Bike odometer: 1263
Weight lost: 58 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 7
Hours billed last week: 45
Aches & pains: right wrist, lower back
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Prey by Michael Crichton
Recent listening: The Pixies, The Rising Tied by Fort Minor, Collision Course by Jay Z with Linkin Park, Teaches of Peaches by Peaches, The Mercury Anthology by Rod Stewart, Meat Puppets II by Meat Puppets
Recent viewing: 2007 MTV Movie Awards, Ocean’s 12, Gilmore Girls, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Sportscenter, NBA Finals
Recent playing: Virus 2, Excite Truck
Recently accomplished: Paid bills, Tivo scheduling to ensure NBA Finals are recording while I’m gone, dropped bike off at Bike Gallery, renewed BTA membership, packing list for WWDC
Imperative To Do: Pack for WWDC, RMA old Tivo drive, backup Thomas, backup Graham, backup Tina, sift through inbox, CDs to post office, return cans
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 884
Weight lost: 55 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 9
Hours billed last week: 40
Current reading: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Recent listening: Coverville, DrugMusic, Corinne Bailey Rae by Corinne Bailey Rae, Collision Course by Jay Z with Linkin Park, Chicago IX by Chicago, Randy Holden
Recent viewing: Suns at Spurs, The Office, War Wrecks of the Corral Seas, Sportscenter, Masters Sunday, Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards, Without a Trace, CSI: Miami, South Park, Countdown
Recent playing: Spikey’s Bounce Around, Clue (Simpsons edition), Chicken and Egg
Recently accomplished: Paid bills, cleaned cat box, caulked SE downspout, turned and harvested compost, weeded and planted new grass, groceries
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, backup Thomas, backup Graham, backup Tina, mow back lawn, bank deposit, renew BTA membership, pickup tire at Bike Gallery
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 726 miles
Weight lost: 57 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 9
Hours billed last week: 41
Total mice caught: 15
Current reading: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
Recent listening: Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull, Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Corinne Bailey Rae by Corinne Bailey Rae
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, CSI: Miami, Countdown, High Stakes Poker, Academy Awards, Independent Spirit Awards
Recent playing: Donut Games, Tower Blaster
Recently accomplished: Successful Cub Scout presentation (tears were shed, spines were tingled), installed CD burner and USB 2.0 PCI card for Thomas, bought and returned new front bike fender (didn’t fit), moved music to new hard drive
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, hair cut, fix bathroom sink, buy front bike fender, taxes, taxes, backup everyone’s computer
Rick Rubin Rocks
In case you didn’t notice, Rick Rubin took home three big awards at the Grammies on Sunday (Best Rock Album, Album of the Year, Producer of the Year). I found this interesting article about him (and the Dixie Chicks) using Google News.
Vital Statistics
I sold my truck on Thursday night. Tina has a friend, Robert, who has a nephew who wanted to fix it up and resell it. When he showed the conversation went like this:
He: How much are you asking?
Me: Fifty bucks.
He: Will you take forty?
Me: (rolling eyes and laughing) Yes.
I hadn’t been in the truck for quite some time so I was surprised how familiar it smelled when I sat in it the last time to start it (with a jump from the van). I suppose I’ll miss it but our last few years together were rocky. It’s probably better we go our separate ways.
According to MPG, an auto tracking program I’ve used for most of the time I had the truck, my total vehicle cost (including gas) was around $7500. I purchased it in the fall of 1995, when Tina was pregnant with Thomas. I drove it about 80,000 miles in the twelve years since. It ran better on “Plus”. It leaked a little oil and the transmission would get cranky when it was low on fluid. I bought a case of each just for the truck. The cab was always messy but it was perfectly functional and had everything I needed for truck use: tie-downs, rope, chains. It had a pretty cool cassette deck with an iPod jack that Tina got me one year at Costco. I pulled it out before selling it, but I don’t know what I’ll do with it. I had to slide the seat all the way back when I drove. The seat back wouldn’t fold forward when the seat was all the way back though. The truck came with a locking gas cap. Someone broke the key once and I had to replace it. Eventually, I replaced it again with a non-locking cap because it was such a pain in the ass to explain to the station attendants here how it worked. Nobody stole my gas after that. I’ve driven that truck to four different jobs over the years and hauled many loads of yard debris and junk. I guess I will miss it.
Bike odometer: 111 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Spillane by John Zorn, Grace by Jeff Buckley, One Hot Minute by Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Decemberists
Recent viewing: 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Late Night with David Letterman
Recent playing: Zuma, poker
Recently accomplished: Sold truck, recycling, grocery shopping, sprayed the driveway weeds
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool Video: Colbert and Stewart at the Emmy Awards (“Good evening, godless Sodomites”)
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Vital Statistics
My friend, Don Fitzgerald, helped me construct a bench on Saturday to reinforce the sagging rail on my deck. The bench turned out great and now the rail is rock-solid. Don was proud that we only had 4 scraps of wood left when we were done.
I’ve got some pictures from the sleep clinic that I’m sorting through. I’ll have those up some time this week.
Bike odometer: 82 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: NPR Story of the Day, Science Friday
Recent viewing: Brainiac, 2006 World Series of Poker, Monk, FIBA Championships, Emmy Awards
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Finished Zuma, built a bench on our deck, deck maintenance, cleaned up the work bench in the garage, cleaned and lubed bike, paid bills, helped Thomas design a Lego steering mechanism
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds, design a better steering mechanism
Cool Link: Why not impeachment? by Bill Maher