last 100,000 miles but Josey was also previously owned... things weren't looking good when D confirmed we'd never done it. So I convinced myself - after some additional research online - that it must be the Spark Plugs.

I rode my bike over to the parts store this morning - bought some various socket extending devices - as spark plugs are just not easy to get to. I got four of the six changed before D got home - barely managed to replace the most difficult to reach one, but required D's "Man Intelligence" a.k.a. Brute Strength, to get the last one out.

And Josey still wasn't happy upon restarting. She's clearly mis-firing, she's rough and chugging when started, belches white smoke out the tail pipe, that irrelevant light comes on...

it makes me so angry - the idea that my car knows exactly what's wrong, but the only way for it to share that information with me is through an expensive mechanic. I'm taking her over to AutoZone in the morning - where it's rumored they have the requisite computers to tell me the precious code I need to figure this out. I was so sure I had the answer with the Spark Plugs it's sort of a vendetta now. I'm thinking it's the injectors, maybe... which are suppose to be even worse than the Spark Plugs... which I really can't imagine... let's take a look at the Spark Plug install - shall we???

This is what it took to get in there...

See those dust covered wires coming in from the bottom right??? Now follow them...

See them round the corner???

Where is that going??? Can I go there too???

The answer is NO... no you can not - not without the tool in the first picture...

Quote of the Day.

D and I talking about Training.


D - It's not about any type of rest, you need to rest deliberately, not just follow your whims.
M - Are you calling me Whimsical and Capricious???

D - No, I'm calling you Lazy.



Now I'm going into town proper to see what I can do about my dérailleur that's missing a pulley :)

Re-engage.

The main reason for me to go to Bike Camp Lynda this last weekend, was to re-engage in my training plan. After the slackness required post wisdom extraction, then the holiday traveling, I got a bit de-railed from my training schedule. So I'm kicking myself back into gear for the last three months before TransIowa V.4. D seems to be doing a similar thing, and since he's posting his realigned goals and training plan - I thought I'd do similar.

Now I don't have the whole three month schedule worked out yet - but I figured I could atleast discuss the shorter term goals I have already set.

Goal 1 - Don't finish off the first half of the pan of brownies until after I come back from the gym today.

I think that's a pretty good start. Go me!!!

(Especially cause I won't be going to the gym till like 8pm tonight... that's gonna be a real push for me - but ya gotta set difficult goals to get where I want to go!!!)

The hedonist joys of riding solo.

This was my work station Friday morning - two new disc brakes to install, the associated brake cables and the shift cable to run - none of these tasks being things I'd ever done before... and it all needed to be completed by 2:30pm when D came home from work and would want to leave for Bike Camp Lynda!!!

So - yeah - didn't all get done. I let D change my tires, rant about my front brake routing (even though it was fine anyway), run some cable housing and otherwise save us from being really, really late getting up to Utah!!!


This last picture is of a string of burns near the North Rim - they had copious piles of logs and brush they were torching, both on our way up and on our way home - the already burned out piles of charred ashes made particularly interesting blotches in the otherwise solid blanket of snow. Much more snow than this time last year, too.

As for the three days between when these photos were taken??? Well - I really enjoyed being up there. Plans went quite smoothly each day (a giant credit to both Lynda and Dave for how they put things together - we won't mention how appreciated the roof was :) I started... and I use that term loosely... the first two days "with" the bigger group and then took off on whatever looked good from there. Part of the fun was being back in St. George. Even if I hadn't had a map - it's so easy to orient yourself with the cliffs of Zion to the East, snowy peaks to the north, and distinctive red rock just about everywhere you look. The first day as I was riding along a paved rode wondering whether or not I'd be able to easy catch everyone else's bike tracks when they turned back out onto dirt trail (which was pretty obvious once I got there) I just kept thinking - maybe I don't want to find their tracks, maybe I'll just ride this road, whatever it was, till I get tired, turn around, orient the West Temple to my left and start riding south again. Sounded pretty nice to me, though I didn't take myself up on it.

In the end my favorite day was still probably the last. Cause of the quick work I never did manage to get the shifting right on PomPom - all three gears of it - and at the end of the first two days my left knee was just starting to get bothered by the unaccustomed strain of pushing through instead of shifting down, so pulling M'Lady out for the last day (with all her eight gears) and riding the main rode into the heart of Zion Canyon was exactly what I needed. I really do adore Zion like nothing else. After the trails the road just felt so fast - and let's admit... there's not really anything you could call a Climb along that stretch. There were cold temps on the way in, I had to stop several times to dance around and get the blood moving in my toesies, and there might have been a slight bit of a headwind... but there weren't any goatheads - so really, I got the best of the bad. (My first goathead experience happened on day one - with a four goathead simultaneous assult on my front wheel which took me a good ten minutes per head to straighten out... I may be getting a new pump soon too - I have a little squatty hand-me-down from D that just isn't my friend)

Anyway - my ride on day three was really perfect, especially once the sun reached all the way down into the canyon and I hid under a bridge, in the sun, but out of the wind, to eat lunch. I know it may be weird to some people - but I really like riding by myself. It may have to do with starting to ride with D and a certain level of unarticulated pressure - he usually has a strict goal, he doesn't want to change his plans part way through a ride, and when we hike - he always complains when he's behind me that I randomly speed up or slow down without any ryhme or reason - or better yet, several minutes advanced warning. When I ride by myself I can choose to really push up a hill, or slow down and slog one tired stoke after another. I can careen wildly along the edge of the road while I attempt to reach my hankerchief and blow my nose and not worry about running someone else into oncoming traffic. Especially in Zion - where it's addictive but necessary to my very survival - I can stop just whenever I want to stare up at a particularly well lit stripe of canyon cliff and not have a single other thought fill my head for those 30 seconds, until I decide I want to keep going again.

