Saturday, 13 Oct 07    

Radiohead - 'House of Cards' - In Rainbows (www.inrainbows.com)

Today's song is from the newest Radiohead album released by the band themselves, currently as a download only. Of course we weren't going to pass up their new release that came out this past Tuesday, but according to this story, neither did 1.2 million others (supposedly). Makes a person wonder if the record companies are scrambling even more than ever if something like a band releasing their own album on-line can have this kind of result on the industry.

Let's see, I'll rewind back to the previous week because everything seems to have gone by in a whirlwind. After watching the Avs beat Dallas on opening night, I watched (the first and most of the third period) them play horribly the next night against Nashville and lose 4-0. I didn't watch all of the game because Kelly was arriving home that night on a late flight into Gulfport. Her plane was on time and she made it in safely, although her bag didn't make it with her. She filed a claim with American Airlines and knew that it had it least made it from London since she had to go through customs in Chicago and re-check in for the Chicago-Dallas-Gulfport legs of her travel. They said it should arrive the next day (Friday) and they would deliver it to the house. We came home and watched the Daily Show, then Kelly went to bed, obviously exhausted from flying from continent to continent.

Friday morning I woke up at 8am while Kelly was still asleep and went to the bike shop in Gulfport to get my bicycle tire repaired. When I arrived Robert took off the wheel and we found out why I had gotten multiple flats. There was a piece of metal that had embedded itself in the tire and a sharp corner/point was poking through the tire interior and as a result, puncturing the tubes. I felt somewhat better knowing that it wasn't wholly my fault by improperly replacing the tube. He removed the piece of metal, put on a new tube, and I was good to go. I did purchase an extra tube as well, just in case. I came back home and found Kelly awake and watching some of the recorded programs on the Tivo. After she got dressed we went down to have lunch at Trapani's in Bay St. Louis. It was a good meal of soup, grilled tuna, and pasta for me while Kelly had a steak. We both ended up with leftovers, so I put mine in the fridge to eat when I got home on Sunday after returning from Jackson. We just relaxed at the house for a couple of hours before Brent came over to pick me up to drive up to Jackson.

Brent and I made pretty good time driving up to Jackson and only caught a little bit of rush hour traffic on hwy 49 coming into Jackson, but when we got onto I-20 heading west towards Clinton, it wasn't really bad at all. We talked with Jack (one of the other GCBC team members riding) and were going to meet them for dinner at an Italian restaurant just up the road from the registration at the Baptist Healthplex on the Mississippi College campus. We checked into the hotel first, which was just on the other side of the interstate from the Healthplex, and ran into other team members Lawrence, Doug, and Jeff who had already completed pre-registration and were also checking into the hotel. These guys along with Brent were the more obnoxious and loud members of the team, and I tried to avoid or disassociate myself from them when possible. We did complete check in and putting our bikes and gear in the room, then Brent and I drove back over to the Healthplex to complete our MS150 registration by turning in our money collected, get our rider numbers, and pick up the 'swag bags' provided by the organizers (this included chapstick, chamois butter, Bayer sample packs, route directions, and a t-shirt, all donated from the various ride corporate sponsors), which is a standard at most large event rides that have big name sponsors.

After registration we drove up the road to Franco's, the Italian restaurant that Jack told us about, and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Apparently there was a bit of miscommunication because we weren't supposed to meet until 7.15pm, but Brent didn't believe Lawrence when he relayed that message to Brent at the hotel, so he and I were about 20 minutes early. Everyone else showed up and we were seated at a series of three tables pushed together. What we were not impressed by was the 'special' menues for parties of 8 or more (we had 11 in our party), which was more limited than the regular menu. It was alright though because they had plenty of pasta dishes to choose from so we could all carb load for the next day's ride. I sat at one end of the table with Jack, his wife Kelly (they ride a tandem bike and live in Diamondhead), his sister and her husband, who weren't riding themselves, but live in the Jackson area and had a 13 year old son, Baxter, who was going to ride with us on the second day. At the other end of the table were the obnoxious members of our group, with Dwight and Cheryl (two other riders from Biloxi) in the middle. I ended up having shrimp scampi because shrimp alfredo sounded a bit too heavy of a meal to sit in my stomach overnight. It was actually really quite good and filled me up, along with the garlic toast. I think I had plenty of carbs to load my system. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, did some last minute bicycle adjustments and gear re-packing, then went to sleep. I actually slept pretty well and got about 7 hours of sleep before we had to wake up at 6am the next morning.

