Tuesday, February 27, 2007

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?

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

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?

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Monday, February 12, 2007

Sunday, February 11, 2007

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!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Little Haley

Little Haley just waking up from a quick nap

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

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

Monday, February 05, 2007

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.

Friday, February 02, 2007

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.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Bath time

Little Haley diggin' her bath.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Just one fix

The people are lashing out! There is genuine anger and resentment. This just keeps getting better. For every comment that's left on my post about the Honeycomb taste change there are 10 who take the time to google said topic and are directed to my blog without leaving a comment. I only hope that all these people would take the simple step of telling POST how we all feel about their crap decision. Just follow this link. It's cake.
Haley's got a new dress

Saturday, January 20, 2007

daahhhh

Man, it's cold out there. I just finished my first full week back to work after a month off. I’m a little pooped. I was out delivering fitness crap all week long with Ben or KHam. Sounds like we’ve been pretty damn busy straight through Xmas up to present. Next week doesn’t look quite so busy but all it takes is one afternoon of shoppers and all the sudden we’re out and about. Fun times.

Last Sunday night I purchased another car off of ebay. This is the third ebay car I’ve picked up now. This time I knew I wanted a Mazda Protégé 5. I wanted to get something Haley friendly. My pickup isn’t baby seat compatible. I didn’t won’t to spend a ton so something with high miles but good condition was the best I could hope for. I’ve been watching for a couple months looking for the right car to come along. Finally it did.

It was a 10 day auction and it was from a dealer in New York. Considering I drive approx 2000 miles a year it was driving me nuts to even think about owning two vehicles. I was going back and forth in my little brain the pros and cons of buying this car. I actually convinced myself to just stick with my truck and use Erin’s Volvo if I needed to. But when the auction came down to the end I couldn’t resist. I won it and got a pretty good deal in the process. I can’t even dream of getting rid of my truck. I waited to long to get one. I love that p.o.s.

So, Friday I made the trip up to Waverly, NY with Erin’s dad to pick up my new rig. It was a nice drive through some quality scenic PA roadage. Everything went smoothly. We made it back to Harrisburg around 4:30pm. I was listening to the Sufjan Stevens CD TrekWarrantyRepFiess sent me. Good stuff. Not exactly Metallica but it was the right music for the drive. I wanted to stop at PennDOT on the way home but just ran out of time. Looks like Monday morning will work. I might snag myself a special license plate. I know The Victory Junction Gang is a fantastically worthy cause plus #3 is The Man and after all, I am a redneck at my very core.

Now I have two vehicles. Sweet. Speaking of Sufjan Stevens, have you seen Little Miss Sunshine yet? Do it. Great movie.

Where’s Kenny?? Well, Saturday Kenny made an appearance at the bike shop. We still need an update of The Kenny Report. Showing up doesn’t get you off the hook Kenny.

Little Haley made her first trip to Cornerstone Saturday. I think she enjoyed it. I’m so thrilled to be her father. She’s a wonderful little girl. And best of all, she’s starting to make gestures and faces and noises other than crying or the dreaded “poop face”. Witness the awesome cuteness of little Haley in the picture below. Goodnightnow!

I'm toast if Haley keeps up this great smile.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

I think I'm in love

December 16, 1773

Things I’m rapidly growing tired of:

Barry Bonds. Go away. No one is buying the crap you’re shoveling us. This tool’s defense is weaker than the Flyers power play. Please, just go away. Totally, completely, disappear. Five years down the road, no Cooperstown for you either. Bogus record or not.

This clown. Good article here explains why he’s a clown. And round up all the idiots that agree with you and catch the next slow boat to China. If any two Baseball players deserve a unanimous ticket to The Hall, it’s these two class individuals. Representing everything good about a sport that’s been sullied a bit recently. Jack-ass.

As mentioned briefly above. These dudes need to buy a vowel. By far the worst team in hockey. Not even close to the second worst team in hockey. They are just that horrible. Unwatchable. Like watching a bad movie with a bad ending…….over and over and over. Let’s have a “team meeting” and get this thing figured out, we just lost 6-1. Good idea. OK, we know what we’re doing wrong. We got it fixed. Bam! Lose 6-2. I guess that’s a step in the right direction. Chumps. You can’t tell me one player makes that much difference. It’s embarrassing that they would even use that as an excuse.

Although this will ultimately work out in my favor, Saban leaving the Phins for the Tide was pretty damn sickening as well. If I were a Dolphin fan, I’d say good riddance. Instead he’ll return Tuscaloosa to prominence and leave. Hopefully sooner rather than later. He doesn’t seem to be a man of great integrity.

I like Rock'em Sock'em Robots. I remember playing them when I was a little punk. I thought it was pretty cool to see a play on them in that new Dodge truck commercial. Pretty cool until the 739th viewing of said commercial. Maybe I’m in the minority here but do advertisers ever consider people very quickly growing sick of something shoved down our collective pie-holes like that? I’m ready to drive to the local Dodge dealership and take a poop on their doorstep. Not really, but, well, maybe.