It's quite a selfish inclination - it makes me appreciate more, how irritating it probably is sometimes for D to have me along, messing everything up, when he's so used to riding and hiking and doing other things at his own pace. And really - when you set a goal like TransIowa, you have to realize there's not always going to be another rider anywhere near you - you need to get used to the solitary sensation.

I'm thinking that part will come easily.

Camp Lynda Day 2 - Quote (extended conversation) of the Day

I finished up the first loop today - Barrel Roll, and was flying around the side of a hill on zippy trail, into the small parking area. There were two cars, one with two twenty something guys, another with two fourty something men and a woman, all of whom were playing with their bikes and getting ready to head out (I was way behind everyone else, obviously, and by myself).

They all watch as I come in -

Younger Guy- Nice socks.
Me - Thanks - they keep the wind off.
(I pull out cookies and water - two minutes pass)

YG - Are you out here by yourself???
Me - Well, I'm loosely associated with a group that's ahead of me, off... somewhere.
(Pause)
YG - Are they doing the Stucki route??? (pronounced Stewkey)
Me - Yeah - they are.
(Pause)
YG - Do you know where it connects up with this??? Somewhere on the road here???
Me - I don't really know, I'm gonna figure things out on my map in a minute.
YG - Oh.
(I pull my map out and contemplate my options while continuing to eat my cookies - four minutes pass)

YG - So, does your group always leave you... all by yourself???
Me - Uh - no, I'm not doing everything they're doing, that's why I brought a map, so I can make my own way...
it was planned, they didn't just drop me - that's why I'm Loosely Associated with Them.
(Older woman overhears and laughs)

YG - Oh - well... it's good that you, ya know, came out... and... rode anyway... cause, there's not a lot of girls that... well, ride mountain bikes.


(Apparently Not... so here's a question - Does the appearance of an unexpected woman in cycling shorts just automatically make men less articulate???)

Camp Lynda Day 1 - Quote of the Day

We're in Utah for a three day weekend of crazy bike riding. I started with the group today (got utterly dropped by the group, got a flat tire, etc) then cut off on my own thing and just got back. On the way into town - I stopped by the local bike shop were we'd started from - Desert Cyclery to see if anyone else was back yet.

Not seeing anyone and realizing I needed some more bar tape - I set my bike up in the rack right outside the store and went in -

there was a guy at the counter waiting to pay while the shop worker was busy - he looked at my bike, looked at me, looked at my bike again -

"twenty-niner... single speed... hard tail... ... with mustach bars...
you must be HardCore... (I stare blankly at him)
that's a HardCore bike... (more blankness)
you can't be from around here, not with a bike like that... (I turn away looking at bar tape)
where you from???"

Yeah... oh - and he was wrong, it's a three-speed.

Flippy Quote of Yesterday.

So yesterday, I had completely unwrapped my new phone, and was holding it, all my itself, in my hand. D came over to have a look, got really excited and exclaimed -

"Does it have a phone in it - I think it has a phone in it!!!"


Ahem... I believe he meant Camera, and yes - it has a wee camera in it... though goodness knows what I'll ever do with it, as once you have the picture on the phone, you either send it to someone else's phone, or e-mail it to someone/yourself from the phone, which is terribly awkward, considering I can connect the phone to my computer via USB, I ought to just be able to get it off the phone, (but they probably haven't figured out a way to charge me for that, so they'll just do it this way instead) stupid phone.

Flippy.

Lots of new and shinny things in my life right now... one of which is the new mobile.

I've been priviledged to re-enter Flippy-Phone Land(As seen on Left in photos). Stumpi, our dear, dutiful Stumpi was originally purchased by Dave when he left college and got a cell phone (was I there for that??? Don't remember, anyway) we've had it since then - a long time in the life of a cell phone... I think it's gone through like five area-code changes, just think of all the great calls placed on Stumpi!!!

Right before we left for the holidays it wasn't calling out properly, but I'd received calls, so I thought it would be fine - then D told me he'd tried to call me, and it didn't show up as a missed call till the next day... not a good sign. It's performance has been intermitant but usually fine for the last few weeks... but ya know... time for something New. So - as loyal customers of our mobile service for many years now, I got to pick out this new, overly shinny, flippy phone for no charge - and yesterday we de-activated Stumpi... it was a hard moment for both of us... okady, maybe just me.

While Stumpi wasn't perfect - he had his good qualities and it's sad to see him leave us. Plus I don't like the whole trend of people always wanting the newest, shinniest phone, like life fulfillment can come from a hand-held device... so I sort of liked having an antiquated phone (we won't even get into the gorillas I've saved the last so many years by not buying new phones, the components of which are manufactured using minerals mined in the remote forests of central Africa).

However - I was really excited to get a flippy-phone again. My first phone was a flippy phone, and lets be honest - ever since I switched services and could no longer use it, I've wanted another one. I'm pretty sure I'm a bad person for that.

Anyway.


p.s. She's been named Stumpet - a cross between Stumpette (in honor of Stumpi) and Strumpet (though considering I didn't actually pay for her, I'm not sure how appropriate that is...).

Again.

In a stunning feat of brilliance - I have broken my glasses for a third time, in not as many years of ownership.

The first time, was less than six months after getting them, my first ever pair of glasses - I slipped on icy cobbles while descending a canyon in February (almost exactly two years ago), and face planted the side of my glasses (and the attached head) into a large rock. Luckily I was fine, I even had a cool scar for awhile, where the broken edge of my glasses made a cut from the edge of my eye down over my cheek bone.

