Enduringness

Cutting the cord

2011-09-14T21:01:00.000-05:00

I was an early adopter for satellite TV. I got fed up with Charter in 1995 or 96 and signed up with DirecTV/USSB. The receiver cost around $500 but it was worth it to not have to deal with cable anymore. I stayed with them for quite a while.
In 2004, I wanted to get a DVR so I called DirecTV to see what it would cost to upgrade. I didn't like the deal they offered so I checked with Dish Network and they offered me a better deal. When I called DirecTV to cancel, all of a sudden they had a better deal available. I told them "Too late."
Over the years the prices crept up. When I got a HD TV I added the HD package. I also upgraded to the top 250 package to get Versus (to watch the Tour de France). Eventually I was paying $87/month, without any premium movie channels. I cut back to the Top 120 for $51. I then found out that it didn't include Fox Sports Midwest so i added it back for an extra $5.
$56/month still seemed like too much so I started looking around for options. Dish did not have a better deal available. U-verse is not available in my area. Cable still seems to be more expensive than satellite. DirecTV wanted to mess around with a 2 year commitment that was cheap the first year and whatever they felt like charging for the second year.
I was starting to get frustrated that I would not find a cheaper option. Then I talked to someone who did not have cable or satellite and just had Netflix. After looking into it I decided to switch.
My wife does not watch much TV so she did not have an opinion. My kids were concerned about the shows that they wouldn't be able to watch any more, but they were sold once the saw all the things that they could watch. My 11 year old was nostalgic about watching Rugrats again.
The sticking point for me was watching the Rams. Now that I've watched football using a DVR, I can't go back to watching it live. I can get all of the local stations using a cheap antenna so that's not an issue. And I discovered that I have everything that I need to use my computer as a DVR. It came with a tuner card, and I can use my XBox the show it on my TV via Windows Media Center.
Baseball will be an issue next year, but I am hopeful that there will be a solution. I will detail the issues in a future post.
I officially canceled Dish Network on Sept 5. Of course, all of a sudden they had a new deal available. They same package I had but for $36 instead of $56. If they had offered that when I had first asked, they probably could have kept me as a customer. Of course, by then it was too late. I was quite happy to be able to turn them down.

Zap and Me

2011-08-23T19:47:00.002-05:00

Even before we got married, Helen let me know that she wanted a cat and I let her know that I didn't like cats. Eventually I relented and in 1992, after we had been married for about 4 years, I told her that she could get a cat for her birthday.

Helen wanted a playful cat so she picked out the most active cat from the shelter, a female gray tabby kitten. I picked out her name: Zap. Little did Helen realized what getting a playful kitten meant. Zap had very strong instincts. She would stalk Helen, then run up behind her and pounce, bite, and run away.

I always thought that cats were independent and Zap was no exception. But Zap was also a loving cat. Unfortunately she sometimes seemed to love me more than Helen. Zap would lay on my lap and look over at Helen as if to say "I've got your man." Zap's idea of the pecking order was me at the top, then Zap, and the Helen as the number 2 wife. I think that Zap was willing to accept my dominance because I once bit her (not hard) on the back of her neck.

Zap was also affectionate towards Helen. We let her sleep in our bed even though she did the typical cat thing of laying on our heads.

When Rachel was born, Zap was 8 years old and had mellowed some. Even so, it took Zap a little while to accept Rachel. When Rachel got older Zap helped teach her how to be gentle with animals. She did this by biting anyone who got to rough with her. She would later teach A.J. the same lesson.

As time went on she slowed down but she was actually quite healthy. She had pink eye once so we had to put stuff in her eyes. There were also a couple of time when she had to take pills for several days. This was not fun for either her or us.

She gave us a scare a few months ago by getting outside and disappearing. We though that she was gone for good but a good Samaritan found her and was able to return her to us because we had her chipped when she was just a couple of years old.

Over the past week or so she really started to show her age. She could make it up and down the stairs any more so we put a litter box upstairs. She stopped sleeping on the bed and started sleeping on the couch, and eventually the floor. She wasn't eating solid food so we gave her chicken broth.

It was obvious that she didn't have much time left so Helen made sure that the kids told her that they loved her before they went to bed on Monday night. Zap passed away quietly in her sleep later that night.

You were a good cat Zap. I loved you and I'll miss you.

Moonlight Ramble

2011-08-17T20:11:00.002-05:00

The Moonlight ramble is a midnight bicycle ride held on the Saturday in August closest to the full moon. Typically there are over 10,000 riders. I had never done the it before but I had always wanted to. I mentioned to Rachel in July and she was excited about doing it.

The weekend before the Moonlight Ramble we did a ride to get ready. We did 9 miles on a very hot Saturday. This was a new personal record for distance for my daughter. The weather cooled off in the next few days so we had great temperatures for the ride.

We headed to the start at about 10pm on the 13th. I wanted to get there early because we hadn't pre-registered. They were so well organized that it only took a few minutes to register. Since we had some time to kill we wandered around and bought some Ted Drewes. Rachel really wanted to do the long route (17+ miles). I told her that I we could try it but I would ask her again once we got to the point where the routes split. There was a lot going on in downtown Saint Louis that night: the Moonlight Ramble, a Cardinal game, a Rams preseason game, and a Taylor Swift concert.

They release the riders a few hundred at a time so it takes a while to get everyone on the road. I was a little worried that we might be the slowest riders but that was not a problem. The streets are closed off so we did not have to worry about cars, but we did have to worry about other riders. Only about half the riders had any sort of lights. I had put my extra lights on Rachel's bike so she had both headlights and tail lights. At one point another rider said that he thought we were a car coming up behind him with our headlights side by side.

Rachel had a great time and had no problem choosing the long route we we split off. There were a few time that the large number of riders cause some congestion but no real problems. Rachel listened to my suggestions and improved as the ride progressed. We were both annoyed by all the speed bumps in Tower Grove Park.

After we finished the ride, Rachel was willing to ride back to our car on the street. She normally doesn't like riding where there are traffic lights but her confidence was very high. She was already talking about doing this next year.

Familiar danger vs unfamilar danger

2011-08-08T23:43:00.002-05:00

I rode with my friend Eric after work today. We rode about 23 miles, mostly on a bike trail. He drives to work and brought his bike with him. He mentioned that he was about halfway to work this morning when he realized that he had forgotten his helmet. He turned around and went back and got it. I told him that that may not have been the best decision from a safety standpoint.

I believe that riding with a helmet is safer than riding without one, So turning around made his bike ride safer. But what about the extra 10 miles he drove? Obviously driving has a risk associated with it so driving 10 miles is less safe than not driving that distance.

Any actuaries want to weight in on this?

(I don't know what the helmet laws are in St. Louis so let's leave them out of this problem.)

Equipment problems

2011-07-03T16:45:00.002-05:00

Last week I decided to go on a group ride with some people from the St. Louis bicycling group on Meetup.com. Unfortunately I hit a pothole and got a flat on my way to the start. I put on my spare tube but I broke the valve stem while inflating it. This meant that I had to call Helen to pick me up.

On Friday, I had a spoke break while riding home from work. The rear wheel was rubbing the frame so there was no thought of continuing my ride. Helen had to pick me up again.

I haven't had to call for a rescue for quite a while and no I've done it twice in a week. I hope that this takes care of my quota for a while.

On the bright side, Maplewood Bicycle was able to fix the wheel while I waited on Saturday morning. I was expecting to have to leave it for a few days.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-31T20:10:00.006-05:00

On the Thursday before Labor Day, Zac took me to the ends of the Earth to pick up my chicken coop. If I had know how much trouble it would have been, I would have paid extra for door to door delivery.

On Friday, Rachel and I made a birthday card for Helen. While Helen was at the grocery store, we went through her scrap-booking supplies and picked out materials for the card. We managed to finish the card before she got back.

On Saturday, I made waffles for Helen's birthday breakfast. We gave her her gift and her card. Then I put the chicken coop together. Later we went to Onesto for dinner.

On Sunday, Rachel and I went to the recycling center. We usually walk and pull a wagon, but this time we rode our bikes. We had the boxes that the chicken coop came in as well as the regular recycling so we had to make two trips. It was still quicker than walking and Rachel was proud that we rode almost 4 miles. I also mowed the lawn.

Originally we had all planned on going to Six Flags on Monday. But Rachel got invited to go swimming with a friend. I took A.J. to Six Flags and Helen had to stay home without anyone to keep her company.
A.J. and and I did strictly water rides. The Big Kahuna, Tornado, Wahoo Racer, Thunder River, Tidal Wave, Wave Pool, and Hook's Lagoon. We left the park to go to a late lunch at Pizza Hut. We had planned to go back but A.J. decided that we should just go home. He declared that it was the best day ever.

First brevet of the season

2011-04-03T21:11:00.002-05:00

I missed the first few scheduled brevets this year, but I decided to do the 200K this past weekend. I've said in the past that I should be able to roll out of bed and do a century with no preparation and that's almost what this was. I have not been doing nearly enough long rides. In fact the longest ride I had done this year was a 21 mile ride in February.

Helen dropped me off in Edwardsville about 15 minutes before the 6 am start. There were about 15 people there, some for the 200K and some for the 300. It was still dark and a little chilly. The forecast called for a high near 60 and winds out of the WNW. This meant that we would have a headwind on the way back.

No one seemed to be interested in setting too fast a pace at the start. As usual I stayed with the front group. I do this, not because I'm fast, but because I don't know how to pace myself. I was also having problems with my bike computer so I had no idea how fast we were going.

I dropped behind the front group at the stop at Pocahontas (mile 24), but managed to catch back up in the next few miles. There were 5 of us at this point. We took turns pulling with Louis doing most of the work. Louis is an incredibly strong rider who has being doing this since 1985. We stopped at the first checkpoint in Breese (mile 51) and then stayed together until the 200K turnaround at Okawville (mile 78). There, one rider continued on the 300K and the remaining four of us turned back to complete the 200K.

Now we were heading back into the wind. Louis did almost all of the pulling for the remaining 50 miles. We made one more stop at St Jacob (mile 107) and the continued to the finish (mile 126). We finished at 2:39pm giving us a time of 8:39. This is my fastest 200K time. I certainly could not have done it without Louis's help.

I felt pretty good on the ride. I was hurting towards the end but being with a group of people help to keep me motivated. The Camelbak seemed to work well for me. I got a little sunburn on my face because I did not put on any sunblock.

I did not eat that much this ride. Some chocolate milk at Pocahontas, a doughnut in Breese, a Landshire cheeseburger and soda in Okawville, and Another soda at St. Jacobs. Not a lot of food considering that I burned an estimated 5000 calories. But I never felt like I was bonking.

I hope to do the 300K in two weeks. For that I will need to rent a car or make other transportation arrangements. I'm not going to make Helen dropped me off for a 5am start and pick me after 8pm.

Busy Weekend

2011-02-06T17:12:00.005-06:00

On Friday I celebrated my birthday. My birthday is actually this Wednesday but I hijacked the first Friday of the month get-together at work (and I also invited non-work people). We went to the City Museum. Turnout was pretty good even though some people couldn't make it. I ended up crawling through the caves until closing (1 am).

I was a little sore the next day. But it was warm but it had snowed 2-3" so the kids and I built an igloo.

On Sunday, I was really sore but Helen suggested that we go sledding. We went to Lindenwood Park and had a really good time.

Cold, Snow, and Bicycles

2010-12-13T21:22:00.005-06:00

I woke up Sunday morning to see the ground covered in snow and more coming down. I think we got a couple of inches by the time it was done. The kids were excited by the first snowfall of the season. I was a little concerned about what the roads would look like on Monday.

I got ready by swapping tires on my fixed gear. Out with the 23mm slick tires and in with the 32mm tires with tread. These are not specifically winter tires but I used them last winter and they seemed to do pretty well. The drawback to these tires is the higher weight and higher rolling resistance. Swapping the tires also gave me a chance to practice removing and reinstalling the rear wheel on the fixed gear.

Luckily the roads were in pretty good shape by Monday morning. The worst street was the street that I live on. It was better by the time I got to the next block. There were a few places where I had to ride on packed snow but for the most part the roads were clear. The bike lanes were unusable for the most part.

Another problem was the cold weather. It was 8 degrees for the morning commute, with a sub-zero wind chill. The ride home was in the teens, but there was less wind. I didn't have any problems, but I did have ice in my moustache by the end of the ride.

The next three Rams games don't matter

2010-12-09T19:47:00.002-06:00

This is not a sports blog, but I do enjoy watching sports (mostly baseball and football). I have been very pleased with how the Rams have been doing this year. They are not a good team yet, but the are certainly improving. After last years 1-15 season anything more than 4 wins would have a cause for celebration.

