from the earth to the moon ..

Its been two years, I think .. two years since I’d decided that I wasn’t going to spend any more money on PC hardware and that my next major purchase was going to be a mac.

One unplanned event after another pushed it off and off and off and off … When Nick’s computer died, he had to choose between spending $ on a new PC or $ on a mac mini – he chose the mini.  When Alex finally got his feet on the ground and his PC went nuts, he decided to buy a macbook. 

*Sigh* I was going to be a pioneer.  Instead, I became a follower. 

Until, I became the first in the household to walk in to an Apple store and come home with a beautiful little white macbook.

Mmmm .. Life is good 😀

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It puts the lotion on its skin ..

A month or so ago, someone had purchased a bottle of hand lotion to leave on the counter in the women’s bathroom on my floor here at work. It was a reletively costly bottle (ie – name brand) and there was a note attached that said “Please help yourself, but if you do, please contribute to the purchase of the next one” and there was an envelope.

I think things like this are nice. Sharing supplies and expenses, makes sense to me. I contributed a dollar even though I’ve only used the lotion once. I like the idea that someone offered the lotion and wasn’t asking much in return.

Well, the bottle sat happily on the countertop for weeks without a problem. One day last week, however, the bottle was replaced by a giant bottle of CVS brand hand lotion. At some point, a note was placed on the CVS bottle that said something like “whoever replaced the hand lotion with this bottle, please put the original back” – basically, give me my name brand stuff back and keep your CVS crap. A reasonable request, I think.

So, this morning, the original bottle was back, and the CVS bottle was on the other end of the counter. The original bottle had a note on it that said something like “thanks for returning!”. I figured all was well in the world. We can be happy again, all handloation has been returned to its rightful owner.

And then I went to the bathroom after lunch. There was a tiny bottle of some kind of handlotion on the counter where the original bottle was this morning. There was a computer printed sign taped to the mirror and a dollar bill and some change on the counter below. The sign said something to the affect of “To the very kind ladies who contributed, I’m returning all of your money. The lotion has been removed TWICE and I’m tired of this. Apparently we have some very immature women among us.”

I kind of chuckled, took my dollar and left. I started writing this post ~20 minutes ago thinking that this was the end of the saga. I posted, because I thought “The Lotion Cronicles” were good entertainment and I wanted to share.

However, since I have a ridiculously short memory at times, I just decided to go back to the bathroom and check the verbage on the latest message because I really wanted to get it right – it was a good note. Well, here’s the kicker. When I got there, I found the original bottle back on the counter, all the $$ gone, and the computer printed sign removed.

I laughed out loud and left the room.

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Backyard Fixer Upper

Due to a combination of neglect, dogs, and shade, our backyard looked like this at the end of March:

In May, we spent a day laying grass seed in the back section of the yard. Because of the dogs, we couldn’t do it all at once. Also, we plan to build a deck which will limit the amount of grasss that will need to be grown in the front part of the yard:

We also added edging to defin the flower beds when we laid the grass seed. The flower beds have been there for as long as I can remember but were mostly full of weeds at this point.

Some grass growing progress (after about a week):

This past weekend, we tackled the porch. The old porch was literally falling apart – rotting away. Here’s a before and after:


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I promise to update this post with more words, pictures, and stories – but for now, here’s a link to our Backyard Project Gallery.

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cone head dog

Our poor old dog … she had to have surgery yesterday to fix a golfball sized hematoma on her ear… now the poor thing has to wear a stupid cone for a week ..

its not slowing her down any tho … she just can’t quite figure out how to get around the coffee table without getting caught on the corner 😉

its mean to laugh, i know .. but .. hard not to sometimes 😉

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test2

From my flickr tooblar!

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Flock!

Nick is bringing the geek back out in me.  With the prospect of my maccy-lappy just around the corner, I’ve  become suddenly interested in podcasts – Macbreak Weekly, TWIT specifically.

Leo’s “pick” on the recent Macbreak Weekly was a web browse – Flock.  I assumed it was a Mac only browser, but alas it is not! 

Flock – the social web browser.

Its got complete integration with blogging software (wordpress, movabletype, etc) as well as Flickr!  So blogging is a snap. 