The second time was about two weeks later - after I hadn't done a very good job with the super glue, and I turned around in the cramped servers' area of the restaurant I worked at in St. George and ran the side of my face into the shoulder of my very tall coworker. While that wasn't quite as glamorous, everyone noticed that I wasn't wearing my glasses and gave said coworker a really hard time for "Making me blind". (He felt really really bad, until I explained that they'd already broken before, and I'd just need to re-super glue them...)

So - what great and hilarious story do I have to tell this time???


I sat on them.

They re-broke at the Super Glue Point - which is just a break in the front, plastic part of the glasses - and doesn't harm the metal pivot point or metal sides. So I'll just re-glue the plastic to the plastic and they'll be good as new, you can't even notice.

However - this time I also bent the pivot point on the other side, like 25 degrees from normal - which I somehow managed to bend back into place... though they don't pivot Quite as smoothly as they used to...


Now - I've been toying with the idea of prescription sunglasses for awhile now... I don't really ever wear sunglass - but I have glasses to help me see details at distances, which, more often than not, means outside - when I should be protecting my eyes anyway... so it makes sense. And I've decided to use today's exploits as an excuse to bump Prescription Sunglasses to the top of my Personal Acquisitions List. Yes - yes I think so.

The search commences.

So - D has prescription Oakley sunglasses that he really likes and have served him well - which made the first place I looked - Oakley.com... which just lead to disappointment. I want these glasses primarily for biking, so I want ones that wrap around a bit, to decrease wind getting inside - but I also need them to have really thin sides so I can slide them on after I have my helmet on (which the glasses I have right now, do really well). I already have enough trouble getting my hair out of the way with my helmet - I don't need my glasses complicating things!!!

So what does Oakley offer woman in the prescription sunglasses market???
Ugly...
Ugly...
Ugliness - all around - that's what.

The middle ones are cute in their own way... sort of... but have really thick sides - most of their woman's prescription sunglasses are obviously meant for beach going (and then let's be honest - Aviator glasses don't look good on Anyone!!!) and not active pursuits. The only ones that scream Performance are face shields - like the first picture.

Now - you go over to the men's section, and there's heaping gobs of classically designed, thin, sleek prescription sunglass - and you'd think the least they could go, is show them in the women's search results as well... even if they aren't "Women Specific" which most of their women's stuff isn't anyway, which I'm fine with - but at least show us all the options if you're going to have separate sections in the first place.

Exhibit A -
Exhibit B-

Exhibit C-Grr. Now how does This fit into Hillary's run for president??? Does she wear sunglasses on the campaign trail???

Or does it just mean I need to switch to contacts and get whatever sunglasses I want...

Perspective.

I like this picture. That is Dave.


p.s. Tenaya Canyon, Yosemite

Baggage.

We've been home for... four days. In that time I've done a complete cleaning overhaul of the kitchen. Edges and ledges and skinny corners that hadn't been truly scrubbed in the one and a half years that we've lived in this apartment are now sparkling and beautiful... and that's great. Except this is what my side of our bedroom looks like right now.

D made a valiant attempt at getting me up for Piyo Class (pilates/yoga mishmash) this morning - which included bringing the yellow suitcase on the right, above, into the bedroom and plopping it down in front of me, so I wouldn't have to get out of bed to find my gym clothes.

The other suitcase in the picture above, (you can only really see green edges, right above the yellow blob on the left) is also not totally unpacked. Except it wasn't from our most recent trip - but rather from my trip to visit my sissy in New York - in 2006. I hear there might still be subway maps in the bottom of it...


but the kitchen's clean!!!

Presents.

D's sister got us Scattergories for Christmas. The first time I ever played Scattergories was last week at D's parent's house. The second time I ever played it was five minutes ago - here's a snippet -

The letter was "W", the category was "Things that are cold" -

I answered "Water"

D answered "Women"

Special delivery.

Who got an e-mail today from "Guitar Ted"???

I did.


And what did it say???

I'm officially on the TransIowa v4 Race Roster!!!


Mr. Nice and Mr. Plesko, I will see you two at the start line!!!

Looking like your dog.

So - you know those owners who look like their pets??? We'll I'm starting to think the same thing is happening with me and my spouse.

I mean really - I now own my 1st sweatshirt, I know mashed potatoes don't always come out of a box, I think TransIowa sounds like fun, I recognize Ani Defranco songs after the first few chords, and I've bowed so low as to actually set a specific goal!!!

But most insidious of all???


This morning I was looking for the book I'm reading right now - and couldn't find it anywhere, till I noticed it sitting on the floor next to D's side of the bed, with a slip of paper that was his, placed as a book mark!!!

(Now don't get too many ideas, I can guarantee you he hasn't been reading My book).

I actually fell asleep Before him, and he had to take the book away from ME, and set it aside... this is a perfect reversal of Normal - and a very frightening occurrence, indeed. I mean ME - going to sleep early???


I must be ever vigilant against such creeping intrusions of D-ness, eroding away the very essence of my personhood!!!

Or next thing I know I'll be enjoying spinach and thinking 45 degrees is wonderful t-shirt weather.

Back to the Gym and other good things.

We're back from vacation - and while I debated going to the gym last night, we didn't get back home till almost 8pm and I was oddly overwhelmed with a desire to clean the kitchen.

So tonight will be the first day at the gym for like... two weeks... how sad.


Also - having grown up in Iowa, all the attention paid to it this evening is both flattering and ridiculous. I mean really. But I have to be sad about the fact that I'll never again be a resident of the state, and never managed to have an opportunity to caucus myself. D and I were living in Utah for the last presidential caucus, and before that (dare I say it) I was not old enough.