Saturday morning we woke up and went down to have some breakfast before loading up and heading over to the Healthplex. The ride wasn't starting until 8am, so that gave me time to put on sunscreen and chamois butter (to prevent chafing around my butt and inner thighs). We got to the Healthplex and all the riders were stretching, completing registration, doing last minute bike tunings, and taking team photos. We were actually one of the first teams to get their photo taken. Unfortunately, they haven't posted any photos on the MS150 site yet, but maybe I'll have a photo later because there were a couple of individuals taking photos at almost every rest stop on both days. Probably professionals that will have the photos available later for purchase. Finally, at a little after 8am everyone was lined up to ride. There was a short prayer by one of the riders, and then the group of over 200 cyclists were on their way. It's always a pretty cool sight for me to see a large group of cyclists riding together and taking over the streets (although in this case there were State Police doing traffic control). The first day had some sections of rough pavement (I think it's called chip seal), but the route was noticeably different from the last time I rode in 2004. It started out the same, but had a few different turns, which I think was due to road construction or safety for riders, but was still on the rural roads outside of Clinton. The mileage for a direct route to Vicksburg from Clinton isn't 75 miles, but the way we ride winding around the back roads makes it total 75 (actually, day one was 78 miles) miles. In the 3 years that I rode previously we had lunch in Raymond, but this year lunch was in Learned (a smaller town which only had a few buildings). I have to say that the volunteers that provided lunch and that staffed all the rest stops (about every 12 miles or so) were fantastic. It's really great to pull up to a rest stop after riding 12 miles or so in the heat and arrive at a shaded canopy to fill your water bottles (gatorade or water), get some ice, have a snack to boost your energy, or just rest for a few minutes and find smiling faces willing to help get you almost whatever you need. I'm really glad that I had my iPod nano this year to bide the time of riding while listening to some music (usually fast-paced punk) because it makes the time go so much faster, especially in the sections where you can see someone about a mile in front of you, but other than that you're the only rider around. As usual, I pretty much rode by myself at my own pace and not with any others on the team (half the group sped ahead, then the rest of us were scattered throughout). I did ride with one guy from Clinton for awhile who had ridden a mountain bike last year (like I was riding a mountain bike this year) but who had upgraded to a road bike, although he did admit he would have rather been riding his mountain bike again. His name was Rhett and was a nice guy to chat with. I also road a good section of the final 15 miles or so with Cheryl who had caught up to me after the second to last rest stop as we were hitting the hills around Vicksburg. Those are always some of the most unpleasant parts of the ride, but I did well and didn't have to stop or walk my bike at all. It was starting to get hot and I was tired, but I finished just after 2pm. It took me about 6 hours, with about 5.5 hours of actual riding time. Not too bad, and about what I had anticipated. We arrived at the hotel in Vicksburg (Battlefield Inn) and there was a line starting to form for check-in. I got in line and Doug, Brent, Jack, and Eric, who had all finished earlier, came inside from the pool out back. Brent took my place in line because the room reservation was under his name and Doug acted like a real jackass. He had been one of the first finishers an hour or so earlier and checked in, but his room wasn't ready yet (normal check in was 3pm). He was pissed that he couldn't get his key yet and was being an ass to the desk clerks. I just avoided him. What the hell does he expect? They have over 200 riders and their family members along with volunteers and other guests to deal with, so he really just needed to chill out. Brent got our room keys and we took our bags and bikes up to the room. I flipped on one of the college football games while Brent took the first shower. I hopped in after he was finished and it felt really good to rinse off as well as shave after riding in the hot sun. After getting dressed I rested watching tv for about an hour before I went to get my scheduled half hour massage. That felt really great as well and I almost fell asleep while getting my shoulders loosened up, then it was done. I went back up to the room and fell asleep on my bed. The next thing I remember is Brent coming up to the room and waking me up at 6.45pm to go down to eat dinner. I had crashed for almost two hours, and probably would have slept through dinner completely if Brent didn't come wake me up. Dinner was spaghetti, salad, and bread. At the dinner banquet they gave awards to the highest fundraiser, highest fundraising team, and other awards. There was also a woman from Hattiesburg with MS who spoke to the group, then they had a drawing with the raffle tickets we were given when entering for dinner for various donated prizes. I ended up winning a neon light bicycle sculpture. Kind of neat. They also announced that our group of MS150 riders had raised over $200,000 for MS, which was quite impressive. The GCBC team raised over $9000 ourselves (I raised $1045) and we didn't have any of the large corporate sponsors some of the other teams had like Denbury Resources and Road Building Cruisers. After dinner I went back up to the room and watched a bit of college football and read before falling asleep. Brent had already fallen asleep before I did.