This post comes from a Flock! pop up window.  I’ve just downloaded it and am still kicking the tires, but so far, I’m impressed!

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like a real mountain biker

something is different .. something happened in my brain i think .. something has clicked.

late wednesday evening, i told nick that i was thinking about trying a lap of boyne on my new love, the single speed.. without flinching, he decided he’d give it a shot as well.. he was planning on riding solo and i was on a 4-person team. we both agreed that we’d do as many laps as we could stand on the single speeds before switching over to the geared bikes. so, on thursday, i bought out all of the 18+ tooth cogs i could find in SE michigan (not an easy feat!) and then i watched nick fix up our bikes 😀

a few people thought i was crazy for wanting to try, a few very supportive and thought i’d like it.. and some said i was ‘bad ass’ for even trying .. heh ..

based on Robin’s advice, i chose a 32×18 gear combination. i also bought as set of the new Geax Saguaro tires and picked up my dreamy new handlebar . I was ready. I had to be, I was going first on my team. Not too much time to rethink my decision.

I decided to ride the first lap with my trails edge teammate Mike”skulls”. He was also sweating it out on a single speed for the first time. I rode with him at Addison and knew that we’re pretty compatible speed-wise so we could suffer together pretty well. The first lap was enough to remind me everything I hate about boyne. I can say with certainty that I didn’t really walk more hills with the single speed than i would have on the geared bike. Boyne is just a tough tough course. this year seemed extra sucktastic, sand-wise (but that could just be my bad memory .. heh) .. but other than that, it was the same ‘ol boyne.. all in all, i didn’t seem to hate the lap any more than i did on my geared bike .. it took a bit of consideration, but i decided to do my next lap on the single speed again. i figured, now that i had an idea of what the trail felt like with one gear, i might do a little better on the next lap. i planned on doing a 3rd lap on the titus for comparison purposes.

i didn’t get the chance for a 3rd lap because it started raining as soon as i finished my second lap. no one else on my team was planning on doing any more laps, so it wasn’t worth it for me to go out in the dark and rainy woods to hurt myself before my vacation (that was going to start as soon as the race was over!). but, my second lap on the single speed was SO AWESOME that i was kind of happy not to do a 3rd lap. i wanted to end boyne on a good note. i was right – i was rocking on that second lap because i could plan a little better and push a little harder knowing what was up ahead. i’m pretty sure i walked less with the single speed on that lap than i ever have on a geared bike. i was flowin in the flowy sections and i was grunting in the shallow cimby sections.

i got to see shari and robin at the 5 mile road crossing! what a treat! they’d come by to check in and say hi (they weren’t racing that weekend, but were hanging out at their cabin on higgins lake). i stopped for a few minutes to chat (i’m such a girl) and then i was off again. i decided that i really like the climby section along the road between mile 5 and 6 – last year i hated that section.

i did fumble just at the end of the singletrack on my second lap .. the exit out of the woods is a big sandy pit that starts about 30 feet from the exit on a steep downhill… i was tired and accidentally grabbed a chunk of front brake and did a slow motion psuedo-endo dismount that left me with 3 friction burn/bruises from stopping my front tire with my legs and a handlebar shaped bruise on my inner thigh…

total buzz killer

*sigh* i was somewhat relieved to feel the raindrops on my arms when i left the woods. i knew that meant i wasn’t going to get another lap in, but truth be told, the sandpit at the end of that sweet single track really knocked my motivation down .. so, i got to the pits and chatted with robin and shari for a bit. after they left, i went back to the condo, had a long hot shower, ordered some pizza/breadsticks/coke and feasted.

as it turned out, nick didn’t race.. he woke up on saturday with a bad sinus headache, stuffy nose and overall spring-time allergy hell .. he decided to save the $$ and volunteer at a road crossing & be pit bitch instead.. i have to say, it was nice having him around all day.. and, i got to drink the sustained energy drinks that i’d made for him 😀

to top this all off – and, there will be more to come on the following – on Sunday we rode Bruno’s Run (near munising), on Monday we rode from my mom’s house in Sands Twp into MQT, grabbed some coffee and headed back, and today we explored some mt marquette singletrack that was wonderful … we might hit it again before we leave tomorrow if the weather holds out ..