However - regardless of my lack of caucusing, what was even more sad was my father, who'd lived in Iowa for some 60 years, and never gone to caucus... until...

tonight!!!



My daddy went to caucus tonight - and I'm so excited for him, cause if I can't caucus, someone in my family should (and we won't even get started on why my mother won't) even if he's not caucusing for the party I would...











details.

Funniest Holiday Moment.

D's mom reaches for the last present under the tree and starts to hand it to me - she qualifies -

"Now, you have to tell us if you don't want it, really. D said you did, but I didn't quite believe him, and I still don't - so if this isn't something you really want, you need to tell us and we'll return it."

Worried - I slowly opened the package with everyone watching - to find the ACA's complete GDMBR maps and Cycling the Great Divide book my Michael McCoy!!!

Which - by the way - is something I had casually mentioned to D I wanted to get at some point, but I actually totally wanted like RIGHT NOW!!! Because I'm afraid to truly admit (to myself or others, opps...) that I'm totally obsessed with it, in a very unhealthy and repressed sort of way.

So they accessed my expression and determined I was genuinely excited, at which point his parents confessed they'd heard "Mountain Bike Route Maps" and immediately suspected that really, D wanted them, and was using some tiny interest on my behalf to justify them being my present and not his... but they needn't have worried... I'm the weirdo this time... and I'm just so lucky that D somehow picked up on this and passed along my latent desires!!!


Now I want another set - so I can lay them out, end to end and create the entire course in our apartment... (which I think I would have to start in the kitchen, turn through the family room, and carry on partway down the stairs...)

details.

Quote of the This Week.

"Do you always sit in the window seat on the wing side?"


20-something girl behind me on the airplane, talking to the 20-something man who was explaining how the wings change to slow the aircraft after landing.

Quote of the Last Week.

"But the cactus wants the brownie."

D, trying to explain why he should be allowed to throw food out the car window on the way through the desert to the airport.

Push, Plow and Tow.

This is where Selma Lee was located this afternoon. I'd been having a small issues with getting her started... so when D wanted Josey to get parked in the garage, we put her in neutral and rolled her down the incline of our driveway and tried to get her turned and parked perpendicular... except the momentum only get us mostly there, not quite.

While we're gone for over a week, holiday making in the Midwest, we wanted my dearest Selma in the garage... except there was still that small detail of her not wanting to start. Plus - one of the doors must have been a tidge ajar, because the battery had warn down.

First - we set up jumper cables and tried to get her started. We eventually gave up.

We then attached a tow rope on the hitching points under the front bumpers of both Selma and Josey and Josey slowly rolled backwards towing Selma as far up the drive as we could, while still allowing enough room for Josey to get free. That landed Selma mostly on the paved portion at the bottom of the above photo.

Josey then drove back around to the other side, and very slowly butted up against Selma. Due to their slightly different profiles - Josey's rear bumper slide up on top of Selma's, compressing her back suspension, and making contact with the plastic back light covers, partially breaking the mounting on one and sliding it back into the trunk - but it all worked none the less - and Selma got back up half way into the garage.

At that point - she was half way on level ground in the garage, and half way sloped downhill, so D backed Josey off of Selma Lee, the back end un-compressed, and we used our own force to push her the remaining way into the garage, to prevent the compression angle getting out of control if we'd pushed her all the way into the garage with Josey.


The slant of the driveway is too step to have pushed her up into the garage by ourselves - which is why we employed Josey. Selma weighs in right under two tones, and as we found out with Chad's car last weekend, when we needed to push his '82 300D about six inches farther up the driveway so his engine block heater could reach our pathetic attempts as creating an extension cord by connecting three surge protectors end to end, two tonnes on a slant needs a darn lot of force to move.


Good times.


Tomorrow, I install my own block heater, as well as do a bit of other work, so when we return she'll be a generally happier car.

I'd just like to extend a particularly strong Thank You to D for being a willing accomplice and particularly excellent and careful in the execution of said activities. It's hard to be delicate when driving an SUV, but he was.

The 20% List.

The following is a list of things that, if you do them, you pretty much need to tip 20%, if not a bit more.* Most servers are more than happy to humor you, but they don't expect to do it for 15%.

*Unless your server is rude - if your server is rude, 8-10% is always appropriate. Less then that and she's essentially paying taxes on a tip you never gave her - meaning she just paid the IRS for the privilege of serving you... doesn't sound like fun does it???



The 20% List

-> Allowing your child to smash Cheerios into every square inch of floor space beneath your table.

-> Asking absolutely ANY question about your server's personal life, or life history.

-> Telling your server she must be an actress, then insisting she's not Shakespeare Material, but continuing to refer to her as Cleopatra, without somehow realizing that Shakespeare wrote a Cleopatra.

-> Telling your server she reminds you of your best friend's, child's, teacher's, husband's, chiropractor's, third cousin twice removed, that you don't necessarily remember meeting, but isn't it just uncanny.

-> Asking for a specific server's section, by name.

-> Leaving your business card. (Like I'm going to pay a standard % to a Realtor who won't pay one to me).

-> Making your server an outside business offer. (You think I'm going to work for you, if this is what you consider appropriate compensation???)

-> Hand writing a Thank You note on your receipt. (A 20% tip is an adequate Thank You, I can't cash your note at the bank for that extra 5% you should have left).

-> Asking your server not to mention when you come in with your wife, that you were at the restaurant that night (with a different woman).

-> Leaving a whole stack of pens that advertise your business, but taking the one your server gave you to sign your credit card slip with.

-> Asking your server to recount the money you left to pay your bill because you're too drunk to do it yourself.