Dems v Republicans. Republicans v Dems. It doesn’t matter which is the majority or the minority. It doesn’t matter who says what to get elected. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. They’re ALL asswhipes who want nothing more than to find slicker and more crafty ways to separate me from as much of my hard earned money as they can. They act like a bunch of children. He said, no she said, no they did this, congressional hearing that, scandal this, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, next time you take a look at your paycheck, take a good look at it. Seriously, take a real hard look at it. Now, look at the bills that you see throughout the weeks, months, years. It’s damn near sickening to my stomach to see just how much I am taxed. Top to bottom. And it never seems like enough to these losers. They need more to pay for this, that, and the other thing. To say one side is wrong doesn’t make the other side right either. Unreal.

On a lighter note, is winter finally on the horizon? In a way I feel happy that it hasn’t been anywhere near as cold as it should be. BUT, I haven’t been able to get out and enjoy it to the fullest. Now, it looks as though next week will get cold just in time to coincide with my return to work full-time. Joy.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007


Someone has a case of the Monday's

That's better

Friday, January 05, 2007

Thursday, January 04, 2007

La Nina and El Nino

The baby girl and the baby boy. One is my daughter. The other is a weather phenomena. Both make me amazingly happy!

Haley made her first trip out into the big world today. Erin and I had some errands to run so we buckled her up in her mega-safe car seat and set out for an adventure. First to Holmes to pick up a couple things. Haley got to meet Steve, KHam, and Allen & Kathy for the first time. She mostly slept but did wake up briefly to do a number on her diaper.

Next a trip out to Circuit City for a couple small goodies. Then a trip to Lowes to make a much needed dishwasher purchase. Our current dishwasher sounds like you’re on a runway at your local airport. I don’t think they’re meant to be quite that loud. Next, a quick stop at the USPS and just like that we’re home again. Little Haley did a magnificent job on her first trip.

This afternoon I finally got outside for a ride on the fixie. Only a little over an hour but after 10 consecutive days of inactivity, bad eating, and irregular sleep I was so stoked to be on my bike again. January 4th and it was just short of 60 degrees. Snow? My ass. Pure therapy. Hurra El Nino!

Tonight we’re going to give Little Haley another bath. The first one went so-so. It ain’t easy giving a squirming screaming newborn a bath. But, just like my first diaper change over a week ago, I think we’ll get better at it.

Did I mention Elwood has been a fantastic little kitty thus far with a new member of the family taking away all the attention he once received? He’s a good little fella.

I ordered some Pearl Izumi running shoes and I got a little fury monkey instead!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

wow

Big big taste, part 3

I’ve been meaning to catch up on this topic. Apparently I’m not the only one who strongly dislikes the new Honeycomb taste change. A couple months ago I bought a box of my beloved Honeycombs only to gag on the first mouthful. I sent POST an email protesting the change to which they replied with a coupon for a free box of POST cereal. Thanks, but that was not what I was after. I mainly wanted to voice my displeasure in a campaign to get the old flavor back. To me, this was a “New Coke v Coke Classic” scenario. If enough people bitch about it, maybe we’d get our old Honeycomb back.

Enough fine Americans are so adversely affected by this atrocity that if you google the words “honeycomb taste change” you get this. People are pissed off judging by the comments left here. I’ve been somewhat distracted the past couple months but maybe it’s time to start my crusade again. While I never constantly ate boxes and boxes of the stuff, I did love That Big Big Taste an awful lot. It saddens me to think I may never eat another satisfying bowl of Honeycomb.

I know why POST changed the formula for Honeycomb. To make it healthier. While it had no hydrogenated oils in it before the change, they did formulate more whole grains into the ingredients. I applaud their motives. I just find it was unnecessary to make the change. It was a healthy, tastey cereal. Leave it alone.

It brings up an interesting topic that’s been in the news a lot lately. New York City has banned trans-fats from being used in restaurant menus. On one hand you have to say, “Nice Move”. Americans are fat-asses with hearts that could explode at any given moment. Hydrogenated oils are at the root of all dietary evil. By banning it from food naturally you would deduce that the collective “we” would lose a pile of weight, our arteries would unclog and we’d live to be 137yrs old. Maybe so.

However, just like the No Smoking Ban that’s catching on everywhere, why do we need The Man to save us from ourselves. Believe me, I think smoking is a disgusting habit just as I am well aware that trans-fats are horrible for you. Personally, I just need far less intrusion from the government. I can see it now, fat-asses everywhere will be buying black market oreo cookies and hording them in their basements. Shady looking dudes will be standing on dimly lit street corners peddling sticks of margarine to junkie fat-asses looking for a fix. Please, let us make our own choices. Let natural selection do its job.