Because they are in the NFC West, the Rams have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. Everyone expected the 49er's to walk away with the division this year but that didn't happen. The Rams and the Seahawks are currently tied for the division lead right now with a record of 6 and 6. The Rams hold the tie-breaker because they beat the Seahawks but that doesn't help them unless they beat the Seahawks in the last week of the season.

In the next three games, the Rams face New Orleans, Kansas City, and San Francisco. Seattle faces San Francisco, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay. Realistically I expect both teams to go 1-2. So it should come down to that finally game between them. In fact, the only way that the last game doesn't decide the division winner is if one of the two teams picks up two games in the next three.

Here's why: If Saint Louis and Seattle are tied going into the final game, obviously the winner will have the better record. If Saint Louis is trailing by one game and then wins, they will win the tie breaker because the will have beaten Seattle twice. If Seattle is trailing by one game and wins the final game then they win the tie breaker because the head to head record will be even and Seattle will have more division wins.

In all of this, I've been ignoring San Francisco. They have not been mathematically eliminated, but they would need to go 4-0 or 3-1 over the last 4 games to have a shot. While they do have an easy schedule, the Rams can all but eliminate them if they beat them.

So that's why I don't think the next three games matter. Please comment if you disagree, or if I've made mistakes in my analysis.

Wheel Problems

2010-12-06T20:24:00.002-06:00

After I got to work on Friday, I noticed that the rear brake was rubbing. While adjusting it, I noticed that the spokes were very loose. Loose enough that I didn't feel comfortable riding home. I figured that it was better to call Helen to pick me up than to call her when I was halfway home.

I took the bike into Maplewood Bicycle and they decided to do a warranty replacement on the wheel. I had a problem with the spokes loosening shortly after I bought it in August. This means that I will be without the bike until Wednesday.

I rode my Lightspeed to work on Monday morning. Unfortunately I did not realize that I had left my headlight on the Salsa until I was ready to leave on Monday night. Fortunately, Matt E. was still there and he gave me a ride home. Actually I had him take me to Maplewood Bicycle so I could pick up the headlight and I walked from there. Matt offered to drive me home after that, but I needed to stop and pick up some dinner on the way home. It was cold (upper twenties) but it's only about a mile and a quarter walk and I was dressed warmly.

Helen will have to take me to work tomorrow and then I should be able to ride home.

Longer Commute

2010-11-10T20:00:00.002-06:00

For the past two days I've been working from my company's satellite office near Scott Air Force Base. This is a sneak preview of what my working location might be for the next year or so. Since this is about 30 miles from my house, it presents a commuting challenge for someone without a car.

Google maps estimates that it would take 40 minutes to get there if I was driving, about 2 hours using public transportation, and 2 hours and 45 minutes cycling. Using a combination of cycling and public transportation, I am able to make the trip in about an hour and a half.

If this becomes long term (which is the plan) I will have three options: continue with this commute, buy a car, or find a new job. I don't went to spend all day commuting. We've been a one car family for over 4 years so I'd hate to buy a car. But I also really like my job so I don't want to find a new one. There aren't any easy answers, but it's not a decision that I have to make right away.

Riding at night

2010-11-04T06:32:00.002-05:00

I like riding at night as long as the weather isn't bad. Last night I left work late enough that it was fully dark when I started my commute. The temperature was in the upper 50's. There are several advantages to riding later than usual: There was no wind, traffic was lighter than usual, and I felt like I could just take it easy.

The school of hard knocks

2010-08-27T18:36:00.003-05:00

From my reading, I knew that I would have to take corners slower on my fixed gear. This is to prevent the pedal from hitting the ground and causing a crash. Unfortunately, I did not slow down enough on on turn this morning and I crashed. I got some road rash on my elbow and shoulder, and pretty much just banged up the left side of my body. Fortunately there were no serious injuries. I got back on the bike and rode the rest of the way to work. I felt OK while I was riding, but once I got to work and stopped, everything started to stiffen up. I'll take it easy this weekend and I probably feel better in a couple of days.

Backpack, Backpack

2010-08-24T06:27:00.003-05:00

Since my regular commuter bike is in the shop being converted to a fixed gear, I riding my Litespeed to work. It doesn't have a rack so I needed another way to carry my clothes and computer. I decided that buying a camelback backpack would be the best way to go. That lets me carry my stuff and I can also use it to carry water on my longer rides.
I used it for the first time on Monday. It is going to take a little getting used to. Weight on your back feels heavier the weight in panniers. Also, my back was a little sore after I got to work.

Converting to a fixed gear

2010-08-21T08:12:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, my rear shifter stopped working on the way to work. I thought it was a broken cable since I've had that happen several times on this bike. I rode the rest of the way to work and rode home in a single gear. I dropped the bike off at Maplewood Bicycle to have them take a look at it.

Josh called me on Friday to let me know that the shifter was broken. It was going to be rather expensive to replace so I told him that I was thinking about converting it to a fixed gear. I thought about it for a while and decided to do it.

There are a few reasons for riding a fixed gear. Since I ride in bad weather, there are fewer parts to wear out. Some people say it gives you better control on the bike in bad conditions. Since there is only one gear you have to work harder up the hills, but that makes you stronger.

This week

2010-08-05T19:32:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, I went on my first long ride on the new bike. It was a social ride with four other people: Jeff, Theresa, Pam, and George. The plan was to ride to Fast Eddie's in Alton, have something to eat, and then ride back. This was not a hammer fest and we averaged about 14 mph.

We got to Fast Eddie's around 1:30 at it was packed. We would have had to wait an hour to get anything to eat. Since we were too hungry to wait, so we went to McDonald's instead.

The ride back was at about the same pace, but George and I sprinted ahead for a little bit and then waited for everyone to catch up. After we had cross back over the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, Theresa was ready to pack it in. She had already almost doubled her previous longest ride and she was done. Pam decided to wait with her while Jeff went back to the start to get his car to pick them up. George and I rode with him.

We decided to hammer it pretty hard at this point to get Jeff to his car as quickly as possible. We had a slight tailwind so that helped our speed, but I was impressed that we were able to maintain 23 mph for several miles. In my head I was imagining myself as Jeff's lead-out man on a sprint to the finish. At one point we dropped George.

After leaving the Riverfront Trail, George caught up to us. Then it was my turn to get dropped when my rear light fell off crossing some railroad tracks. I stopped to get it and then got caught at an intersection. Now I had a new mental picture, I was a lone rider trying to bridge up to a breakaway. I did finally manage to catch them.

I ended up turning for home before we got back to the start. Jeff and George made it back to the start and everyone made it home safely. I had a good time hope to do some more group rides this summer.

I was a little tired the next day riding to work, but nothing too bad. Tuesday evening, I was extra slow on the ride home. There were three reasons for this: One, I had given blood on the way to work that morning. Two, I was still a little tired from Sunday. And three , the temperature was 100° and the heat index was somewhere between stun and kill.

Wednesday was just as hot. When I left work, it felt like I was riding across a cast iron pan. Things aren't as bad once I get moving, and a get a little shade later in the ride. At least it's only about 8 miles.

The heat also cause a problem with my helmet mirror. The double sided tape that held it on had been weakening for a while and the heat finally did it in. I rode without it on Wednesday. This was the first time I had ridden without a mirror for quite a while and I really missed it. It just makes it so much easier to keep an eye on what's going on behind me. Especially when merging into traffic from the incredible disappearing bike lanes.

Bought a new bike

2010-07-31T15:43:00.002-05:00

I went splurge on a new bike last week. It's a Litespeed Xicon. It's a lot lighter than my Salsa Casseroll. Partly because my new bike is titanium and partly because the new bike doesn't have a rack or fenders. I also think that it's a little more aerodynamic.

It won't be my everyday commuter bike but I have ridden to work a couple of times. Each time I took an extra set of clothes the day before. This is because I don't have a way to carry much. The first commute was almost 3 minutes faster than my previous best.

Mediation

2010-06-25T06:24:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday, I went to mediation for my lawsuit about my accident. The judge said that we we had to at least try mediation before the case went to trial (the trial date was set for September). Mediation is different than arbitration in that the mediator has no power to enforce an agreement. The mediator can help the two sides reach and agreement but either side can walk away at any time.

Since I had never done mediation before, I had no idea what to expect. So far Coca Cola seemed to be doing everything they could to delay case. I didn't know if they would be negotiating in good faith, or just showing up because they had to. We met at a mediation company downtown. There were me and my lawyer, Coke's representative and their lawyer, and the mediator. We started out in one room where each lawyer explained their case. After that, the Coke people went to a different room and the mediator went back and forth talking to each of us.

The negotiations were based not on the facts of the case, but on what a jury might believe. For example, I think that the evidence and witness show that the Coke driver did not have a left turn arrow like he claimed he did. But Coke's lawyer would try to convince a jury that he did. People on the jury might have a bias against cyclists. The accident took place in St. Louis County so that might mean the jury is stingier than one in St. Louis City. Coke wanted to keep there name off the lawsuit because a jury would give more money in a lawsuit against a corporation that they would in a lawsuit against John Smith.

After about four hours we came to an agreement. People have asked me if I think that it's fair. I tell them that fair has nothing to do with it. I didn't get what I think I deserved, I got what I could get. If the case went to trial, there is the possibility that I would get nothing.

There is one thing left to be negotiated. Anheuser-Busch still gets a chunk of money for the medical payments that they made. I have no problem with that, we just want them to pay a share of the attorney's fees. My lawyer is still talking to the subrogation company to work something out. That will affect the amount of money that I get.

400K

2010-05-11T20:48:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday was the 400K. I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to do the ride because I was having trouble arranging a ride to the start. I had talked to George about getting a ride but I had trouble arranging the details. I had pretty much decided that I wasn't going to do the ride until George called me Friday afternoon.

I still needed to ride home Friday evening into a very strong headwind. Then I rode the Heights for A.J.'s birthday party. He had a pool party so I needed to be in the water to help watch the kids. Everyone had a good time but we didn't get leave until around 8:00. I rode home and helped get the kids in bed. After that I started getting everything ready. George was going to pick me up at 4:00 am so I set my alarm clock for 3, or at least I meant to. The alarm wasn't set but I woke up at about 3:50. I quickly did the last few things that I needed to do but I didn't have time to eat breakfast.

We got to Edwardsville and turned in our registrations. After the rider meeting and having our lights and reflective gear inspected, everyone was ready to go. I was more than ready actually because it was chilly and I was ready to start riding to warm up. It was very windy, but at least it was out of the west so we would have a tailwind for the first 30 miles.

At 5:00 we started the ride. I started out with another rider up front. I knew that I would not be up front for very long so I was not surprise when some other riders caught up to us after a few miles. I hung out with the front group for a while but once I noticed that we were cruising at 24 mph I decided to drop back. There was a strong tailwind but that's still very fast.

I stopped in Pocahontas (mile 24) to get something to eat. With the tailwind I has a 19 mph average at this point. I was able to get back on the road pretty quickly. I rode with several different riders through Breese (mile 51) and then to Okawville (mile 78). I was riding with George into Okawville. He had said that he would give me a ride home if we finished near the same time but I told him that he would most likely finish long before me.

A few riders passed me while I was in Okawville, but I managed to catch them once I got back on the road. I caught up with Scott who also offered to give me a ride home, but he later had two flats in succession and had to abandon.

I was still feeling pretty good when I got to Ava (mile 150). As I was getting ready to leave, a man came up to me and said "I think one of your buddies left this." It was a Ziploc bag containing a phone, cash, and brevet card. I thanked him and said that I would catch up to the owner.

It belonged to Dan, a rider on a recumbent who was doing his first 400K. I was able to catch him before he noticed that he had forgotten it so he hadn't needed to backtrack. At this point I was starting to feel tired. We had turned into the wind before Ava and this section was pretty hilly. After we stopped so I could give Dan his belongings, I took a 10 minute break on the side of the road. I caught up to Dan and another rider at Sparta (mile 177).

Many of the convenience stores along the route have places to sit. The checkpoint at Sparta did not. This was disappointing because I really wanted to be able to sit somewhere besides a curb. It was starting to get dark so we put our reflective gear
back on and turned on our lights. It was also getting colder.

I suggested that we stop in Coulterville (mile 186) because that would be the last place for supplies until New Baden (mile 217). Coulterville didn't have place to sit either so it was a relatively quick stop. When we started up again after a stop, I really felt the cold. This was because we were moving so we had wind but we hadn't warmed up yet. At least the wind had died down by this point.

Once we got to New Baden we were really starting to feel the miles. We joked about quitting but I think that if one of us had quit the rest might have too. We stopped over an hour and a half. I think all three of us took a short nap. I know I did. Quitting at this point would have been pretty silly because we only had 32 miles to go and over 7 hours left on the clock.