-> Continuing to sit in a restaurant, after every other customer has left, and you've already finished your meal, paid, and determined a new law of quantum physics via repeatedly refolding your copy of the credit card slip.

-> Sending your server to the kitchen to find out whether or not the oil used in each and every available salad dressing is hydrogenated, or not. Then commenting on how you'll have to tell you friend that, oh and can you have the fried potato chips with your sandwich.

-> Giving your server your single son's phone number.

-> Expressing your political views before looking up at your server expectantly. (If it shouldn't be discussed in polite conversation, your server deserves 20% to discuss it with you).

-> Leaving your server a religious pamphlet. (10% will not convert me you cheap piles of... sorry... they're always the worst tippers... those people with the little religious comic books!!!)

-> I should really stop this...

A little chat.

I had a pretty darn productive day - there were crystal views of the snow wrapped San Francisco Peaks as I returned from some errands, and I was in a great mood to go work at The Wine Bar and hit the gym.

The night started steady to slow - which was a good sign - a steady to slow night means I leave around 8:45 allowing all the time I need at the gym before it closes at 11pm.

I didn't make it to the gym tonight - I had a table of 6 parked on their tushes till 10:15 and to add insult to injury they only tipped 12%.


So let's have a quick discussion about tipping. Unlike what Mr. Pink says in Reservoir Dogs, servers really don't get paid by their restaurant to serve you - they pretty much only make tips. With the exception of California, Oregon, and a few others - servers make between $2.03 and $3.48 per hour. Technically, a restaurant has to make up the difference if your tips don't add up to minimum wage... technically. And servers pay tax on their tips, maybe not all of them, but if your reported tips are regularly under 8% of your total sales (and the restaurant is required to report average sales to the IRS) the IRS will come after you. All tips put on a credit card are automatically reported. If everyone pays me with a credit card one night, then all of my tips get reported and all my tips get taxed.

Servers don't rely on tips because they're used to getting them, they rely on tips because they'd be working a different job otherwise (nobody who's competent enough to serve well would work for minimum wage.. do you really want the sort of person who would work for minimum wage serving your food???).


When you go to tip a server most people Tip on Total. They base their tip almost entirely on a calculated percentage of their total bill.

But it's also important to Tip on Time. If you sit around talking for 2 hours and only ring up $15 worth of purchases - you are not leaving your server a good tip if you leave her $3. Yes - it's 20%... but in the mean time, she's still spent two hours refilling your water, and keeping an eye on you, just because you don't order a lot, doesn't mean she doesn't put in just as much work to take care of you. (We'll not even discuss the table turn she's missing).

Thirdly - you should Tip on Tolerance. What has your server had to tolerate???
Now, if your server is rude and obnoxious, then she hasn't been very tolerant, and the imperative to tip her based on it, is low - however, if she's tolerated quite a bit with good cheer and humor then you should compensate her for the tolerance of your childish behavior that she has shown.

Tip on Total.
Tip on Time.
Tip on Tolerance.

Please people - please!!!


I don't care when people sit forever in my section, I don't care when they don't order wine and spend pittance compared to what they might have. I'm not saying you should feel guilty going to a restaurant if you're not going to be the biggest spender. But you don't order the second most expensive thing on the menu, sit around past closing, even though you've already finished your wine and dessert, make a point to not let anyone else pay the bill - and then tip 12%.

That earns you bad Karma... bad, bad Karma.

Top 5's.

I'm going to partially steal D's idea and create a Top 5 Things (that were new in 2007), and Top 5 Things (that were known and still loved).

New (In the order they came into my life, not importance) -

1) Double Entry Accounting
I know it's weird but I'm totally in love.

2) Plasma Cutting
Learned in Welding Class.

3) Selma Lee
Particularly the three days I spent driving her home.

4) My Blog/D's Blog
Nothing beats learning unknown things about the person you're closest to, via a most public forum.

5) My Business
Not so much the having of it, or the deciding to get it, but the knowing that I wanted it.


Old (In no order whatsoever)

1) My Reading List
Kept since I was 14, now new and improved via Shelfari.com

2) Snad and Felipe
No qualifications necessary.

3) Desert Skies
Especially as seen from our desk. Especially when there are storms.

4) Ice Water

5) Zion Canyon

Misc.

The last bags will ship tomorrow afternoon. So I turn my attention to new and expanded features for the business for 2008.

My last anti-biotic will be downed tomorrow morning.

I'm adjusting and tweaking my training program to better reflect where I am (and where I want to be).


I'm not the only one fighting the good fight with an old diesel Mercedes :)


Special note - the prodigious white smoke behind and the extension cord running to the engine in front.

(Also note that while mine can also bellow large quantities of white smoke - my sun roof doesn't open - which makes Selma Lee jealous of Ms. BioBertha... someday I tell you... someday.)



I'm taking stock of what I hoped to have done this year - what of it I've done, what I haven't, and what is worth attempting again in the new year - compared to what has been left by the wayside by more recent prioritizing.

It's always sad to me when something I nominally still want to do doesn't make it on the list simply because of adjusted priorities. If I just don't want to do it anymore... that's somehow less of a loss - even if I would have enjoyed myself had I gotten around to it when my interest was still there.


Details.



Also, this evening I may have employed my headlamp and a good mirror to get a totally new view of the recently traumatized areas at the back of my mouth - and that may have been highly educational - I won't go into details, but Dang!!!

Training.

I'd sort of been giving myself a hard time about not training this week. I know I'd been instructed not to, but I've been feeling good, and worrying that I was using The Teeth as an excuse (during the busy holiday season when I have bags to get out the door, and other concerns to occupy my time) to not make training a priority and fit it in, somewhere.