The next morning we went down to eat again at 6am and got ready for the start at 8am. Today I wore my new 'pirate' jersey which is black and has a skull & crossbones on the back, plus other pirate skull designs on the front and sleeves. It was funny because the woman who was the rep for Specialized (who had a truck and women's bicycle demo at the Healthplex in Clinton) came up to me and asked if she could take my picture because she really liked the jersey. She was telling me that her friend really liked skulls and that she was a mountain bike/downhill rider herself and was looking for a different jersey because her company didn't have any she really liked. I told her I didn't mind if she took a photo and told her that I had purchased the jersey on-line at Foska. A couple of the guys were razzing me after she walked off saying, 'You're married,' and some other shit. I didn't even take it as anything other than a cyclist admiring a jersey and I was giving her the info. Sheesh, grow up. It seemed slightly cooler on Sunday morning than Saturday, plus there seemed to be more shaded areas along the route. It was similar to previous years, except for one point after the steepest climb of both days (which I zipped up with no problems) where instead of heading west towards the Natchez Trace, we went southwest to make our way to the Trace. This was a good idea because riders wouldn't have to backtrack going south to get to the lunch stop, then turn around and head back up the same way north as in previous years. I enjoyed the new route much more. The second day we rode at least 2/3 of the way up the Natchez Trace Parkway, which was great because it was shaded by trees in many sections and had also been freshly paved, which makes a big difference when riding a bicycle. There were also clouds in the sky, so at some points where there was no tree shade, the clouds partially covered the sun. Unfortunately, the last ten miles though the clouds were gone as well as the trees and the sun was beating down hot and hard. It was kind of rough finishing in the heat, but at least the route changes this time had us going further on the Trace to the Clinton exit as opposed to previous years I've ridden where it's a steady climb on a shitty road to finish the ride. Again I finished right at 2pm, but this time I was alone. I rode most of the day by myself with my tunes. There were a couple times there weren't any other riders in sight at all. Jack and Kelly finished not too much longer after I did with their nephew Baxter. We loaded up the bags and bikes into their Element (I was riding home with them since Brent had finished earlier and since they also live in Diamondhead it was more convenient for all) and while they went back to Jack's sister's house to get their bags and shower, I took a shower and changed at the Healthplex. They pulled up about 10 minutes after I had gotten dressed and was waiting inside. Lawrence finished his ride about the same time they pulled up. He was our team captain and the final finishing rider on our team. We said goodbye to him and hit the highway south to the house. It took about 3 hours and I was pretty hungry after burning off a few thousand calories over the weekend. I had my leftover tuna and pasta from Friday lunch plus the last few bites of a calzone from Thursday night when I picked up pizza for Kelly at Mellow Mushroom. I made it home just in time to watch the Avalanche rout the San Jose Sharks 6-2, but after the game and checking email, I went to bed around 9.30pm. I was beat. I didn't get up until around 7am the next morning, but I had already decided Sunday night that I wasn't going to go into work on Monday. Kelly had the Columbus Day holiday off from work, so I decided to take leave to rest and spend some time with her.

