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.

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.

Someone has a case of the Monday's

That's better

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!

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.

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.