Then I went to work at the restaurant tonight.

I don't work weekends (being Friday and Saturday night), when I was hired they were explicitly off limits, so I'd never have to worry about weekend trips (which is a bit odd in the service industry, not working weekends). However, we're a small place, we have eight servers, total, not on each shift. And since I was going to be in town this weekend anyway - I thought I ought to pick up the shift for a fellow coworker who's family was going to be in town. Especially considering I was literally the Only person who wasn't already working, and therefore the Only way he could have the night off.

We were busy - but not that busy. I'm not one of those servers that runs around with their head cut off. I'm good. I glide about the room with a genial and competent air bringing contented appeasement to all the guests who grace my section.

But apparently even my gliding was a bit too strenuous (perhaps it was the jaw and muscle stress of all those gracious smiles and lighthearted laughs at my customer's bad jokes), by the end of the night there was a significant throbbing sensation in all pertinent places - and I realized, even if everything seemed fine, there was a real and valid reason why I wasn't suppose to be working out this week.


I guess I'll give it a few more days.

Numbers.

I seem to be using a lot of numbers recently. I tend to find them illustrative. So I'll follow that trend, the number of the day today, being 17.

Yesterday I swallowed 17 pills.

4 I do every day, vitamins, calcium, etc.

13 relate to The Teeth.

Anti-pain, anti-inflammatory, anti-biotics... my body seems to be particularly hateful at the moment. And this all seems very odd to me - someone who's never broken a bone, never been admitted to a hospital, never even been taken to an emergency room.

Besides one previous course of antibiotics, I've never been prescribed medication to treat any illness or ailment...

I have a pretty darn boring medical history - and I was sort of hoping to keep it that way... details. The thing that's really starting to get me down is the inability to keep to the training schedule. I was going to join D at yoga tonight - thought it'd be a good break in, so long as I didn't do any of the upside-down work. Only to find out he was going on a long run ahead of time, and there's nothing I Should be doing that I could occupy that time with. I miss the gym!!!

That's probably sacrilege to some - but I can't help it, it's right up there with tortilla chips, malts drank through straws, and anything that involves chewing with my molars...


oh wait - I forgot, I have broken a bone... I mean what mountain biker hasn't broken their collar bone, right??? Except I broke mine when I was in my first day of life... and it wasn't me, it was the doctors... guess I don't get mountain biking street cred for that one :(

Traveling.

The last time I had a tooth removed (I won't go into gory details, sorry about that last post) D and I were traveling... extended traveling. We'd been living out of Josey for a bit over a month, and one night, after we'd pulling into camp in either Little or Big (I don't remember which) Cottonwood Canyon, right out side of Salt Lake City I started feeling some really bad pain.

The next morning we drove into town and got bagels (and a phone book) at an Einstein's and waited for 8:30 to roll around and dentist's receptionists to start answering their phones. Despite being told "we're not taking new patients" quite a few times - I found an appointment for 2pm and gave up. D, realizing what pain I was in, kept calling till he found somewhere that'd take me at 11 (what a precious boy!!!). Off we went to the other side of SLC.

The dentist took a look at the x-rays I'd brought with me (from an appointment right before we left... the dentist thought they'd need to come out some time in the future, so I asked for a copy of the x-rays and brought them along in a folder of important information). The SLC dentist suggested I get sme pain meds and have it taken care of "when I got home". I then explained that when I said traveling I meant Traveling and home was no longer a specific location (I believe it was my dad who would jokingly offer our license plate number when someone asked for our address). At that point we agreed to take the tooth out right then - and I was at the dentist's office for just about an hour.

1 hour. 3 hours, between trying to find a dentist and having it done. Maybe 14 hours between pain and procedure.

This time around, it took 19 days.

I think in the future - when I need to have any dental work done, I'm going to lie and say I'm traveling.


Meanwhile - I feel great today, there's really minimal pain, my biggest problem is finding stuff to eat when I take my antibiotics as they make me a lil nauseous. And my biggest complaint is that, somehow, I have absolutely no desire for the carton of ice cream in the freezer, which I specifically got to be good post op food...

ah well.

.2 Ounces.

Well - I'm back from the oral surgeon and low and behold I still have my teeth.

They're sitting on a paper towel in front of me. I asked to keep them... though I'm not sure whether or not I'll put them under my pillow for the tooth fairy.

First off - teeth are really cool. And I love the sound they make when they knock against each other, or the table top - like the sound of a stone marble. What's not so cool is I keep tipping my head down to look at them, dripping blood infused saliva on the table... maybe I shouldn't have admitted that...

I was about to take a picture of my blood coated front teeth - looked pretty gruesome, but I thought I'd spare you that... primarily because I wouldn't have been able to avoid including some other part of my face in the picture - and most of you know the vehemence with which I avoid cameras.

Second off - (and the reason I asked to keep my teeth) I now weigh .2 ounces less. I asked the oral surgeon during my previous consultation and he couldn't tell me how much a tooth weighed - so I put one on the shipping scale... which didn't get me very far. Then I put all three on the scale and it grudgingly acknowledge a mere .2 ounces worth of tooth.


Third - he speculated that one of the reasons it was particularly difficult to remove my teeth last time, was that two of the three have three roots instead of two, which are easier to deal with (and let's admit it - these three roots aren't all grouped together in a polite cone shape, they're all ever so slightly flared, for maximum grip). One of them even has this thin, stubby tentacle of a fourth root. And while I know it made things slightly more difficult, I still want to applaud my teeth for their valiant effort at staying in place to do their job. I'm sorry little teeth, I didn't want to pull you, you made me!!!

I wish our camera took better macro shots - cause this little forth root is just adorable!!!

