A new perspective on perspective

Not much new to report here at the Kessel Ranch. Young Haley is doing very well. She made a quick trip to the bike shop today on her way to CC. She really digs the scene up at CC. There’s always plenty to keep her attention up there.

Last Saturday Erin and I met up with Hebe and Benny to do some snow tubing at Ski Roundtop. Erin’s parents came over to our house to watch Little Hales while we were gone. This was the first time Erin was separated from Haley for more than a 15-20 minute trip to the store. I think they both did quite well. We had an absolute blast tubing. Thanks to The Legend for the hook-up on the passes. Good times. It’s been a little while since I’ve laughed as hard as that.

Sunday the weather crapped up again. Just the usual miserable snow/sleet/freezing rain/rain BS. I got my do-list done early and worked on my ass groove on the couch. I did hit the crapliptical for 30 minutes.

I got a new toy a couple weeks ago. This thing is pretty damn cool. I haven’t even come close to tapping into all the info I can gather from it. It seems to be dead-on accurate as well. After a ride I can upload the info and it will map it out to the T where I went. It's really quite amazing to look at it after the fact. I can’t wait to get it out on some real long hilly rides. Mainly just map out all the roads and climbs I’ve always done but now get an idea of elevation gains and gradients and whatnot. Fun.

I’m still rockin the fixie. I haven’t ridden anything else since I threw it together late last year. It’s a hard ride if I stick out here in my neck of the woods. It’s pretty rolling in my parts so I find out real quick just how lame my fitness is right now. No worries, it’s only late Feb.

I’m jonesin’ to go somewhere. Anybody want to fly me somewhere?

Little Haley will be 8 weeks old Wednesday. Holy crap she’s growing fast! She’s been a little angel so far. Just a few incidents of projectile barfing but even that’s kinda funny. She loves hanging out with her grandparents. Yesterday she fell asleep while my mom was holding her and later in the day she fell asleep while Erin’s dad was holding her. She’s getting lots of love from everyone. More and more she’s making little baby noises and smiling and making faces. I think she’ll be talking before we know it. Good times.

We’ve been delivering loads of fitness junk at Holmes Cyclery lately. The stuff is flying out the doors. The crap weather shut the deliveries down last week so Monday we had to play catch-up a bit. One particular loser, we’ll call him Nimrod, was less than thrilled that we cancelled last Friday because the roads were still crap and our van is awful in snow/ice. So we rescheduled for Monday. Turns out this tool lives in East Kabumfuk with roads that were still snow/ice covered and a quarter mile lane that was sketchy even yesterday. And he wanted us there Friday??? He’s got stuffed dead animals all over his house and guns and ammo and dead animal pictures all over the place. I’m far from a vegetarian. I love animals. They taste great. But, I never quite understood the mentality that this clown exhibited. A picture of a dead bear hanging on your wall???? Whatever.

I think it’s meant to rain today so I will attempt to resume normal commuting operations tomorrow. Temps are meant to be at least 40 for the next few days or so. Hopefully all this white shit will disappear. I picked up a Garmin last week. I think this thing will be lots of fun to play around with this summer on rides.

It’s official; The Legend resumes his affection for the dirt. I hope he does well. VisitPA has a stacked team this season. I wonder what KHam is up to?

My Little Valentine

That's what I'm talkin' about

270 per

Snow schmoe! I guess I need to go outside and do my Anti-Snow Dance. It's been working quite well so far this season. I'm really going to have to summon up a lot of strength for this weather event.

Today, while The Legend, Nate, and VisitPA Ray & VisitPA Nancy went for a mtb ride, I hung out on the couch with Lttitle Ms Haley. We had fun. I tried for the first time shoving a bottle down her gullet with moderate success.

Young Hales showing off her good looks for the camera again

This evening I powered up the crapliptical for 30 minutes so that I could eat some guilt-free Pizza Butt. That works.

Tomorrow, I dunno, maybe a ride on the fixie for an hour or so. Other than commuting I haven't ridden much at all this year yet. Of course we'll have to make a mad dash to the grocery store for the obligatory stocking up of bread and milk.

Maybe we'll cruise in to CC to hang out with all the ultra-spiffy yuppie losers and show off our B.O.B. Stroller. They do make a good egg sammy stuffed inside a bagel for roughly $12 or so(not really). I also need to do some V-Day shopping for not one, but TWO wonderful women. JC! I might be busy tomorrow.

I wonder if early dismisal/two-hour delay is in effect at Holmes Cyclery this week? Benny, warm up you shoveling shoulders!

Little Haley

Little Haley just waking up from a quick nap

Just to say I can

8 degrees when I left for work. 11 on the ride home. Although it was definitely chillier going home. My fingers were getting a bit nippy. Nothing too bad. Again, my point all along has been this; if you have the right clothes, riding when it's this cold is really no big deal. Yesterday the 25mph headwind riding in was the major roadblock.

So, Jessica, I'll give you credit. It was much colder in Wisconsin. BUT, did you ride to work at the Trek Compound??? Cheers. dk

Auntie Em

The Big Game has come and gone. I was entertained for the most part. Ho hum, really. I was more annoyed at the rainstorm during the entire game. Maybe the NFL could do us all a favor and think twice before putting another Super Bowl in a city where weather could even remotely be an issue. Doesn’t it rain in Florida just about every freakin day? Ever heard of Phoenix? San Diego? A dome maybe? Not only did it effect the game with fumbles and dropped balls but it also effected my Hi-Def viewing experience. The TV cameras were so wet and fogged up that I was watching a Lo-Def picture. Like I said, ho-hum.

Aunt Emily, this is for you. We told Little Haley about where you are and why you missed her grand entrance into this world. At first she was grumpy. I think she was upset with you.

But we did some talking and I think we convinced her to give you a pass as long as you give her lots of hugs and kisses and babysit her when her parents want to go out. That’s her final offer. She was a little happier after we calmed her down. She can’t wait to meet you. I hope you’re enjoying Maui.

Speaking of Maui. I'll try to keep in mind the sunny and 81 day they will enjoy as I ride to work with the thermometer belting out a whopping.......wait for it.........8 degrees. Lets not even factor in the wind. Enjoy.

Gesundheit

Little Haley is doing very well. I go to work every day missing her and can’t wait to get home and hold her. She makes me smile no matter if she’s crying or sleeping or crapping her pants. She’s an absolute joy.

Last night she slept over 6hrs and napped for 5 more today. I think she’s settling into a good sleep routine, which helps Erin out a ton.

Today I was out delivering junk all day with Ben. Good times. We drove down to Spring Grove to drop off an elliptical. I hadn’t been down there in years but it wasn’t until I caught a waft of that good ‘ol paper mill that I realized it was nice to revisit old haunts if only briefly.

It started to snow some late this afternoon. Nuisance type shit. If this is as bad as it gets then, yeah, snow is fine. I think I can still manage to ride to work in the morning. Looks like early next week is going to be ridiculously cold. Just the kind of stuff that I need to commute in, only to say I can/did.

Speaking of riding, January was weak. I’m getting soft. I can feel it. Weather, Haley, no motivation, new car, pick an excuse. They all apply. At any rate, I need to find that routine again.

The Wifey got some good news this week. First she found out she’ll be working full-time out of the house starting April 1st. Cool. Then, today she found out she’s getting a monster raise. Sweet.

The Original Jack-Ass sent me an email today with this link. Every time I watch, it gets funnier. I don’t know why really. I think I’ve watched it about 10 times in the past hour. Slow night on TV.