We started the final leg at 12:45am. The nap in New Baden had really improved my mood. I guess being so close to the end helped too. I was a little concerned about the battery for my headlight. It was rated to last 7 hours at low power (which it was I was using) but I estimated I would have had it on for more that that when I finished (including the time I used it in the morning). I had a backup headlight but I was not looking forward to switching them by the side of the road.

We finished the ride at 3:50. 22:50 is not a great time but it is well before the deadline of 27 hours. Zac came and got me and took me home. I owe him big time for that. I showered, slept for about three hours, and then got up to make waffles (from scratch) for Helen for Mother's Day. After that I went back to bed for another hour or so.

Motivation

2010-04-26T12:18:00.002-05:00

Last year I made a deal with my daughter. When she learned how to ride a bike, I would buy her a real bike. She was never very motivated though, and I had to nag her to get her to practice. She made progress but never seem to be able to make everything click.

This year, she has a friend who lives on the next block. Her friend rides a bike and this got Rachel motivated. She wanted to be able to ride a bike to her friend's house. We talked about this last week and she decided that she would learn how to ride a bike on Saturday. I told her that it might take more than one day but she was determined.

It was supposed to rain off and on all weekend so we started about 9 am on Saturday. We went up and down our driveway. I would give her a push to get started and then run alongside her. This was hard on me because I can't run without pain since the accident. She did very well, and by noon she was able to go up and down the driveway with only a little help to get started.

Since she had fulfilled her part of the bargain, we were off to Maplewood Bicycle to pick out a bike. We had looked at them before so I had a good idea what she wanted. Jessica was a great help.

Once we got home Rachel was eager to ride the new bike. It took a while for her to get used to the the hand brakes and to the size of the bike, but she was undaunted. For the rest of the weekend, whenever the rain stopped, whe wanted to be on that bike. Even when she feel she got right back on it. We even went for a ride around the neighborhood together. She was on the sidewalk and I was on the street. This was a little tough for her because the sidewalk is narrow and bumpy with lots of nearby obstacles. I told her that, if the weather was nice, I would take her to a bike trail next weekend. Someplace that is not crowded.

300K

2010-04-11T14:40:00.002-05:00

The 300K started at 6:00 AM. Since we only have one car, Helen and the kids had to get up early so Helen could drive me to the start. I was a little slow getting ready so we did not get there as early as I would have like but I did have time to turn in my registration and get ready before the start.

The weather would be warmer later in the day, but it was still in the 40's when we started. I started off wearing a jacket, tights, and full fingered gloves. As usual I hung out with the front group once we started. I thought that Scott was in that group too but I realized later that it was someone else.

The front group was about 9 people. The pace began to pick up and a few people (including me) got dropped. The group slowed down enough for us to latch back on. We got into Pocahontas at 7:26 at a 17 mph average. At the stop, I took off my jacket but forgot to put on sunscreen.

Shortly after Pocahontas, the route turned south into the wind. The wind would be coming out of the south at about 15 mph for most of the day. I was glad that I had a group to ride with for this section. The first checkpoint was at Breese. We had average almost 18 mph between Pocahontas and Breese. Here I took off my tights and put on sunscreen.

Not too long after Breese, I was not able to keep up with the group. I rode by myself for a while until I was joined by a rider named George. He was seemed to be doing okay but he said that his knee was bothering him. He talked about abandoning the ride though I don't know if he was seriously considering it. I told him that he was not allowed to quit before he got to Okawville. Experts say that if your are thinking about quitting a brevet you should stop, get something to eat, and rest at least 15 minutes first. This can help you metal state quite a bit. He decided to keep going and I ending up dropping back for a while. I did catch up to him in Okawville.

I ate ate and bought extra water in Okawville. I meant to put on more sunscreen but I left quickly because I wanted to ride with George and another rider. I wasn't able to stay with them for more that a few miles. I ended up stopping in New Minden to put on sunscreen and buy a snack. New Minden is the last place to buy supplies for the next 33 miles. There was an 18 mile section that was almost entirely south. During this part I was struggling to go more than ten or eleven miles an hour. I kept looking for a shady place to stop and rest. Illinois farm country does not seem to have much shade.

I finally saw a place around 2:00. I was about halfway between New Minden and Oakdale. I stopped and sat in the shade for about 15 minutes. I also called Helen and told her that I might not finish until 10. On the bright side I only had about 3 more miles until I reached the southernmost part of the route. After that the wind would be helping me (or at least not hurting me) for the rest of the ride.

I reached Oakdale at 3:35. The checkpoint there is also a restaurant so I had a second lunch and drank lots of water. I spent about 45 minutes there. I did remember to put on sunscreen this time. The next 30 miles were almost easy. On many of the northbound sections I was able to cruise at 20 mph because of the tailwind. I reached New Baden at 6:10.

I stopped to eat some ice cream and get more ice for my water bottles. While I was there I met Wayne. Wayne was not doing the ride but he lives along the route and like to ride portions of it with other riders. I was glad for the company since I had not seen any other riders for about 6 hours. I started feeling stronger at this point.

Not too much later, the sun started to set so I stopped to put on my reflective gear and to turn on my lights. I also called Helen and let her know that I would be done by 9:30. Wayne rode with me to St. Jacob where he lives. He told me he would ride farther but he didn't want to fight the headwind coming back. I didn't blame him and I was glad that he rode with me as far as he did.

It started to get a little cooler once the sun went down but it never got cool enough for me to need to put on my jacket. I was probably a little slower in this section because I would need to stop to look at my cue sheet. I was familiar with the route but I didn't want to make any navigational mistakes.

I finally finished at 9:18. 188 miles in 15:18. (11:30 rolling time).

After I got home I noticed that I had some sunburn. I think that this was because I didn't put on sunscreen often enough and because I missed some spots. This may have been why I fekt so weak during the middle of the ride.

Blood and sweat (but no tears)

2010-03-31T12:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I stopped on my way to work to give blood. Originally I had made an appointment to give on the 19th, but I wasn't feeling well that week. I did give the next week because I didn't want to donate in the week before the 200K.

I always make sure to take plenty of time to rest, eat, and drink before leaving the donation center.
It's only about two miles from the Red Cross to where I work so it's not a big deal to ride afterward. I actually feel it more on the ride home and for a few days after.

The weather has been incredible lately. I've ridden home in just shorts and jersey for the past several days. Today I was able to ride in to work with just shorts and jersey. The highs for today and tomorrow are supposed to be around 80 (that was the sweat, in case you were wondering).

One good turn deserves another

2010-03-29T21:43:00.003-05:00

When I went out to my bike this morning, I noticed that a couple of screws that hold the rear rack on were loose. I tightened them up and rode to work. They may have loosened during the 200K on while the bike was on the bike carrier on the car. When I got to work I noticed that one of the screws that I hadn't tightened was missing. I don't know if fell off during my ride or sometime earlier. I decided to stop at Maplewood Bicycle on the way home.

On the way home, my foot slipped off as I was clipping in and knocked one of the nuts of the front fender. I figured that this was something else that I could get fixed at the bike shop.

I little while later, someone called out to me from a bus stop on the other side of the street, "Hey, have you got any pliers?" Since I did have pliers I told him to hold on and I turned around and went back. He had some electric hedge clippers and something was caught between the blades. I let him use my Leatherman to fix it. He said that he rode a bike and that he used to live in Alaska. Oddly enough his name was A.J.

After helping him out, I rode off into the sunset (Well, it was evening and I was headed west). When I got to the bike shop, they replaced the screw and the nut. They didn't charge me anything. They told me that I could pick up the wheel tomorrow. Support your local bike shop and they will support you.

200K

2010-03-28T11:39:00.004-05:00

I have two sets of wheels for my current bike: the wheels that came with the bike and the wheels from my old bike. The wheels that came with the bike are a little wider and have 32mm tires with tread on them. The other wheels have 25mm tires with no tread.

I switched to the wider wheels after falling twice on the way to work one day when there was a little bit of snow on the ground. Idecided to switch back because I wanted the narrower wheels for the 200K this weekend. I switched them last weekend so that I would have time to deal with any problems during the week. You never want to make a change to a bike's configuration right before a long ride.

When I went out to the bike on Monday morning, I saw that the rim on the back wheel had failed. Part of the rim had separated and was curling out from the wheel. Rims do eventually wear out and the back wheel has several thousand miles on it. The front wheel had the rim and spokes replaced after the accident so it should still be in good shape.

I put the wider wheels back on and had Helen take the bad wheel to Maplewood Bicycle to be rebuilt. It was not going to be ready until after the 200K so I just planned on using the wider wheels.

The start of the 200K was at 7:00am on Saturday. It was about 40 at ride start with a southeast wind of about 15 mph. The route heads generally south and east so we expected to have a headwind on the way out and a tailwind on the way back. Rain was expected that evening but I was hoping to finish the ride before that.

I was a little chilly before the start but we warmed up once we started. I stayed with the front gorup at the beginning but I knew that I wouldn't last long. After one turn at the front I wasn't able to latch back on the end. This made it harder because the route was still heading east and I had no one in front of me to protect me from the wind. I had to work a lot harder and took my jacket off a little while later.

A couple of other riders caught up to me later and I rode with them for a short while. I lost them when I stopped in Pocahontas (mile 24) and they didn't. At mile 30 the route turned south but this didn't help much the wind. In some stretches I was struggling to maintain 12mph. At mile 36 the route turn towards the west and I was treated to a tailwind for three miles. I was able to travel at 20-25 mph for this stretch. Then the route headed south for 12 miles towards Breese.

In Bresse, at the first checkpoint (mile 51) I met Scott. I rode with Scott during large portion of the 400K and 600K back in 2007. He was on a fixed gear bike for the 200K but said he would use a geared bike for the longer rides. I ended up riding with him for most of the rest of the day. For the next 18 miles we were heading either south or east. When we headed south, I was having trouble keeping up with Scott since he is so strong. When we headed east we had a tailwind it was easy because the lack of gears limited his top speed.

At mile 69 mile made the last towards Okawville. This meant 9 miles heading southeast; almost directly into the wind. I soon realized that I would be able to keep up with Scott so I let him know that I would see him when I got there. When I finally reached Okawville (mile 78) I was pretty tired, but I was pretty excited to no have to worry about the headwind any more. Also the MotoMart in Okawville is my favorite convenience store in the world. It was about 1:30 so I called Helen and told here that I expected to finish around 5:30. After resting and eating, Scott and I got back on the road.

The first 10 miles out of Okawville were retracing our steps. the wind that was in our face was no at our backs. It almost felt like we were cheating but we earned that tailwind. After that we heading mostly north, but with the occasional section heading west. The wind seemed to be coming more out of the east than the south, but it was never headwind. We stopped and ate again in New Baden (mile 92).

We made the turn onto Fruit Road (mile 115) around 4:30. Now we were heading west for the last 10 miles we a tailwind the whole way. It felt like I could coast the rest of the way. Scott told me I did not have to slow down to stay with him but I didn't feel the need to push my speed. I enjoy riding with someone else.

We reached the final checkpoint at 5:14. That's a time of 10:14. My bike computer showed 8:31:31 rolling time and a distance of 128.06 miles.

I think I did pretty well considering that this was the first ride of more than 50 miles since the MS-150 in September 2008. I am not as fit as I was in 2007. I need to work on that to be ready for the longer rides.

Not feeling well lately

2010-03-07T20:14:00.002-06:00

On Wednesday night, after the kids had gone to bed, Rachel came running down the stairs yelling "Daddy, A.J.'s puking in the bed!" I went up with a towel and got him wiped off and put him in the tub. I then took the sheets and blankets to the laundry room. After he was cleaned up. I put him on the couch to sleep. Helen was at the grocery store so I called her to let her know what to expect when she got home. After doing all this I wasn't feeling too good myself. I figured that it was from dealing with a rather unpleasant task.

The next morning I still had an upset stomach. I ate breakfast and that did not help matters. I decided that I wasn't feeling good enough to ride to work so Helen was planning to take me to work after taking Rachel to school. A.J. was staying home, of course. While she was gone, my stomach convinced me that I, along with everyone where I work, would be better off if I stayed at home. I mostly sat around watching TV and not eating all day.

On Friday, I woke up, emailed work that I wouldn't be in, and then went back to sleep until about noon. A.J. stayed home again too. I started feeling better later in the afternoon but still had no appetite. I did end up a couple of slice of frozen pizza for dinner so I thought I was getting better.

Saturday I woke up with no appetite again. I had enough energy to go outside and play with the kids but not much else. Other than hot chocolate and crakers, I didn't really eat until dinner. I was definitely feeling better but not at 100%.

Today (Sunday) was more of the same: no appetite. I did more today than yesterday but I still get tired easily (probably has something to do with eating one meal a day). I actually feel like I can function but not being hungry is weird. If I could figure out what germ is causing this, I could sell it for a fortune as an appetite suppressant. Sure there are some side effects, but not nearly as bad as the side effects of the medicine that makes your eyelashes grow.