See Italy First

This picture is being posted to officially document the decision of one of my sisters (we'll call her J) and myself to take a trip to Italy in 2009. (The picture is of our fridge).

What is currently known of The Trip -
-It will take place in the calendar year 2009
-J and myself will be present
-Others may or may not be present
-It will involve vineyards, beaches, and not too many museums
-Bicycles are currently slated as primary transportation
-There will be shopping (even if that involves shopping in bike shorts)
-Rome will not be included*

*(I'm holding Rome for someone who will museum hop with me)


Now that it has officially been announced on The Blog - J will not be able to allot her precious Vacation Days to any other situation (the weddings of her eight closest friends included)... if they really want you there they can wait, J!!!

Heathen Tree.

In the spirit of all that was best about England in the mid to late nineteenth century(and there wasn't a lot), D returned from his run today with approximately three feet of (probably unlawful) National Forest Service conifer.

According to last year's precedent - it was decorated with a set of lights, the two ornaments we received, and several long strands of beer bottle caps on hemp twine (the majority of which are a festive red color, courtesy of The New Belgium Brewery). As seen below - completed.


And D said he didn't want a tree this year... who's the scrooge, really???

Insta-quote.

D - "I'll give you all the seconds you want, however the laws of thermodynamics will not."

To all those who are under the delusion that he consistently makes mini-masterpieces for dinner every night - this is what I got handed this evening...

Do you see what I see???

Disc Breaks for my 29er (fam: a 29er is a superior style of mountain bike with larger wheels for greater ease when rolling over obstacles). She's a Soma Juice and has been named Pomegranate. I call her Pom or PomPom for short.

I'm considering making D a shirt that says PomSquad - for him to wear when he supports me at races.

Insta-quote.

M - Hey, be nice, I'm still in pain ya know.
D - I have two things to say about that. If you can be as annoying as you've been for the last fifteen minutes, you're either not in enough pain, or not medicated enough.

Very Nervous.

So - last week I went to the dentist due to some pain I was experiencing. Turns out I have a few wisdom teeth they'd like to get out of the way (one which is hurting, the other two cause they think it'll be fun)... which, as D determined two years ago when I had the first one removed, is a good thing (as you drop weight without losing muscle... at the time he told me it meant I had to hike faster, now I think it means I need to cycle faster :)

And mother - that's a joke - he doesn't actually expect me to get faster because I lost a couple of ounces worth of tooth - don't let dad worry it's another sign of coercion!!!


Anyway - today was going to be one, next Monday the two on the other side - so after some other confusion at the dentist's which left we waiting for over an hour through no fault of my own (I received a telephone call from my dentist's office asking me where I was, when I was sitting in their own waiting room... yeah - good times), they eventually had some difficultly getting my mouth appropriately numb.

I presume because of the confusion, I didn't have the dentist I saw before doing the actual extraction. I had this other guy... let's just say I'm not so fond of this Other Guy... he was not very sympathetic when I continued to feel pain despite some parts of my mouth already being numb... I tried to explain that the last two times I'd had dental work done they'd had to do several injections before everywhere became appropriately numb - he didn't seem to like being told things he thought he knew better than me...

in the end - he gave up and referred me to an oral surgeon. On the little card I'm suppose to give to the surgeon's office is a note that includes "very nervous". I am apparently one of those dental patients that is "very nervous" - despite the fact that I never felt Very Nervous and have previously had a tooth removed with no problem - I only wanted him to know about my previous experience... you'd think he'd appreciate my input. Apparently he took it to mean I was a bit hyped up and paranoid... seems to me I have a right to be when the local anesthesia doesn't actually block my pain!!!

This is the notecard - some of it got cut off when I scanned it - but i underlined the "very nervous" part...



He also just left me sitting there without explaining why I was being sent to an oral surgeon, what it meant, what he wanted done - or how it would effect the extraction of my other two wisdom teeth next week, which I would think is sort of an important consideration.

Details.


I think I'm more upset about being labeled Very Nervous than the fact that right now the right side of my mouth is both half numbed and in pain, at the same time.

Good job Dentist!!!

(I made sure Monday's appointment is with my Original Guy who is far superior in my mind to Other Guy.)

Insta-quote.

Idea stolen from The Blaze and Tink blog found at left... here's my quote of the day - pronounced by D about 45 seconds ago as he cooks me dinner (like usual) and I "work" and otherwise monopolize the computer (like usual)-

"Embittered is your default means of expression, when you're not thinking about it. Which - if you're 23, is not a good thing."


I think there might be some slight confusion in his mind between embittered and sarcastic...

details.

The beginning of the story.

So awhile ago there was that crazy post with the pictures of D, myself and P huddling under a space blanket in a handicap bathroom... going through some long un-catagorized picture files today I realized I never showed the beginning of that thrilling adventure!!!

Like this multi-stage rappel... you can see me starting down this relatively short rap -


but then you see P right below me getting ready to set up yet another rappel (that's why it's multi-stage... there were multiple stages :) One Rap right after another with no where to go between them but down - once you get started you either finish the series or sit on a small ledge waiting to get rescued...


This is P approaching a rap station (he'd waited to the right on a larger ledge while D went down first.


It wasn't all Rappeling - there was some good downclimbing too... though I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not???



It was a pretty stellar canyon all around. And the threatening clouds only drizzled slightly all day... always a plus!!!

Thinking about Thanksgiving...