We got up and dressed and left the house by 10am. We were headed to New Orleans to have lunch, see a movie, and pick up some groceries (fresh produce for Kelly) at Whole Foods. Our original plan was to have lunch at Rock 'n Sake, but after parking and walking in the pouring rain (we had an umbrella) we found they were closed Mondays. We went back to the car and drove to the parking garage at Canal Place and ended up eating at the grill in the food court, which was actually pretty good food. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and Kelly had a large burger. We then sat and waited until the theater opened and went to see the documentary, 'In The Shadow of The Moon', which was a documentary about the Apollo moon landings in the late 60's and early 70's as told by the astronauts themselves and actual NASA footage. A really great film that had the astronauts telling the stories in their own words and showing the actual footage from the time. One of the better documentaries I've seen in awhile. After the movie we went to Metairie and Kelly checked out the Apple Macbooks at Best Buy since she's considering one for her next survey at sea, then was the big trip to Whole Foods where we stocked up on many items, and finally to The Body Shop at the mall to get some facial products. I drove us home over the Causeway since traffic is usually better than trying to take the twinspan at rush hour. It was quite an eventful day and we ended with dinner from Whole Foods and watching 'Dexter' from the previous night.

Wednesday night I got home early after attending the supervisor's meeting in Hattiesburg, so I went for a bike ride around Diamondhead. Unfortunately, I found my tire was again partially flat, so I'm thinking that there is still something metal within the tire itself that has punctured the tube and deflated it, but instead of removing it to change it, I pumped it up firm and rode anyway. I did one loop around Diamondhead and didn't have any problems, so whatever leak I have is a slow one. Thursday night we watched some of the recorded programs (Kelly is still catching up) as well as some hockey. Friday I was off (Kelly is still on an 8 hour day schedule temporarily), so after riding 13 miles in the morning (no tire problems) I came home and made salsa with some of my few remaining peppers from the garden as well as the bourbon marinade for the chicken we're grilling before poker tonight. I finished those and headed out to Gulfport. I met Kendra and Ursula for lunch, which we've been trying to do for about a month, but something has come up on the previous two Fridays I was in the area. It was nice to sit and chat with them. After lunch I ran a couple of errands then took the Element to the Honda dealer for a 90,000 mile servicing. I dropped it off at 2pm and they said it would take about 3 hours, so I walked down to Barnes and Noble to read. At 4pm they called to say it was finished, so I walked back up to pick it up. I came home and Kelly was cutting up the chicken, removing the fat. She finished that prep work, took a shower and changed, and we headed out again together. The GCBC had their meeting and election of new officers last night at Island Strikz, the bowling alley in Gulfport. Kelly shot pool while I was at the meeting, however I left an hour into it at 7.30pm because we had dinner plans with Jason and Ellen. We were finally getting to eat with them at Olives in Beau Rivage. We tried a few new items like the pulled chicken pesto flatbread, which was kind of like a small pizza appetizer, and Kelly had the gnocchi, while Jason had the sea bass and Ellen the scallops (excellent!). It was a great time chatting and eating with our friends. We came home and saw the Avs lost to the Blues, then I watched some of the Colorado/Arizona National League Championship Series baseball game 2 and read a bit before going to sleep.

This morning Kelly got out of bed before I did, but she fell asleep earlier last night. She watched a few programs on the Tivo before doing some more kitchen prep work. She got the spinach artichoke dip done as well as an Asian salad (kind of like coleslaw, but better). I got us coffee at The Jumping Bean, then picked up some flour and brown sugar at the grocery so Kelly could mix the cookie ingredients (I spread the batter in the pans for bar cookies). The rest of the time I've spent working on the blog but in a few minutes I'll work on cleaning the house since we're hosting poker tonight and having people over to eat grilled chicken and other food prior. Tomorrow I'm going for a long bike ride while Kelly goes to see the new period piece movie 'Elizabeth- The Golden Age', then tomorrow night we're going to the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi for the Seawolves season ticket holder private party to meet the players (who won their first pre-season game last night against a CHL team in Texas) and other season ticket holders, plus get our tickets for the year. We're excited for their season to start later this month with two home games on the 27th and 28th. Monday night I'm going to the Melvins/Big Business show in New Orleans and another busy weekend will start off next Friday with the Urban Night Riders going out on ride #3 for the year. At least it's finally starting to get a little bit cooler so the rides in the mornings or early evenings aren't as unpleasant. I'm really happy to have Kelly back home though (for awhile at least) so we can go out and do things together.

-posted by Chris

Wednesday, 3 Oct 07    

Hanson Brothers - 'Hockey Night Tonight' - Johnny Hanson Presents Puck Rock Vol. 1 (Wrong)

That's right, it's hockey night tonight. The Avs open their regular season tonight as the second half of a double-header on Versus, and they have a hated rival coming to Denver. It seems that the past few years they open against the Dallas Stars. The Avs look really good this year though, and I'm pumped about their prospects for the season. As a result of the first games on television, this won't be a long update, or at least that's the intention, even though I usually manage to run on.