A.J. seems to be over the stomach problems. But started complaining of a sore throat yesterday and has been having trouble talking today. He is also very tired. He probably will be staying home again on Monday.

Right now I'm planning to go to work tomorrow. I may ride in. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Thank you

2010-03-03T21:56:00.002-06:00

On my to work this morning, a driver pulled up next to me and thanked me for signaling a turn. That put me in a good mood for the rest of the ride.

First long ride in a while

2010-02-28T13:21:00.002-06:00

I did my solo ride today. It was just under 50 miles. When I checked my stats, I realized that this was the first ride of any distance that I have done since August of last year. The first brevet of the season is in 4 weeks. It is 200K (125 miles) and I don't have any doubts about be able to complete it but the longer ones have me worried. I have not been doing as much riding as I did in 2007 and I am heavier, not to mention being older.

I think that I will use the same goals that I used in 2007:
Finish the 200K
Finish the 300K
Start the 400K
If I finish the 400K, start the 600K

Up Early

2010-02-27T11:11:00.002-06:00

The kids woke me up at 7:00 this morning so I decided to go on the Saturday morning ride at Maplewood Bicycle. I ate a quick breakfast, got dressed, at was at the bike shop by 7:25. Unfortunately, Maplewood doesn't seem to be doing the Saturday morning rides anymore. They apparently have a mountain bike ride at Castlewood Park. I considered doing a solo ride but decided against it because I didn't have my wallet or cell phone with me.

After I got home I checked around on the internet but didn't see anyplace that was doing any organized rides this weekend. I did see that Trailnet was having an indoor spinning class (ugh). I decided to do a solo ride tomorrow (Sunday). I might ride to Granite City and back. This would be about 45-50 miles.

Foreshadowing: your key to quality literature

2010-02-20T00:06:00.002-06:00

On my way home from Zac's house on Thursday night, I noticed that I had a stiff neck. I wondered why but didn't think any more about it. I woke up Friday morning with a sinus headache. For me, a sinus headache often starts in the back of my neck. If I had been thinking about I might have realized that this was the beginning of a sinus headache and taken some pseudoephedrine before I went to bed. I didn't do this and the woke up with a headache.

The worst part about waking up with a headache is that it means that I was sleeping with a headache and apparently that sleep doesn't count. Since I was was tired and in pain, I called in sick to work, took some medicine, and then went back to sleep.

I realize that a stiff neck is a symptom of a tension headache and not a sinus headache. I have decided to call them sinus headaches because the seem to be related to changes in the weather, sleeping doesn't help them, and sinus medicine helps them. Only pseudoephedrine works, not the replacement stuff. If the make it prescription only, it is going to be a real pain.

A bunch of small updates

2010-02-17T20:34:00.002-06:00

Here a bunch of little things that have happened recently.

A.J. lost his first tooth. He was very excited to get a dollar from the tooth fairy.

I gave up soda for the year as a new year's resolution.

I haven't ridden my bike in almost two weeks because of weather and laziness.

I joined a weight loss contest at work. I'm still the weight I started at. It could be because of not riding.

I currently weigh 207. That's way to heavy for me.

I'm given up beer again for Lent this year. Maybe that will help with losing weight.

I had a very good anniversary, birthday, and Valentines day. Those all come very close together for me. Freckles's birthday is in there too. He's our dog. The kids like to celebrate that.

How to make your bike feel faster

2010-01-16T10:01:00.002-06:00

Because of the snow, I didn't ride for several days. I finally rode this past Tuesday. Since I was a little worried about the roads I decided to ride my old bike (the hybrid) instead of my road bike. That turned out to be unnecessary because the roads were okay. After I got to the office, I knocked the headlight off my bike and broke it. I guess I did not snap it into the mount when I moved it from the other bike. I didn't want to ride home without a headlight so Zac gave me a ride.

After that, I went to Maplewood Bicycle and bought a new light. It is a NiteRider MiNewt 200 and it is significantly brighter than my old light. I was very impressed when I rode home on Wednesday night.

I was back on the road bike on Thursday. After riding the hybrid the road bike felt incredibly light. That, and the warmer weather made me feel like pushing harder and riding faster than usual. I don't have stats on my ride because I've been having a problem with the mount for the bike computer. I ordered a new mount but I don't have it yet.

Better late than never

2009-12-08T19:08:00.002-06:00

I was quoted in the Post-Dispatch in an article about AB-InBev. I thought the article was good and gave a balanced view of the changes that happened in the first year after the takeover. The version in the paper had a small mistake that has since been corrected.

I still have a morbid curiosity about what happens at AB, even though it doesn't affect me any more. I still get occasional updates from people who are still there.

I am really enjoying my new job. I come every day and tell Helen that I had a good day at work. I don't remember the last time I was able to say that at AB.

Bad news, good news

2009-11-04T16:30:00.008-06:00

The Bad News
This morning I went to the consulting company that I will be working through for the job at Ameren. This involved filing out paperwork such as w-4, I-9, a contract with Ameren, and a contract with the consulting company. The agreement with Ameren was fairly typical. It included clauses saying that I would be a contractor (not an employee of Ameren), a confidentiality agreement, and that they own whatever code I wrote while I was there.
The agreement with the consulting company (who I have decided not to name) had a couple of clauses that I did not like. The first one looked like this:

Employee recognizes that (consulting company) has incurred expenses in pursuance of hiring Employee... Therefore, if Employee terminates employment with (consulting company) before six (6) months have elapsed, Employee will pay to (consulting company) the full amount of the agency fee incurred by (consulting company) in hiring Employee...

They said that this one did not apply because I was not hired through an agency. They did not have a problem with removing that clause. The other clause was more of a problem:

Employee agrees that during the term of his employment with (consulting company), and for a period of two (2) years following termination of such employment...Employee will not, in any way, directly or indirectly, for Employee's benefit, or on behalf of any other person, firm, partnership or corporation, solicit, entice, hire employ or endeavor to employ any of (consulting company)'s employees. Employee acknowledges that it would be difficult, if not impossible to compute the amount of actual loss or damage which (consulting company) might sustain by reason of violation by Employee of this paragraph and that any such violation would damage (consulting company) irreparably, and Employee acknowledges, accepts and covenants that the conditions of this Agreement are reasonable and necessary for the protection of (consulting company)'s business and that (consulting company) may enforce these terms by way of injunctive relief and/or money damages for any such violation.

I told them that I thought that this clause was too broad and for too long a period of time. I am not planning to become a head hunter, but I might recommend someone for a job sometime in the next two years. This would mean that a year and a half from now I couldn't suggest to someone that I worked with at AB to come work where I was working if they were employed by that consulting company.

They told me that they would not enforce the clause in that case and that they had never used that clause against anyone in the past. I suggested that they remove the clause or at least modify it to cover a shorter period (such as six months) and only to apply to people who I met through my employment with them. They were adamant that they would not change it at all. They suggested I take a couple of hours to think it over. I did not expect to change my mind, but I agreed just in case Helen told me that I was being an idiot.

I talked it over with Helen as she drove me to work at Asynchrony. She did not think that I was being unreasonable. I was disappointed that I wouldn't be working at Ameren, and at having wasted their time (and mine).

The Good News
The project at Asynchrony has been winding down. I told Brian that if he didn't need me to come in for the last two days that it was okay with me. I didn't want to be there if I was not contributing. I also told him that the 6 week project had fallen through, so I would probably be available at the beginning of December if they got the contract that they were bidding on.

Brian went to talk to his boss, and within an hour I had a job offer (okay, this time I buried the lead). They decided that they had enough work to keep me busy even if they didn't get the contract that they were bidding on. I accepted the offer with reservation. The were willing to have me start immediately, but I asked to take the rest of the week off. They were fine with that or even taking more time. I just wanted to take a few days off on purpose. You can't really enjoy having time off if you don't know when you are going to be working again.

I told Zac that I was either going to demand an X Box as a signing bonus, or that I was going to sneak out and buy one and tell Helen that it was a signing bonus. I didn't get the signing bonus, but don't tell Helen. XBoxes are on sale at Walmart this Saturday.

Another new job

2009-10-31T14:25:00.003-05:00

I interviewed with Ameren on Friday morning. The interview went very well and I expected to get an offer. Sure enough, the recruiter called that afternoon to let me know that Ameren wanted me. I told him that I would think it over and call him back later that afternoon.

I talked the situation over with Brian at Asynchrony. I would love to work for Asynchrony and I believe that Asynchrony would like to hire me. If they were guaranteed to get the contract they are bidding on, I would just wait for that and start there at the beginning of December.

Since that might not happen, I am going to take the job at Ameren. I will start there on November 9. That's immediately after I finish my current gig at Asynchrony. It finishes on Dec 18. There might be a position at Asynchrony at that time. The fact that Ameren is a short term position actually works in my favor.

If Asynchrony doesn't work out, there may be other positions available at Ameren. Or who knows, I may get a job at some other company that start with A. I have to admit that I've been very lucky. It seems that I've just been falling into great opportunities ever since I left AB.

Bicyle commuting to the new job

2009-10-29T21:32:00.002-05:00

I rode my bike to my new job for the first time today. It's actually a slight shorter commute than my old job (8 miles vs. 9 miles one-way). I haven't met any of them yet, but they are apparently a few other people who ride to work at least occasionally. It rained on the ride home. That gave me a chance to try out the shoe covers that I bought a couple a weeks ago. They worked great! My feet were dry even though it was raining heavily.

I really like working where I am now. It turns out that Carlos Brito gave great advice: go work for a technology company. I'm only there temporarily but I hope that it becomes permanent. I will actually be working next week as well so it's a two week gig instead of one week.

Tomorrow I have an interview for another temporary job. This one is for 6 weeks. I'm almost afraid that I'll get it. The good part is that it would be starting immediately after my current job ends. The bad part is that if I take it, it might keep me from working on the project that my current employer is bidding on. I guess I don't have to worry about that until I actually have an offer.

Job Update

2009-10-23T16:38:00.002-05:00

I've talked to a few recruiters this week and gotten some leads. One of the recruiters was a real downer. She spent a lot of time talking about how bad the job market was. She also was encouraging me to be submitted for a VB6 job. I decided that I wasn't that desperate yet. The other recruiters were much more helpful and I have been submitted at a couple of places.

I also found a one week temporary job. This is at the company where Zac works. I interviewed there a couple of weeks ago. The don't have a permanent place for me right now but they want me to help prepare a bid for a contract. If they win the bid (and they still like me after a week) there may be a position available for me.

I heard from a former coworker that links to my blog were widely circulated around the office. I guess that explains how "Glad to see you go!" found it.

The real reason I was let go

2009-10-22T20:56:00.002-05:00

Once AB signed Lance Armstrong, they didn't need me anymore.

The end of an era

2009-10-20T10:15:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to bury the lead: I was just let go by AB on Monday, along with about 40 other people from IT. I have been expecting this for some time and I'm glad to be out of there. I think that they could have handled it better.
The main problem that I had with InBev is that I am a developer and they don't do development. Carlos Brito, InBev's CEO, said that "if you want an IT career, go work for an IT company." This may explain why morale is even lower in IT than in the rest of the company. To InBev, it is very important to be aligned with the culture. The culture is about cost cutting, not questioning your superiors, and repeating the company line to your subordinates, even when you know it isn't true.

We have been told several times in the past that there would be no outsourcing. By the end of the year they plan to outsource several hundred jobs that are currently being done by contractors.

Earlier this year they claimed that they didn't cut the contractors pay by 10%. They claimed that they only cut the amount the paid the contracting companies by 10% the contractors. As if these two amounts were unrelated.

On Thursday my L3, (I was an L5 so that would be my boss's boss) to his entire group that he didn't know what would happen to the people who were not aligned with the culture. On Friday, they started letting those people go.

In the same meeting he said that they were going to start replacing people who left. I'll have to check with my former co-workers to see if they hire someone to replace me or anyone else who was let go. No one believes that they will.

I did not know it at the time, but I was actually scheduled to be let go on Friday. I had a touch of the stomach bug that has been going around so I stayed home. I checked my e-mail remotely and say a meeting invitation for a "private appointment" that afternoon. My boss was not invited to the meeting. I assumed that it was the meeting to ax me so I volunteered to come in. My L3 told me to stay home and that they would re-schedule it for Monday.

On Sunday, my boss called to tell me that he was pretty sure that the ax was about to fall. He knew that he was also not aligned with the culture so he would be let go too. I told him that I might not be that motivated on Monday morning so I'd be in a little late.

On Monday, I told the rest of the group what I knew. It was unofficial but that it was going to happen. Most of the news we here is through the grapevine so this is not that unusual. I kept checking my e-mail to see if they was going to be another meeting invitation. People started joking that they might drag this out a few more days. I spent most of the morning making sure that things were as organized as possible for a smooth transition.