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i'm in love

I’ve never fancied myself the type to ever be considered “A Single Speeder” .. Sure, I’ve always had fun on my single speed since I started playing around with it a year or so ago.. but, I figured I was a gears kinda gal and that’s the way it would be …

Until yesterday. When I fell in love with biking all over again.

12 hours of Addison Oaks – I rode out at Addison last weekend on the SS and had a good time. And since I was on a 4 person team and I’d probably only do 4 laps, I figured I’d start with the SS and see how many I could do.

So, the first lap was kind of rough; I was the last of 4 from my team to go, so I’d been sitting around since 9am (and it was somewhere around 2) .. Even though I turned a 43 minute lap (6.8 miles) – I thought I might have made a mistake with the SS. It was pretty tough. I decided to give it another shot for lap 2 anyway. I had a blast. That bike is SO fun to ride.

And, the more I rode the SS, the more I learned about riding. I learned alot about climbing and pacing yesterday. I learned that I can push myself alot harder than I thought, but without making myself much more tired. Basically, I learned how to ride a little smarter.

I decided to do lap #3 with Shari. She was getting tired and I always have fun riding with her because we just chat like girls for miles 😀 We had a good lap, I felt great on the SS and just wanted to keep going. When we finished the lap, she was told that her competition was out on another lap and that She needed to do one more. So, I grabbed my lights and went out with her for one final lap.

I ended up walking a bit more on my last lap, but considering the fact that I ignored nutrition all day, I think I did well overall.

I love my pink SS. Really. and I’m kind of shocked about it too 😀

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sooooo tired

so things went well with my upgrade last night and there was no real fallout from it today at work .. but, it was still a busy, nutty day today ….

i’m freaking exhausted ..

i have to get up early tomorrow so i can take the jeep in to get fixed .. the dealership works on a ‘first come first serve’ service basis .. so, i want to get there when they first open so hopefully i won’t have to be without the jeep all day long ..

cuz, i need to get to a bike shop tomorrow to get my SID fixed for the singlespeed … it needs a startnut after cutting the crazy long steerer tube (it was nick’s last 26er fork with a 8-1/2″ steerer tube for his XL frame) .. so .. i need to get that fixed because i really really want to ride the single speed for the 12 hours of addison ..

but, we got a lot of good stuff done today .. Nick packed the bike stuff up, found all of our blinky lights and bits and pieces .. i got some laundry done and cleaned out shania’s cage (yucky poopy cage .. grroose)

now we’re waiting for our food to be brought to us .. mmmm … food 😀

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noisy noggin

i’ve got a.d.d. and i’m prone to procrastination like no one else in the world .. and … i’ve got a lot going on these days … my head has been throbbing with nagging things …

[brain dump]
12 hours of addison: food, supplies, tents, clothes, registration, heed, recoverite, goo, fix my brakes, change the tire, cut the knob, email about the kid, and other miscellaneous crap along those lines; 24 hours of boyne: damnit, kim always gets the condo; lumberjack: cancel cabin reservation while she can still rent it out for that weekend; change control last saturday night; change control tonight; memorial day weekend: fix the jeep front end, oil change, supplies; need to get rid of the old couch because we have a new couch now and we don’t have room for both; water grass, don’t water grass, is the grass growing? the fence is down, clean up the poop[/brain dump]

if all goes well with my upgrade tonight, i just have to drag my sorry ass into work for one more day this week.. friday is compensation for working 2 late nights in a week .. i hope i can get the jeep fixed on friday .. and maybe have the couches taken away ..

tonight i canceled the cottage for lumberjack and let the kid’s mom know about the race this weekend .. earlier today i reserved a condo for boyne .. today at work i got caught up after loosing last week due to change control preparation (another story for another time) .. if all goes well with my upgrade tonight, it’ll be a good long weekend followed by 2 short work weeks…

next week, friday is vacation and travel to boyne .. saturday is the race, but only 12 hours this time .. sunday, we drive to the UP to celebrate dad turning 60.. monday is a holiday, tuesday and wednesday are more vacation and then there’s only 2 days of work left that week! (and i think my boss might even be on vacation those 2 days w00t) ..

if all goes well with my upgrade tonight, my brain might quiet down a bit … lets hope ..

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