So, Friday night the Urban Night Riders had bicycle ride #2 through the city streets of Gulfport to Biloxi and back. It was fun with three more riders this time for a total of 9. Not too bad of a group for a Friday night. The ride went well and on the way back most of the group wanted to again stop at Bernie's bar in Biloxi, but another couple on a tandem and I skipped it and rode back to Gulfport. I just wasn't too interested in sitting around at a bar and not drinking, even if I did drink it still didn't sound that appealing. I got back to the car, loaded up my bike, and drove home.

Saturday morning I was up relatively early and headed over to Gary's. It was a great day of anime. We watched the first Bleach movie (via Gary's amazing home server packed full of dvd's and downloaded torrents; the greatest thing is the set-up that makes digital viewing as easy as using the Tivo remote), which was different but quite enjoyable. Kind of a jump ahead from the storyline of the series which is currently airing on adult swim (Cartoon Network), but not really anything spoiled. Next we watched disc 3 of Black Lagoon. Finally, we watched the fansubbed version of 'Zero no Tsukaima' season 1 and the first few episodes of season 2. What an excellent series! Comedy, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and some fan-service all make for great viewing. Good pacing and non-irritating characters help the series as well. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series the next time I go over to Gary's. I didn't stay too late because I wanted to get home somewhat early and get to bed and be rested for my ride the next morning.

I woke up at the usual time I get up for work so I'd have time to eat and drive over to Abita Springs. I arrived at the trailhead for the St. Tammany Trace where the Crescent City Century ride was starting. I opened up the back of the Element though and to my disgust found that my rear tire was flat. I must have run over something on Friday night which produced a slow leak and a pain in the ass to discover half an hour before the ride started. Fortunately, I had a spare tube and surprisingly was able to replace it somewhat easily (not something I've had to do often, and have usually had assistance). I pumped it up and hit the trail at 7.45am, only 15 minutes later than most of the other riders. The ride went pretty well for the most part, although Louisiana roads are shitty with their cracked pavement and multiple broken, bumpy sections in the more rural areas of St. Tammany Parish. It also started to get warmer than expected and with the humidity was somewhat uncomfortable by 11am. At least by that point I was nearing the end with less than 10 miles to go. Unfortunately, at the last rest stop I noticed that my replaced tube tire was sagging some and was softer than it should be. I continued to ride, but by mile 60 (the Abita Springs brewery) it was pretty much unrideable. I started pushing it along the trace on the last 5 miles to the end, but after 1.5 miles I said, 'fuck this' and asked to borrow a passing cyclist's pump so I could pump it up enough to get me to the end of the final 3.5 miles. I was hot, tired, and sunburnt by that point (even with sunscreen which had I had sweat off by then. Sweatproof my ass!). I got back to the Element, had the half sandwich I had packed in the cooler (I think that was part of my problem, 'bonking' before the end due to a lack of caloric intake at breakfast), loaded up, and drove home. I got home and took a shower, then talked with Kelly for a bit, and proceeded to fall asleep for a few hours on the couch. I got up, ate dinner, watched a bit of television, then went to bed by 10.30pm, which is REALLY early for me, but I was exhausted. I'll make sure to eat a good breakfast before the MS150 this coming weekend.

Monday night I felt better and made some more chocolate cinnamon bread to use up the buttermilk, but damn if our shitty oven didn't burn the bread on the outside edges. It doesn't heat properly, so when I stuck a toothpick in to see if it was done, it came out moist, so I left the bread in for a longer time period. When it was finally finished I realized that it had slightly charred the edges. I sliced those edges off though instead of throwing the loaves away. It actually tasted good inside, and even Gary, Stacey, and Jennifer from work said it was good, so I felt a little less embarrassed about my results.

Last night I did some housecleaning and watched a few programs on Tivo so when Kelly comes home tomorrow night (yay!) I'll be caught up and she can delete everything after watching it this weekend while I'm away riding my bicycle. I'm going to go watch the game now, but I'm sure Kelly will have ship reports and I'll have a story or two about my MS150 ride this weekend.

-posted by Chris