Rick suggested that we go out to lunch one last time as a group. Since there was a meeting scheduled for 12:45, we left a little early. While we were eating, Rick got a call on his cell phone. It was our L3 asking if Rick I was with him. He then asked for my cell phone number. Rick told me that our L3 with be calling me in a few minutes.

When he called, he said that HR was waiting for me in his boss's (L2) office and that I needed to come back right away. He also said that he didn't expect me to go to lunch so early because I had come in late. At this point it was almost noon and he was the one who scheduled the 12:45 meeting. If I had gone to lunch any later, I would not have had a chance to eat. I told him that I had ridden over with Rick so I did not have a vehicle. He said "Can you drive Rick's car back and have him ride with someone else?" I responded, "That would be up to Rick." He told me to call him back if I couldn't find a way to get back.

Of course, everyone at lunch said to keep them waiting. What could they do, fire me? , on the other hand, just wanted to get this over with. Rick lent me his car since he is a genuinely nice guy. I boxed up the remainder of lunch, said my goodbyes, and headed back to the office.

Once I got there, I met with someone from HR and my L2. Neither one really knows me so this was just the impersonal, bureaucratic process that you would expect. I didn't mind that part. After that, a different L3 walked me back to my desk to collect my personal effects. I asked if I could go change into my cycling clothes for the ride home. He said, "As long as you make it quick. I have a meeting to go to." Like I was the one who had scheduled this.

That evening, I went to a happy hour for someone else who had recently put in their notice. MY boss, who had also been let go, was there. Many of the people there were interested in hearing the whole story.

I mentioned earlier that morale was low in IT. Here are some numbers to back it up. These are from a survey that InBev did earlier this year. I have no reason to believe that these numbers have gotten any better (except that I'm gone).

	Salaried (5662 people)	IT (444 people)
I am proud of the work I do	94%	90%
I am motivated to do what it takes to help the company win	85%	80%
I am satisfied with my line manager (direct supervisor)	78%	74%
I feel a real sense of ownership in the work that I do at AB InBev	70%	66%
I am proud to work for AB InBev	72%	60%
I am optimistic about the company's future	64%	57%
I feel that my opinions and ideas really count at work	55%	53%
A strong sense of commitment is shared by everyone in my department	55%	40%
I would stay at AB InBev even if I was offered another job at the same or slightly higher pay	45%	32%
I am satisfied with the training and career development opportunities at AB InBev	44%	20%
I feel informed about the changes the company has made, even if I don't agree with all the changes	64%	62%
Based on what I've learned about the new company's culture, I am or will be loyal to AB InBev	61%	59%
I am optimistic about my future with the company	42%	34%

Have I mentioned that I hate my job?

2009-10-13T20:02:00.002-05:00

I have been very unhappy with my job ever since InBev bought Anheuser-Busch late last year. The main problem is that I am a software developer working for a company that doesn't value software development. I have been looking for a job but haven't found the right one yet. There are rumors going around that more people might be cut in the very near future. If people are let go I expect that I will be one of them. Actually, I am hoping that I will be one of them.

Cincinnati Trip

2009-08-18T21:00:00.005-05:00

It seems that whenever I go a long time with posting an entry it is because I have too much to say rather than because I have I nothing to say. I'll try to catch you up.

Last month, we all went to Cincinnati for the Teismann family reunion. We had been looking for an excuse to go to Cincinnati for a while and this was our chance. Helen had also wanted to take the kids to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis so we decided to make that part of the trip as well.

We left early in the morning on Thursday, July 16th. We stopped at the Ballard Nature Center in Altomont, IL to look for a letterbox (I'll talk more about letterboxing in another post). The nature center was really nice. We got to get out of the car and stretch our legs for a bit. We saw birds, various insects, and huge frogs, and we found the letterbox. The visitor center was larger and more interesting than I expected.

Ballard Nature Center

We made it to Indianapolis in the afternoon and went straight to the Children's Museum. It is very large and we had a good time going there. It was definitely too much to see in one day. Here are some pictures that we took. After that, we checked into out hotel. Nothing fancy, just a La Quinta.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

The next day (Saturday) we drove to Cincinnati. We had originally planned to go to the Cincinnati Children's Museum because we thought that they had a reciprocal agreement with the St. Louis Science Center. When we got there we found out that they didn't, but that the Museum of Natural History & Science did. That's where we went. This was also fun. We especially enjoyed the cave exhibit.

Cincinnati Museum of Natural History & Science

After that we went to our hotel, which had an indoor water park. We went there for about an hour before eating and collapsing in our room.

On Sunday we went to the water park in the morning and then off to the family reunion. The family reunion was small but a lot of fun. The kids loved playing with their cousins. After the reunion, we went back to the hotel for another hour in the water park.

On Monday we went to the water park one last time. Then it was off to the Newport Aquarium. The hotel package that we got included four tickets to the aquarium. The Aquarium was very nice but it was not laid out very well for what we wanted. Everything was laid out linearly so that you pretty much had to walk through the whole aquarium. This took about two hours. We would rather have skipped parts of it and only spent an hour there since we still had a six hour drive ahead of us.

We did not get home until after 8 and that was with the help of a time zone change. Luckily for us the kids are used to taking long car trips so there was not too much complaining. Of course the portable DVD player and Nintendo DSi helped as well.

This post is long enough so I'll have to post about my job in the next post.

City Museum

2009-07-13T21:02:00.002-05:00

I took the kids to City Museum on Saturday. Helen wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. The kids and I had a great time and really wore ourselves. If you haven't been there, City Museum is hard to describe. It's not really a museum, it's more like the worlds largest attic. There are things to climb on and crawl through and slide down. Certain things were more difficult because of my hip but it I still had a good time.

A little bit of hope

2009-06-25T07:05:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted it about it much but I have not been happy with my job for some time. Last year, before the takeover, I told me boss that I'd rather be fired than work solely in support. When InBev took over I learned that what I wanted didn't matter (you would have though that I would have already known that).

About six weeks ago we had a meeting where we were told that it was up to each of us to find our own career path. After that meeting I immediately started working to get out of support and back into development. I had been (respectfully) pushing on the topic since then but I wasn't seeing any progress.

Just recently, I found out that there are some things going on behind the scenes that could lead to me getting what I want. Nothing is certain, and nothing is official, but there are at least possibilities. I should be hearing something relatively soon.

My daughter almost won the Preakness

2009-05-17T18:37:00.002-05:00

She only missed by one letter. The winner of the Preakness was a filly named Rachel Alexandra. My daughter's middle name is Alexandria. She thought it was pretty neat when I told her about it.

How to avoid soda

2009-04-08T21:50:00.002-05:00

Different people have different ideas about what kind of diet makes you lose weight but I think that everyone can agree that full-sugar soda is bad. I have been trying to cut back on the amount of soda that I drink. One time that I get into trouble is when I go out to lunch. Most fast food restaurants have combo deals that includes a soda. That makes it easy for me to rationalize drinking soda. Fortunately, something happened at Burger King to make me rethink my strategy.

A week and a half ago Helen, the kids, and I went to Burger King for lunch. We had just seen Monsters vs. Aliens. Rachel got a 6 piece chicken kids meal and A.J. got a four piece. The total came to a little over twenty dollars. That seemed high to me so I studied the receipt. I noticed that Rachel's meal cost $1.40 more than A.J.'s even though it included just two extra chicken pieces. On the value menu you can buy 4 chicken pieces for a dollar.

Later that week I went to Burger King for lunch with Steve and I decided to order off of the value menu. I got a Whopper Junior, small fries, and a cup of water. The total, with tax, came to $2.15. Steve got some extra thick Whopper combo and it was over seven dollars. Steve noticed that he could have gotten three of my meals for the price of his and said that he was going to order off the value menu next time.

The value menu has several advantages. First, it's cheaper. Second, I eat less. And finally, I'm not tempted to get a soda since it would increase the price by 50%. It's funny that thinking about my health didn't stop me from drinking soda at lunch, but thinking about my wallet did. I haven't had any soda since that twenty dollar meal at BK.

My weigh-in was 195.5 today. I am happy about that. I have also not missed any commutes and my streak is up to 19. I only consider a streak broken if I go to work but don't commute both ways via bicycle, so not working on Good Friday won't break the streak.

I mentioned earlier that I gave up beer for Lent. This was Rachel's idea. She gave up candy and said that I should give up beer. I decided to do it just to prove to myself that I could. I figured that it was easy, I should do it because it was easy. If it was difficult, I should do it because I needed to. It really hasn't been too much of a hardship. There have been times where I've wished that I could have a beer but I've never been tempted to cheat. There has even been a bottle of beer in the fridge that I see every day. If it was too much of a struggle I would have moved it to somewhere that I wouldn't see it.

Improving

2009-04-04T15:12:00.002-05:00

I've gotten a little frustrated lately because I've been comparing my riding stats for this year to 2007. That was my best year riding and my conditioning is not nearly as good now. I'm trying to concentrate on improving my current conditioning rather than comparing myself to two years ago.

There was a brevet today that I decided not to do. There was a 200K and a 300K option. It is very inconvenient to get to Edwardsville at 5:00 am. Since we have only one car, and since Helen needed the car today, I would either have had to find a ride or have Helen and the kids get up at 4:00 am and take me to the ride. I don't think that the 200K was worth that much driving. The 300K was pretty much out of the question because I don't know if I could do it. I certainly didn't to attempt 186 miles for my first long ride of the year.

Instead I decided to ease into the longer rides. I went on the ride this morning at Maplewood Bicycle. Only two other people showed up (Bill and Brian) but we had a good ride. We rode 35 miles which is not a long ride but it is my longest ride so far this year. I thought about riding some extra miles on my own but I decided to call that ride a win. This also makes my highest mileage week for the year (122 miles) since I commuted every day. Again this is not very impressive compared to 2007 but it's great compared to last year.

As I mentioned I rode every day this week. Last week I took 4 days off or work for the kids' spring break so I only rode one day. But that means that all of my commutes were by bicycle that week (one for one). That gives me a streak of 16 consecutive commutes.

My weight is not going down as quickly as I would like but it is going down (I think). In my last post I mentioned that my Wednesday weight was 197 but I thought it might be a low reading. This week I forgot to weigh in on Wednesday but my weight on Tuesday was 197 and on Thursday was 196. My my totally self imposed rules that makes my "official" weight for the week 197 but it gives me hope that I'm losing weight. We'll have to see what it is next week.

Bonus ride

2009-03-20T01:09:00.002-05:00

I was moving pretty slow on Thursday morning since the previous day's ride had tired me out. I did ride in to work though. I wanted to keep my streak alive. After I got to work I realized that Rick's poker night was that evening. Usually, I ride to Rick's house from work and then ride home after poker. I considered riding home and then driving to poker to avoid a late night bonus ride but that seemed to inefficient. Besides I have a reputation to protect (a reputation as a crazy cyclist).

On the way to Rick's, I hit a rock and got a flat tire. There was a group cyclist that were doing a preview of the Thursday night Trailnet ride that will start later this year. One of them got a flat in the same place a few minute after I did. A few other riders stopped as well. I chatted with them for a few minutes while I changed my tire. If you're going to have a flat, that was a pretty good time to have it: still daylight, nice weather, some people to talk to. The mentioned a cycling meetup group that I will have to look into.

I got the tired changed and got on my way again. I picked up some food at Sonic and then headed for Rick's. Poker was fun as always and I even came in 2nd place in the tournament. Normally I would drink beer at poker night but I gave beer up for Lent so it was Pepsi for me. I should post more about that some other time.

I left Rick's about midnight. I was a little concerned about about being tired on the way home but I felt fine. I'm sure I'm going to be moving extra slow tomorrow morning, though. If I had remembered poker in advance I would have packed some extra clothing for the ride home. I was lucky and it was still warm (48° F) when I rode home.

Race against the clock

2009-03-19T07:33:00.002-05:00

Helen called me at work a little bit after 5. She said that she didn't know if she would be able to make it to pick up the kids before 6. When Helen works, the kids stay in after care, but they need to be picked up by 6 or they charge $1 a minute. I said that I would do my best to get there before 6.

I shut down my computer and got changed. I ended up leaving work at 5:25. That gave me 35 minutes to get to school. I knew it was about 7.5 miles so that should give me plenty of time time as long as I didn't get slowed down by traffic or red lights. As I started out I also started to worry about the wind slowing me down. A cold front was moving in and it was very windy. And of course it was a head wind.

I pushed hard and made it to school at 5:56. They were the last kids to be picked up be at least I made it on time. Helen got there just a couple of minutes after 6. Now we had a dilemma; My bike won't fit into her car and I really didn't want to ride home along Manchester Road. If it was a nice day I could have wandered around on side streets and found an alternate route, but I didn't want to do that with thunderstorms on the way.

