That's my girl

What a joy. After one whole day with the entire family at home I’m just overwhelmed with happiness. So far sleeping is at a premium for Erin and I, but at this point I don’t even care. Talk to me in a week, maybe I’ll have a different story.

Today we had a couple visits but it was just another day to get our feet under us and get to know our daughter a little more. She’s a cutie. One more sign she’s a Kessel thru and thru; she likes to fart. I hope when she’s older she doesn’t mind me saying that. Sorry Haley.

I have to thank everyone again for the gifts and cards and well wishes. Thank you.

30 minutes old Haley says hello to Dad

Welcome Home

Haley checkin' out her new digs

Drum roll please

Introducing............

Haley Catherine Kessel - 45 minutes old and wondering what the hell just happened

Haley was born at 4:18AM on December 27th. Everyone is recovering from a long night and doing great. More later. Thanks to all the well wishers.

Nada

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Nothing yet. Stay tuned.

Just a little while longer....

Nothing yet but contraction type things are happening, just very far apart. Maybe this weekend? The probability of a Xmas baby is looking very strong. I've caught a few episodes of this show on MTV called Rob & Big. I don't normally watch MTV but I certainly do channel surf a great deal. So a couple days ago I was flipping channels and I don't know why I stopped but I did and low and behold, Rob & Big. I won't bore you with details. It's pretty funny. Not in a Jackass kinda way but in a you-couldn't-find-two-more-unlikely-friends kinda way. Worth it. Elf tonight. Yes.

All I have to do is wait

Still Waiting

The Wifey had a doctor’s appointment Monday and things are still looking very good. The right things are starting to happen which gives us the impression that it could be any day now. The due date is officially one week from today.

While I’m off work and waiting for big things to happen I pretty much don’t have much else to do but wait. So I’ve been putting in some good miles on the fixie. Since last Friday I’ve pedaled just about 115 miles. Today I got out with Hebe for 90 minutes of fun. We pedaled out to Carlisle to drop something off at Really Fast Young Dude’s house and then back into Camp Hill. Good ride. We had a nice tailwind coming back in which isn’t necessarily a great thing if you only have one gear and it ain’t the right one. But it wasn’t too bad really. I enjoyed it.

Puerto Nuevo looking south towards Ensenada

I was digging through my desk Monday trying to clean out some clutter. I was looking for a picture of a sunset I took a few years ago in Mexico. I didn’t find the picture I was looking for but I did find another that I’ve always loved. It’s from the same town in Mex but on a different trip. Puerto Nuevo, think about the best lobster you’ve ever eaten and I guarantee you the lobster here is better. Plus all the fresh tortillas, rice and refried beans you can shove. Hard to beat it. Anyway, why it’s relevant is because I just read that everyone’s favorite real estate developer, The Donald, has decided to build a mega-plex just a few miles north of where this pic was taken. I only hope that the quaintness of this cool little fishing village isn’t lost by the oncoming development.

How many days until Charm City CX?

CX Nationals

Sometimes words just can't describe how happy I am. I just got off the phone with The Legend directly from Providence, RI. His race was today and he pulled off a 10th place in the 40-44 age group. He's stoked. I'm super happy for him. In an age group that no doubt has former national champions among the 150+ racers in the field, 10th freakin place!! Legendary! Nice job Mike.

Sounds like the rest of the MAC is doing quite well today. Leech won his age group. SSWes was 11th in the same race. That's got to be the hardest age group and Flyin Ryan takes it in a sprint. Sweet.

I wish I was there. But, more important things need to be looked after here.

Not Yet

My favorite tree ornament

Xmas with The Griswolds

Saturday after work Erin’s parents came over to watch my favorite xmas movie. In my opinion xmas doesn’t officially kick off until this movie is viewed. Somehow, last year I was left out of the Christmas Vacation festivities. I wasn’t happy about it. I wasn’t going to miss it again. Good times. Another modern favorite is Elf. Maybe we’ll watch that one this coming weekend.