Two years ago, November of 2005, I had what was probably the best, though at moments worst, Thanksgiving of my life (funny how more and more often I realize those feelings seem to be paired). I had graduated college in May and D and I had stayed in Iowa over the summer so he could continue employment to stock pile a little more money. We then left to travel the West living out of, or should I say IN, our Josey the XTerra. We left via The Boundary Waters, across the Northern States,
to visit my sissy, who at the time was living in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Then we turned south and made our way to The Robber's Roost for Thanksgiving with several Utahan's we'd known since D's (and then my) time in Utah right after he graduated, and right after we got married. That was before we returned to Iowa for me to finish my senior year at Grinnell.

We'd also managed to introduce our old Moab roommate to a dear friend of ours from Grinnell - who joined us in The Roost from Iowa for a few days (that included her b-day),
as well as a few other odd Canyoneer co-conspirators from Arizona and Colorado - add a nice camping spot in the red dirt and juniper trees and life seemed nice.


I don't remember exactly how long we were out there (four of us were there a couple weeks with others coming and going)... but there were lots of canyons and on Thanksgiving day we sat around all afternoon on camp chairs and large logs and used the top of a cooler as a cutting board, as the fire was prepared and fowl and veggies were cooked in a dutch oven, then spread with fresh cranberry jam and goodness knows what else, on the tailgate of a pickup truck for us to all dig in.

Phillip running with a wet chicken...


D was drinking Quebecois beer from the DABC... aka - State Liquor Store - we'd gotten on our run into town to watch the latest Harry Potter movie the week before. And talking in his funny French accent... after we cleaned out the dutch oven I diced up apples and used the oven to cook cobbler while our stomachs settled and the sun set.

We enjoyed ourselves.


The day before D and I had gone on a short hike/canyoneering bit... down a short fork of a canyon and up another... except we missed the fork we were suppose to go up, it started raining, I wasn't feeling well (stomach ache if I remember/though maybe just nerves) and we ended up doing some awkward and strenuous up-climbing in a very narrow but deep canyon as a small stream of water running down the rock started getting bigger - making everything more difficult, both physically and mentally.

It rings in my mind as having the highest quotient of anguish to hours of any outting I've ever participated in. It sharply contrasted with the relaxation and friendship that defined Thanksgiving day itself.


This year we were suppose to arrange another Turkey Day with A and P... maybe in Death Valley (which holds good memories for the four of us), maybe Joshua Tree, finally life made it look like the closer Grand Canyon was going to be the destination - but in the end, four different people had four different priorities that had to overtake our desire to spend a few more choice days together. Which is unfortunate - I would have enjoyed their company, but my life was calling me to stay home as much as theirs... we'll have another Thanksgiving like 2005... but not this year.

This year had it's benefits and relaxation too - but in a different way. Which has me thinking about the holidays and the benefits of extended circles of family/friends, as well as the benefits of drawing the family line as close as possible and sharing long moments with those closest, that don't always happen in the middle of the Usual Schedule of Life.


Hope you two had a good holiday A and P - we missed you!!!

Umm..

D and I have come to realize a major problem that may block our future together.


I refuse to perpetuate a belief in the Americanized Super-Consumer Santa Claus Myth with any and all future children we may have.

For this- D has labeled me a Scrooge.


I won't elucidate all my reasons for this here... but let's just say - if D wants pathetic susceptible children to lie to and coddle - then he can have them , just not with me!!!

Granted we have maybe a good decade still till this needs to be resolved... but it's never too soon to stake your ground.

No Snuffalaphagus... No!!!

Straight up.

They should leave the warnings for the lead painted toys... but no - the first couple seasons of Sesame Street (now available on DVD) come with Caution.

Progress...

the Website is up!!!

Like a raccoon.

"It's bouncy and shinny - what more do you want???"

-D (admonishing me for not being excited enough about my new wheel)


What I am excited about... (I have a couple postcards prepared...)

I'm heartbroken!!!

Yesterday (not even knowing what was going to happen at midnight!!!) I had thoughts of TransIowa in my head... prompted primarily by a conversation D and I had at dinner on Tuesday, about our schedule and goals for the next six months or so...

he has a lot of different races lined up - both trail running and mountain biking (why he can't just use a road, I'll never understand :)... but I have only one. TransIowa (version 4).


So I went to the hole in the wall bike shop in DownTown yesterday to request the owner build me a front wheel for the bike I'll be riding for TI v4. I have a back wheel, but no front.


Well I forgot what it's like to try to get a hold of this guy... the only person in town whom I'd let build my wheel... his phone doesn't have an answering machine, and despite his shop hours being listed as 9am to 4pm - in reality they're usually more like 10am to 2pm. So I dropped by at 12:45. Door Locked.

I was distressed. I tried calling him later while I was running other errands DownTown - but the phone was never answered...


so - to quash my distress I decided to head over to my favorite Thrift Store and find some books with good pictures and photos (SelmaLee approved of the result) that I could use to create my own postcards for my TransIowa entry... last year they had a lottery system where you could send in as many postcards as you wanted for a random drawing - the more you sent in the more likely you were to be drawn. They had already mentioned postcards on the website this year - so it was something I could dwell on to lift my spirits... gotta love a craft project with a real purpose!!!

It happened the system wasn't needed last year - as they didn't reach their 100 person limit and all those who entered got to participate.

I spent two hours last night going through my new books (including the one at right, which is nothing but full page, color ads from the 60's - talk about a great find!!!) and cutting out choice pictures for use as/in postcards.

The TransIowa website was going to have a Big Surprise up at midnight on Halloween - but when I got back from the gym last night I was too tired and went straight to bed. When D got up this morning he woke me to say they'd opened registration!!! Perfect timing!!!

Except they've changed the rules.

No more lottery - no more multiple postcards. They're accepting one postcard per person on a first come first served basis for entry in the race :(


What are I supposed to do with all my extra pictures???


I think I might cry.