We had been planning on buying a bike carrier do we decided to just go ahead and buy it then. I locked up my bike at the school and went to Maplewood bicycle. While I was buying and installing the carrier (with help from the staff at Maplewood), Helen got the kids some dinner at Jack in the Box. After that we went back to school and picked up my bike. We got home just as the first few drops of rain started to fall.

I felt exhausted that evening. Even though my commute was actually a little shorter than usual, it felt harder. Fighting the wind and hurrying against the clock really wore me out. On the bright side, that makes 8 commutes in a row without missing one. My weigh-in that evening was good as well at 197. That may have skewed a little low so we'll see how the next one goes.

A good weekend

2009-03-16T19:49:00.003-05:00

I rode every day last week. I even rode to Zac's house Friday night. He had just bought Resident Evil 5 (a video game) and invited me and a couple of other people over to play it. It was fun, but I stayed up way too late. I didn't leave his house until after 2 am.

On Saturday, I was incredibly tired. Riding every day when you're not used to it and being short on sleep really wear on you. It's only a little over 7 miles round trip to Zac's house but miles ridden after midnight count extra. I ended up taking a nap after breakfast.

Helen took Rachel to the History Museum for some St Patrick's Day storytelling. A.J. and I walked a few blocks to Yale Park for him to play on the playground. Helen and Rachel were driving by as we were walking there so Rachel joined us. I mostly just read my book while they played.

After that, I worked with Rachel on learning to ride a bike. For now she has just been working on balance and steering. I had taken the pedals off her bike and lower the seat. I give her a push to get started and she rides down the driveway with me running alongside. She is doing well and is starting to get excited about riding.

On Sunday, the kids and I picked up lunch and took it to Rocket Ship Park. This park has a much bigger playground as well as a sand area to play in. Helen has a big basket of sand toys that we take whenever we go there. That way we have plenty of toys for sharing. It usually starts out with Rachel and A.J. playing in the sand area. Then another kid or two will come by and I'll encourage them to share the toys. Eventually more and more kids gather. At one point on Sunday there were probably a dozen kids playing with our toys. The toys don't cost much and if we occasionally lose some it's not a big deal. It's neat to see the kids (and a parent or two) building sand castles and having fun.

Later the ice cream truck came to the park. It was the first ice cream truck of the season so the kids were very excited. I bought Rachel and A.J. some ice cream but didn't get any for myself. While they were eating, A.J. told me "Next time we come to the park, I want to bring my allowance. That way I can buy you ice cream because you don't get ice cream much." I told him that he didn't have to do that and I just didn't want ice cream that day.

I worked with Rachel on riding a bike again. She really wanted to pedal so after a few tries without pedals, I put them back on and raised the seat. I also put the train wheels back on but raised them as high as they would go. She did well like that except she hasn't got the hang of using the brakes yet. Her bike has coaster brakes which means she has to pedal backwards to stop.

Since it was such a nice day we grilled brats and hot dogs for dinner and ate outside. All in all I'd have to say that it was a pretty good weekend.

New tire

2009-03-13T08:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I had a puncture going up Mount Sappington* on the way to work. It was a fairly fast leak but it wasn't a blowout so I rode a little farther and then pumped it up enough to last for the rest of the ride. I swung by Sunset Cyclery but they weren't open yet.

I had previously noticed that my back tire was pretty worn so I decided to replace the tire as well as the tube. After lunch, I pumped up the tire again and went to Sunset Cyclery and bought a new tire.

On the way home, I felt very tired and slow. There were probably several reasons for this. It was cold and I was slightly under dressed (I had a jacket with me but I wasn't cold enough to stop and put it on). I was a little short on sleep. I gave blood last Wednesday. And it was my fourth consecutive day riding.

I have not done very well on my goal of riding every day. There has been a lot going on so there have many days were I wasn't able to ride. There have also been a few days where I could have ridden but didn't. I've ridden to work every day this week so far and I am planning to ride today so I guess I'm doing a little better.

My weight hasn't been great either. My weigh-in this week was 199 (I am using Wednesday as my official weigh-in day). This is down some from the beginning of the year but no as much as I would like.

* Mount Sappington isn't really a mountain. It's just the steepest hill on my way to work. I gave it that name when I first started riding.

Helen's father

2009-03-03T02:17:00.002-06:00

Helen's father passed away last Monday. She has had to deal with that as well as the stress of dealing with funeral arrangements for the past week. This has not been an easy time for her or the rest of us.

Happy birthday to me

2009-02-10T20:57:00.009-06:00

A lot has happened since my last post so I'll try to cover it here.

The neighborhood progressive party was on January 24. It was a lot of fun. The brown's were the first house of the evening. They also offered to have their older kids watch everyone else's kids for the evening. Rachel and A.J. had fun playing with the other kids. Helen and I had a good time going from house to house. I left to pick up the kids at 9:00 and ended up going to bed after I put the kids to bed.

It snowed on the 27th and 28th. The kids didn't have school either day. You know that they enjoyed that. The snow was too dry to build anything with, but Rachel made a snowman on Thursday the 29th.

Helen and and did not do a big anniversary celebration. She just picked me up for lunch and we went to Dewey's Pizza. I did manage to ride home from work without getting hit by a car this year.

Saturday the 31st was a busy day for the kids. Helen took Rachel and A.J. to the Science Center in the morning. After they got back I took Rachel to sell girl scout cookies. A.J. can with us too. In the evening Helen took Rachel to a sock-hop. It was a Hawaiian themed dance at the school. Rachel won a prize for being the girl with the best costume.

On Sunday it warmed up quite a bit. It was close to 50 degrees. Rachel's snowman melted enough to fall over so she tried to carve an igloo out of the base. That didn't work so I decide to build one. We have a plastic container that is designed to make snow bricks with. We had never used it before. The snow was very wet so it packed down very well. Rachel and A.J. both ended up helping me. It was weird because all of us were wearing gloves and none of us were wearing coats. I was a little worried that it would collapse before I finished but it ended up being pretty strong. It was only big enough for one of the kids to go into at a time but I think most of the fun was in building it.

I started getting a cold during the week. I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday and Friday (and should have stayed home on Thursday as well). The next weekend (Feb 7 and 8) had nice weather too.

On Saturday we went to Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center. I wasn't really up to doing much but I knew that if I didn't go, A.J. would want to stay home too. He's a home-body by inclination so I like to encourage him to do things like this. He usually has fun once he gets to an activity. Sometimes it's just hard to convince him to go. The trail that we ended up walking was only 1.2 miles but it was very hilly. We saw robins, chipmunks, and deer. A.J. was pretty tired by the end. After the walk we went into the nature center. I had been there before but I had never gone through the whole thing. Rachel ended up dragging me all over the place. It's actually very impressive. The kids would probably have liked to stay even longer but I was ready to go home.

On Sunday, Helen took Rachel and one one of Rachel's friends to the Botanical Gardens. The boys (A.J. and I) stayed home. Actually we decided to walk to Jack in the Box for lunch. A.J. was very proud that he didn't stop to rest on on the way there or the way back. It's a bout a mile each way so that's actually an impressive feat for a five year old. Since Rachel wasn't there he got to walk at his own pace and I think that helped.

Monday was my birthday but I didn't do anything very exciting. We just had a quiet dinner home. I did ride home in the rain and get a flat tire though. Even that wasn't too bad since it was sixty degrees.

Today I went back to my hand surgeon. I've been having pain in my thumb since the accident even though there were no broken bones in the thumb. The doctor diagnosed it as osteoarthritis. He gave me a splint to wear when it is bothering me and suggested Alleve. There's not much he can really do.

It's cold in the big bad world

2009-01-17T11:27:00.003-06:00

I woke up Wednesday morning not feeling well. I ended up not going in to work, so obviously I didn't ride on Wednesday. Helen made spaghetti for dinner so I was heavy when I weighed myself that night: 204. I re-weighed myself Thursday night and it was 202. When confronted with two different scale reading I do what everyone else does -- I assume the lower one is correct and that the higher one is an anomaly.

I rode to work on Thursday even though it was 4 degrees Fahrenheit when I left the house. By the time I got to work my toes were painfully cold. That's the coldest temperature that I've ever ridden in (the previous record was 6). By the time I went home it was 12 degrees and that made a big difference. I was much more comfortable.

I did have one problem on the way home. My rear derailleur cable broke about two miles from home. When this happens the bike shifts into the smallest gear in the back and makes it very difficult to go up hills and to get going from a stop. On the bright side, I was only about a mile from Maplewood Bicycle to I made it there without too much trouble.

They always take good care of me at Maplewood Bicycle. I got there at 6:20 (they close at 7) and the had the cable replaced by 6:40. They only charged me $18. This is one of the advantages of supporting your local bike shop. They weren't very busy because of the weather but I wasn't the only customer in the shop. They were impressed that I was riding in the cold.

On Friday, it was -2 when I would have left for work. I decided that this was cold enough for me to have an excuse not to ride. There's a fine line between being tough and being crazy. Helen drove me to and from work.

I only rode 3 days this week but I think I had good reasons for the days I missed so I'm not too disappointed in myself. There are too many daily fluctuations in weight for me to judge my progress there yet.

Bonus Ride

2009-01-14T07:37:00.003-06:00

My friend Rick has a semi-regular poker night about once a month; typically on Monday night. I used to ride to the poker night at his house and then ride home afterward. Originally, rain was predicted for Monday night so I has planned to ride home and then drive to Rick's house. The forecast changed during the day on Monday so I decided to ride there.

Rick's house is only 7.75 mile from work so the distance is fairly easy. Traffic is a little heavier than I like and there are some hills as well. Temperature was in the 30's. Poker night is always fun. The downside is that it's too much fun to leave early. I changed back into my cycling clothes and left Rick's house at 11:40.

The ride home from Rick's house after poker is always an unusual ride for me. It feels more like a brevet than a commute. Late at night there is almost no traffic on Big Bend so I have the road to myself. It's been a long day and although I haven't ridden that many miles, my legs are tired.

On that night it was still relatively warm when I started the ride, probably still in the 30's. It was fairly windy but it was generally a tailwind. The first part are the ride is fairly hilly. The climb up from Valley Park always seems to take forever. Once I passed Sappington Rd. I was back on my commute route so it felt easier. A little later a front must have moved in. It got colder and started to snow. The snow wasn't too heavy and was actually kind of pretty.

I made it home in about an hour. When I came inside I was that mixture of hot and cold that you get after riding in cold weather. My body and head were warm, but my skin was cold. After a little bit of cool down time I went to bed.

Resolutions

2009-01-11T10:18:00.004-06:00

I have two resolutions for the the new year:

Get back into the habit of commuting every day
Lose some weight.

Once I was able to start riding after the accident I started easing into regular commuting. I started riding a few times a week with the intention of gradually increasing my riding until I was riding every day. The problem is that it was too easy to find an excuse not to ride. I looked back at my records and saw that there were only 5 weeks in 2008 where I rode both to and from work. One of those was in January (before the accident, of course), one each in August and September, and two in October. Weeks with 4 round trips were fairly rare as well. Now there will be the occasional day that I can't ride, but I have only been riding about half the time, maybe less. This is what lead to my first resolution.

I actually rode all 5 days in the first week in January and I was tired at the end of the week. Riding in cold weather is more difficult but my lack of conditioning is part of the reason as well. I hadn't ridden at all in two weeks. The extra weight that I'm carrying doesn't help either.

That leads into my second resolution. I am way too heavy right now. I weighed myself on Wednesday and I was 203.5 lbs. and 26% body fat. This is about 30 lbs. heavier that what I weighed in 2006 and 2007. It's even about 18 lbs. heavier than where I was when I started riding in 2005. On good thing is that it is still 30 lbs. lighter than what I weighed in 1999.

I don't have a specific plan for losing weight. Riding more and not eating like a pig are part of the equation. I know that losing a pound a week should not be too much trouble for me but I'm not setting a specific goal. I do plan on posting my weight here every week or so to keep myself honest. I will also post whenever I don't ride to work.

Just what I expected

2008-12-15T10:07:00.002-06:00

I just finished my meeting and everything went just as I expected. I still have a job. It involves support only; no new development. I will also be supporting some other applications that I have not worked with before so I will at least be exposed to some different applications. I hoping that things won't be as bad as I fear.

I'm mad as hell, but I'm going to take it for a while longer

2008-12-12T18:32:00.002-06:00

My meeting has been scheduled for 9am on Monday. That's when I will find out my status. But early indications are that I will be keeping my job. This does not make me happy because it also looks like I will be stuck doing support with no opportunity for advancement for the foreseeable future. A couple of months ago I said that I would rather be fired than have that happen. All I can hope for is that the situation something other than what I expect.