Sunday we met my sister and little nephew, DJ, for some breakfast at The Crapper Barrel. I typically hate this place. I have always found that you either have to eat something before you get there or you’ll leave hungry OR you have to spend twice as much to buy two entrees to ensure you leave satisfied. At any rate, yesterday it seemed like the menu had changed because I had no problems finding adequate foodage. Pancakes with apple slurry piled on top with scrambled eggs and a couple turkey sausages. Not bad.

I got out for a tad over an hour in the afternoon on my new fixie sled. It was a good ride. Awesome weather! I’ll take this for the next 3 months. The fixie is hard in spots and maybe a bit easy in spots. I may tinker with the gearing a bit to see if that changes anything.

Sunday evening was the first of two Williams xmas gatherings at Erin’s parents house. Yesterday was her mom’s side of the family. Friday will be her dad’s side. We just saw most of these folks at Erin’s grandparents house at Thanksgiving. The grub was fantastic. It’s always great to go out for a ride then immediately have a spread of food to wolf down.

I have one week of work left until I’m done for the year. Erin is 17 days from the big due-date. Almost there.

Check this out

Inside joke. This was dinner tonight. BBQ Chicken pizza pizza pie. Throw in some portabellas and some red bell peppers and there you have it. Yummm.

My Fixie

All I needed to make the new commuter sled complete was a healthy dose of the orangest bar tape I could find. Viola! It lacks the menace of black but oozes flair that says F-you anyway. I still have a cold. I'm getting grumpier everyday I can't shake it. Plus the weather forecast has the word snow in it. Which, by nature, pisses me off. Enjoy the day.

Fun bike!

Summers Eve

I’m not sure how far I’ll make it into this post. I've got that "not-so-fresh feeling". Saturday afternoon at work I started to get that slight little sore throat thing that usually is a harbinger of bad shit on the way. Sure enough, I slept like crap Saturday night and felt crappier when I woke up Sunday morning. I spent the entire day laying on the couch feeling miserable. I never set foot into the great outdoors even though it was a nice day. Sucked.

Sunday night I took some super knock-out drugs. I didn’t care what drugs I took, all I wanted was to sleep. That plan went so-so. Actually I did sleep well, I just still felt like crap when I woke up again. I hate calling in sick or taking time off work. It doesn’t really make me feel better lying around the house all day. So I went to work with a throbbing congested head. I hung in until around 3:30pm when I just needed to close my eyes and get off my feet. Something not real plausibly done at the bike shop. I had enough. I came home and took a nap. I think I’m beginning to feel better. I just took more knock-out drugs so that I might be able to sleep well again. Hopefully tomorrow morning it’ll all be a thing of the past.

Sunday was the final CX race of the season not called Nationals. I’ve heard so many good things about Reston. The further I get from the last race I did the more bummed I get about my season. How I wanted to do this, that, and the other thing and instead I got that, this , and something entirely different. I remember after Charm City how I was disappointed with a 20th place. Turns out that was a hell of a result against a pretty stacked field. Instead of building on that result I became slothful. It all snowballed from there and that was that. I haven’t raced since LA and is it fair to say I’m counting the days until next season? I know there’s quite a few of them but I think I can learn something from the crap I doled out this season.

Anyone notice The Legend is on fire? He’s been racing up front the past couple races and best of all he’s got a front row start spot at Natz in the 40-44 age group. Hopefully there won’t be a repeat of the weather he saw in last years race. Good luck man. Good luck to all my CX friends racing up in RI. I hope the MAC represents well.

Speaking of friends. VisitPA Ray is linked up and on board. Check out his blog. Once the MTB season kicks off I’m sure you’ll get a good perspective from the off-road scene. Plus if something funny happens at Holmes and I fail to mention it I’m sure he will.

I made the 5500 a fixed single speeder and rode it into work Saturday. I almost killed myself only once. I think it’ll work just fine. It’s actually a pretty sweet bike considering most of the parts I used to throw it together, including the frame & fork, were an afterthought. Ray is working on one as well.

In my foggy-headed haze today I smashed the hell out of my thumb. Dumbass.

I think I need a beer. I think this is what I’ll get myself. Mmmmmm, beer.