Yes, I should be happy that I have a job, but I'm not. In fact I would guess anyone who been told "You're luck to have a job" hasn't felt lucky. Even if they were telling it to themselves.

Beer, Uncertainty, and Doubt

2008-12-11T18:01:00.002-06:00

On Monday I will know my fate. Tomorrow I will get an e-mail telling me what time my meeting will be. The IT offices will be closed on Monday. Each person will only be going in for their meeting. During that meeting I will be told whether I will have a job or not. If I keep my job I assume that I will be told who my new manager is and something about the new organizational structure. I I lose my job I will be given more information about the severance package.

At this point I'm just glad to have a date when the uncertainty will be over. I know that I'll be fine either way.

Spoiler Alert

2008-12-10T20:04:00.002-06:00

This post contains fact that you may not want to know. And once you know something it is impossible to un-know it.

On Sunday Rachel figured out that there is no Santa Claus. While wrapping presents she saw some pre-printed gift tags that said "To: From: Santa". I said that we should leave them out on Christmas Eve so Santa could use them. She later asked Helen if we were Santa. She admitted that we were and Rachel started crying. We knew that this was probably the last year she would believe. Already some of her classmates don't believe. I told her not to tell A.J.

It's interesting to hear other people's reaction to this. Some people thinks that she's too young to figure it out (she's 8) and others think that she was already too old to believe in Santa. I've noticed that some kid's TV shows try to foster a belief in Santa but I wonder if they have the opposite effect. There are shows where Santa is real and the main character (a kid) believes in him but nobody else does. I wonder if this starts the seeds of doubt in some kids. At least it introduces the idea that some people don't believe in Santa.

Things are tough all over

2008-12-09T12:20:00.002-06:00

I have worked at Anheuser-Busch for over ten years. Last month AB was bought by InBev. The name of the new company is Anheuser-Busch InBev, but this was definitely an acquisition -- not a merger. Everyone here has been concerned about job cuts. We have know that they are coming ever since the buyout was first proposed about 6 months ago. On Monday the plans were made public for this first time. 1400 salaried employees will be let go. About 1000 of those from the St. Louis area.

The numbers have been published but the names haven't. I have no idea whether or not I will be laid off or not. I expect to find out sometime next week. Obviously, if I am let go, this is not a great time to be looking for a job. On the bright side, between vacation and severance I would still have a paycheck until the end of April.

A new car for Helen

2008-12-06T09:19:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago Helen took the minivan in for an emissions inspection. It did not pass and needed some parts replaced. Each time a part was replaced we found out that it needed another one. After spending around $700 on it, they decided that it needed a new computer. That would cost at least $700 (assuming that they could find a used computer).

At that point I decided that we should just replace it. Although I really don't want to have a car payment right now, I also don't want to pour a lot of money into a seven year old minivan. We had driven a Toyota Yaris while on vacation in San Antonia and were very impressed by it. I did some research on it and it looked like it would be better to get a Corolla instead. After having to deal with a car that was only intermittently available for several weeks, Helen was willing to get anything.

I usually do more research and planning before buying a car. I said to Helen that we should get a new car on Wednesday night and had the new car less than 24 hours later. I think that I got a decent deal on the car but sometimes it's hard to tell.

Good Samaritans

2008-10-24T06:56:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday, after picking the kids up from school, Helen had a flat tire. She pulled into a grocery store parking lot and called me to come help her. On her mini-van the spare tire is under the car and very difficult to get out. Fortunately a cyclist named Neal stopped to help her. He helped get the spare out and changed the tire. Helen noticed that Neal had an Obama button and an Obama hat.

The spare hadn't been used, or even looked at, during the entire time we've had the car. Not surprisingly the spare was almost flat. Another lucky break happened when a man in a pickup stopped to help. The driver, Mike, had an electric pump which he used to inflate the spare. Coincidentally Mike was a cyclist and an Obama supporter too. He had a bike in the back of his pickup and an Obama bumper sticker.

By the time I got there, the tire had been changed and inflated and the good Samaritans had ridden off into the sunset like the Lone Ranger.

Goodbye gall bladder

2008-10-02T23:46:00.002-05:00

Helen saw the specialist yesterday and he scheduled her for surgery today. Fortunately, gall bladder removal is an out-patient procedure so she is already back home. Rachel was a little concerned about the surgery and gave Helen some tips about what to expect. Rachel wanted to share her experience from getting her tonsils taken out this summer. Both the kids are happy now that Helen is done with the surgery and is safe at home.

Six Flags

2008-09-30T20:33:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, we went to Six Flags for the AB family day. We had a great time. We got there just before it opened at 10. One of A.J.'s classmates was having a birthday party so Helen and A.J. left for that and came back later. Rachel and I stayed for the whole day. She rode on a real roller coaster for the first time: the new Evel Knievel ride. It's been a long time since I've been on a real roller coaster so I was a little bit nervous. The ride was a lot of fun and Rachel really enjoyed it. She did not feel the need to ride any other roller coasters. We later met up with Helen and A.J. and stay at the park until it closed at 6.

After being at the park all day, we were all very tired. Helen seem more tired than the rest of us. She wasn't feeling any better the next day and her stomach was hurting. The pain got worse and she ended up going to the emergency room at midnight. The doctor there told her that she had gall bladder problems and was considering removing it that night. After doing an ultrasound, he decided that it did not need to be done immediately and told her to see her doctor today.

Of course her doctor just referred her to a specialist that she will see tomorrow. We are expecting that she will need her gall bladder removed since she has a family history of this problem.

I am legend

2008-09-08T21:08:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was the MS-150. Thank you to everyone who donated.

I was a little worried about doing the century route (100 miles) on both days. I hadn't done any long rides to get ready. The longest ride I have done all year has been one of the Maplewood Bicycle Tuesday night rides and that was only twenty miles. Even if you count my commute that was less than forty miles for the day.

Since Helen wasn't going with me, I needed to rent a car. Car rental companies always seem to "forget" to enter the right code and try to charge you more than the reservation price. This has happened to me more than once and with more than one car rental company. They did fix the problem when I reminded them about it.

I picked up the car Friday morning and loaded it up with everything that I would need. Since I was driving, I decided to take the big (4-person) tent rather than the small tent that I used last year. After work, I drove to Columbia. It's only a two hour drive, so I was able to get there and get my tent set up before dark. After that, I had something to eat and turned in fairly early.

Saturday morning was a little chilly and the grass was very wet from dew. I ate breakfast, got my bike out of the car, and changed clothes in time for the 7:00 start. It had warmed up enough by this point that I didn't need a jacket. I didn't want to wear a jacket for 30 minutes and then carry it for the rest of the day.

The day continued to be damp and overcast. It probably didn't get much over 70 degrees. The cool weather is actually great for cycling. This year the first day had the flat route and the second day had the hilly one. There are still some hills on the flat route, though.

Some of the other riders remembered my ride from last year. That was when I rode to and from Columbia and ended up riding 520 miles in four days. Most of the people though it was pretty crazy. It was neat to be able to impress people like that. Of course I'm nowhere close to be able to do that this year.

I finished Saturday's ride feeling good, but tired. I hung out in the Mich Ultra tent until we took our group picture. After showering and eating dinner I fell asleep in my tent for about half an hour. I was too tired too do much more than lay in my tent and read. It rained for short period a few times that evening. It actually kind of nice to lay in a tent and listen to rain that you don't have to go out in. I was toying with the possibility of not riding at all on Sunday.

I was feel better on Sunday morning. I knew that I would be able to ride at least 75 miles. The century route did not split from the 75 mile route until about the 50 mile mark. This meant that I would be able to ride the first 50 miles and then decide whether I wanted to do 25 more or 50 more. I eventually decided that I had to at least try the 100 miles. If I did the 75 and still felt good I would be kicking myself for not doing the century.

There are good and bad things about large rides like the MS-150. Having so many cyclist on the road sometimes means that you get stuck behind a large clump of people. Of course having that many people means that there are always people to talk to. It also helps to keep my motivation up if there are people watching, or if there are people ahead of me that I can try to catch up to.

The century route has fewer people on it. There was one point where I went 20 minutes without seeing any other riders. This gets a little lonely but at least there were plenty of signs to reassure me that I wasn't lost.

I ended up riding the last twenty miles or so with a rider named John who is a student at Mizzou. He was doing the century route both days as well and these were his first and second centuries. He was a strong rider and wasn't having any troubles. He was a little concerned about the last six miles because everyone talks about the hills. I told him not to worry. A lot of people end up getting off there bikes and walking up the last hill but I knew that he wouldn't have any problems. The best thing about the last hill is that it is the last hill. After you get to the top you are practically done.

After I finished, I ate, showered and packed up the tent. After a couple hours of driving I was home in time to tuck the kids into bed. I was tired, but I was also proud that I was able to do what I set out to do. I may not be in as good of shape as I was last year but I still have the mental toughness. And the mental aspects of long distance riding are as important as the physical ones.

Hand surgery update

2008-09-08T21:06:00.001-05:00

I had my hand surgery as scheduled and every thing went fine. I was allowed to take the bandages off and start riding again on Labor Day.

The flats just keep on coming

2008-08-25T21:41:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, I started to fix the flats that I got on Thursday. The front tube had three holes in it so I didn't bother patching it. I did patch the back tube and reinstalled it. Then I went to Maplewood bicycle to buy some replacement tubes. They also gave my some zip ties and help me mount the frame pump to my bike. I had been meaning to do this for a while.

One the way back, I hit a rock and the front tire had a blowout. This was annoying, but at least I had plenty of spare tubes with me. I replaced the tube and as I was pumping it up it blew out again. The blowout was in the same location too. At this point I need something was wrong. I checked to see if there was a spoke poke through the wheel that was causing the problem but didn't find anything. I decide to walk the bike back to Maplewood Bicycle and have them check it out.

As I was telling the story the Greg. He was looking at the problem wheel. He almost immediately noticed a cut in the side of the tire. This is what was causing the blowouts. I'm guessing that this happened at the same time that I got the flats on Thursday. He sold me a new tire, installed it, and I was on my way.

I had no problems with my commute on Monday. On my way home, I did talk to someone else that was bike commuting for the first time. He asked if I had any tips. I told him to watch out for left turning cars. I also should have suggested that he get rid of the headphones. I never listen to music while riding because I want to be able to hear what's going on around me.

Helen to the rescue

2008-08-21T21:05:00.003-05:00

I was watching the weather this afternoon at work. The forecast had called for scattered thundershowers and I was hoping to dodge them. I had avoided the rain in the morning and I was hoping my luck would hold. When I left work it looked like the worst of it had passed.

I made it about half way home when I suddenly had a flat. I pulled off the road and saw that the front tire was entirely flat. I called Helen to let her know that I would be a little late. While I was changing the tire it starting raining. Not too bad but it was more than a drizzle. After I removed the piece of glass from the front tire and replaced the tube I was ready to go, or so I thought. Just as I was about to get started, I noticed that the back tire was flat too. And then it started raining hard.

I was only carrying one spare tube. I do carry a patch kit so I could have tried to patch one of the punctured tubes, but this would have been difficult to do in the wet. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and called Helen to come pick me up. I will probably have Helen drive me to work tomorrow. I don't want to mess with patching the tube tonight.

More Surgery

2008-08-19T22:18:00.002-05:00

I saw my hand doctor today and he wants to remove the pins and the plate that he put in my right hand. I was expecting the pins to be removed but he had told me that the plate would be staying in. He thinks that the plate may be irritating the tendons in my hand and causing some of the problems that I have been having. This is why he changed his mind. The surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday. I guess that I won't be giving blood tomorrow.

Best Trip Ever

2008-08-18T18:46:00.003-05:00

We went to San Antonio at the end of July. According to Rachel, it was the best trip ever. Here are some of the things that we did:

Rode on a airplane
Rachel picked out the rental car

At the lake house

Went swimming in the lake
Found shells
Met some cousins that she never met before (Beca, Mathew, Sarah, and Jacob)
Saw lots of animals: deer, lizards, ducks, geese, hawks, minnows, fish, a black slug, a bat
Rode a Jetski
Went tubing
Got ice cream from the ice cream truck
Raised and lowered the flag
Played Uncle Jim's pinball machine
Went fishing (but didn't catch anything)
Caught minnows in the minnow trap
Rachel caught a baby gecko
Went on a cave tour

At the San Antonio Children's Museum

Rachel and A.J. pulled themselves up in a kid powered elevator
Made puppets
Made bubbles
Played at the water table
Played in the store
Rode a stationary bike
Milked an artificial cow
Flew an airplane

At SeaWorld

Saw a sea lion show
Saw a water skiing show and got splashed
Saw the Shamu show
Rode on a scary ride
Rode on the lazy river
Played in the wave pool

Here are some pictures

lake house pictures

Tonsil complications

2008-07-19T20:11:00.002-05:00

Helen and the kids were out on Thursday night when Rachel's throat started bleeding. This was one of the complications that we had been warned about. Helen called me and I called the doctor. After coordinating everything, Helen dropped AJ off with me and she took Rachel in to the ER. They did minor surgery to cauterize the location that was bleeding. Rachel is doing fine now and did not seem to be too bothered by the surgery.

MS 150 2008

2008-07-15T19:08:00.002-05:00

A while back I decided that I was going to ride in the MS 150 again this year. I just got around to registering recently. This means that I don't have much time for fundraising. If anyone would like to support me they can go to my fundraising page.

I'll probably do the century route both days again this year. I won't be doing anything crazy like I did last year.

Tonsils out

2008-07-10T07:10:00.002-05:00

Rachel had her tonsils out on Monday and been pretty miserable this week. The doctor warned us that the third day may be the worst so I hope this means that she will start improving today.

We had a thunderstorm on Tuesday night that knocked down a mimosa tree. It's a tree that I had wanted to get rid of since it was right next to the garage and was starting to crush the gutter on that side. The tree fell into the yard or our neighbor who lives behind our garage.

I bought a chainsaw after work on Wednesday and cut the tree into sections small enough to throw over the fence and back into our yard. I will cut the tree into more manageable pieces later. I bought an electric chainsaw because I don't plan on using it very often and I didn't want to mess around with a gas powered tool. It's also better for the environment. I switched to an electric lawn mower a few years ago and I've been happy with that.

Rachel's tonsils

2008-06-27T22:33:00.001-05:00

Rachel will be getting her tonsil out in a couple of weeks. She is a little nervous about it. Fortunately it will be an outpatient procedure so she won't have to spend the next at the hospital.

InBev offer

2008-06-11T20:44:00.002-05:00

As you may or may not know, InBev has officially made an offer for Anheuser-Busch. My personal prediction is that the board will reluctantly accept the offer to keep the shareholders happy. Even if they reject it, InBev could attempt a hostile takeover.

What does this mean to me? Well, InBev will be looking to cut costs and the apparently currently outsource their IT. This means that means there is a very distinct possibility that I will lose my job after the takeover (if it happens).

I'm not going to passively wait to see what is going to happen. I've already started looking for another job. By starting early I hope to be able to be more selective about what I take rather than being desperate later. Of course, maybe I won't need to find another job. Nothing is certain right now.

Tuesday Night Ride

2008-06-11T20:34:00.002-05:00

I went on my first group ride since the accident: the Maplewood Bicycle Tuesday night ride. I wasn't the first one up the hill on Southwest Ave. and I wasn't able to hang with the fast riders. But I wasn't with the slowest riders either. I also had a great time. I finished with a 16.1 mph average speed which isn't too bad for a city ride.

I bought the bike

2008-06-10T07:32:00.003-05:00

On Saturday I rode to The Alpine Shop and took the Salsa Caseroll for a test ride. I liked how it felt so I bought it. I had them put the pedals and rack from my old bike on it. I rode it to work on Monday. I may go on the Maplewood Tuesday night ride tonight but I'm not sure that I can keep up.

Still bike shopping

2008-06-07T10:43:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to decide what my next bike should be. I have figured out that a custom built titanium frame is out of my price range. I explained what I was looking for in an email to Mary Kay at Maplewood Bicycle:

As you know I've been trying to decide what kind of bike to buy to replace the Pilot that was destroyed in the accident. I've been try to decide what the perfect bike for me is. I think that I've come to conclusion that there is no one bike that meets all my needs, but maybe a combination of two bikes can do it. I think that I need a "sturdy" bike and a go-fast bike.

The sturdy bike would have a rack, fenders, and low gearing. It would be used for commuting, bad weather brevets, and rides that require lots of stuff (like the crazy ms 150 ride I did last year). When I bought the Pilot last year I thought that the hybrid could fill this role. Unfortunately, after riding a road bike, the hybrid wasn't fun to ride anymore. I was think a touring bike like the Trek 520 for this role.

The go-fast bike wouldn't need any of these features. I wouldn't worry about clearance for fenders or where to mount a rack. I would use it for Tuesday and Saturday rides, centuries, and fair weather brevets. In a pinch I could wear a backpack and use it for commuting. This would be a "normal" road bike.

Since then Mary Kay and Tim Ray have been giving me various options. A few days ago Tim called me and he said he had a few options for bikes. The one he thought was best was a Salsa Casseroll. The only problem is that Maplewood doesn't carry Salsa bikes. Tim referred me to another bike shop that does.

I really appreciate Tim referring me to a competitor just to help me get the right bike. Either that, or I'm so annoying that he wanted to get rid of me.

Fun with the kids

2008-06-04T20:10:00.002-05:00

Helen took a mini vacation to visit a friend in Florida. I took some time off work to take care of the kids while she was gone. We had fun but it is a lot of work to take care of two kids for 5 days straight without a break.

We signed up for a season pass at the Maplewood pool and went swimming. We grilled bratwurst and corn and s'mores. We had a lemonade stand. We played Super Paper Mario on the Wii. We watched movies and ate popcorn. I do feel a little guilty about the amount of junk food that we ate.

Rachel for President?

2008-05-23T20:39:00.002-05:00

I was discussing the presidential election with my eight year old daughter a few days ago. She ask me if there had ever been a girl president. I told her no, but that one of the candidates was a woman. She said, "That means maybe I could be president someday. I have a lot of good ideas." I agree with her. She does have a lot of good ideas.

Hand Update

2008-05-19T20:17:00.003-05:00

I am late posting about the results of my appointment with the hand doctor. Everything is going fine. He said that there was some swelling in my thumb joint so he gave my a cortisone injection. This didn't really seem to help much but at least I am confident that the pain will eventually get better on its own.

This past Saturday was Rachel's birthday. She had a pool party at the Richmond Heights Community Center. She has a large class so she had about 15 kids at the party. I think that everyone had a good time.

The day after the party, the whole family was feeling run down. I think that we are all coming down with or getting over a cold. I was feeling tired, but my leg was feeling good. Since I was too tired to do much, I could almost forget that I had a problem.

No more physical therapy

2008-05-05T21:03:00.002-05:00

I had my hip doctor appointment on Thursday. My doctor is pleased with how I'm doing. I'm pretty much unrestricted in my activities except that he doesn't want me doing any long distance running. He is concerned about the stress of running causing arthritis in the hip. He is fine with me cycling because it is no impact.

I asked about the knee problems that I've been having. After examining the knee, he said that I have an injury to the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). This is not something that will require surgery. He also explained how he thought the injury to my hip and knee occurred. I thought that during the accident I twisted to my side and "hip checked" the car. He said that I probably hit the car straight on with my knee causing the PCL injury. The impact drove my femur backwards into the acetabulum causing the fracture.

The good news is that I don't have to go back for any more appointments or physical therapy unless I have problems. I am definitely not symptom free, but I feel like I'm making progress.

Motivation

2008-04-30T18:35:00.002-05:00

I had some trouble with getting motivated to ride to and from work yesterday. In the morning, I read this message from Commuter Dude. He talked about his reasons for skipping the 300K that he had planned on doing. One of the reasons was the cold weather on the day of the ride. After reading that post and looking at the temperature (36°) I didn't feel like getting on the bike. I rode to work anyway, and I felt fine once I started riding.

In the afternoon, Helen called to say the she would be nearby and could pick me up if I liked. I turned down the offer, but later I started to think about it. I had been having a mentally exhausting day at work so my motivation was low again. Later, when I had just started to get changed for the ride home, I decided to take Helen up on her offer. I called her and she said that she would pick me up in about 15 minutes.

Once I called her, I started second guessing myself. The weather had warmed up nicely and I was afraid that I would regret my decision. I decide to go outside and see if the nice weather would get me motivated to ride. After a few minutes outside, I called Helen and told her that I would be riding home after all. Once I was one the bike I felt fine, and I think that the ride home did a lot to improve my attitude. One of the reasons that I was pushing myself to ride yesterday is that I would not be riding today or tomorrow because of a physical therapy appointment and an appointment with my hip doctor.

During my physical therapy this morning, my knee and hip were feeling really good. They usually feel better after they've been warmed up with some activity. I jogged a few steps and my therapist encouraged to see what I could do. I ended up running several laps around the exercise area. That was really encouraging. I'm not entirely pain free while running, but it is a definite improvement.

I am working on a list of questions to ask my hip doctor tomorrow. I will be seeing a new doctor. The previous doctor that I had been seeing (who was not the doctor that did my surgery) left the practice. I was going to ask if I was going to be able to run soon but I guess that question has been answered. I will ask him about my knee. It got banged up some in the accident and still doesn't have full range of motion. It seems to have made some improvements recently, but I want to make the doctor aware of the problem.

I have also made another appointment to see my hand doctor. I don't feel like I have made any improvements in a while and I want to make sure that everything is healing properly. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. I don't see him until May 13th.

Back in the saddle again

2008-04-22T20:50:00.002-05:00

I decided to ride to work today. I was slow, but I didn't have any problems. I had hoped to avoid the rain but I got drenched in a sudden downpour about 2 miles from work. The weather was great in the afternoon, and I wasn't feeling any ill effects from the morning ride, so I rode home. Again I had no problems. I stopped by Maplewood Bicycle on the way home to say hi. I'll probably looking at bikes again before too long.

The Cane Mutiny

2008-04-12T18:21:00.003-05:00

On Thursday I decided to go through my day without using my cane. I took it with me to work but I didn't use it. Things went well. On Friday, I rode my bike to physical therapy. It's only a little over a mile each way. My therapist was fine with me not using the cane as long as I am careful not to limp. If I am not paying attention, I sometimes list a bit to the left when walking. I didn't even take my cane with me to work. I don't think I'll be using it anymore unless I take a long walk.

I needed to go to the hardware store today to get some parts for the kitchen sink. I went to the True Value hardware store on Manchester because they are always very helpful. It's one of the advantages of going to a small store rather than a big box store. The kids went with me because they like the big gumball machine that they have there. We also went to the bike store so I could pick up my new helmet. My old helmet wasn't damaged in the accident but it wearing out. After that we stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch.

I almost felt guilty about driving for such a short errand. It was about 2.5 miles total. But the weather was cold and rainy and I had the kids with me so it would not have been practical to walk.

A good day

2008-04-07T06:18:00.003-05:00

The weather was was wonderful again yesterday. In the morning my daughter Rachel and I decided to walk to Steak N Shake for breakfast. It's a about a mile and a quarter each way. Rachel, who is 7, is an excellent walker and I knew she would walk it with any trouble. I was a little worried about myself. Rachel told me that there were benches along the way where I could stop and rest. Fortunately I did not end up needing them.

A little later, Rachel, A.J., and I made chocolate chip cookies. After that, I watched the Cardinals win and then I took a nap.

Helen went to the grocery store and picked up bratwurst and corn for dinner. We grilled for the first time this year and the kids ran around in the back yard. It doesn't get much better than this.

It's hard to get back on the bike

2008-04-05T15:19:00.002-05:00

I rode my bike for the first time since the accident. It was hard to get back on the bike. I mean that literally. It was easy to ride but it was hard to lift my leg over the bike to get on. I ended up leaning the bike way over on its side and stepping over with my right (good) leg.

I rode a couple of times up and down the driveway to make sure I wouldn't have any trouble stopping. When I stop I put my left (injured) leg down so I wanted to make sure that this wouldn't be a problem. It wasn't an issue at all.

I rode up and down our street and talked to a few of the neighbors who were outside. Then I went to Maplewood Bicycle. The nominal reason for my trip was to look at helmets but mostly I wanted to show off my new walking and riding abilities. While I was there, I noticed that it was easier to walk without lurching. I think that the ride warmed up my muscles and joints and made walking easier.

The whole distance that I rode was about 2.75 miles. It felt great. I was slow but not horribly so. I was a little winded at the end but that was from hurrying along Manchester Rd. For the most part I took it slow and easy. I felt like I could have ridden farther but I wanted to ease into things.

Citizen Cane

2008-04-04T21:28:00.003-05:00

I went to physical therapy before work this morning. My therapist was surprised to see me without the crutches, but she she noticed that I would lurch to the left when I walked. She had me use a cane and that helped me walk properly. She didn't want me to strain my back or develop any bad habit as I started walking again.

I also rode a stationary bike for ten minutes during my session. It felt good. It was easier than walking. Once I got to work, I got to show off my new abilities. I am using one crutch as a cane until I can get a cane this weekend. I feel really good right now because it seems like I'm making a lot of progress.

These boots were made for walking

2008-04-03T18:19:00.002-05:00

I went to the doctor today and he took away all of my weight bearing restrictions. This means that I'm allowed to walk! My left leg is weak so I'm walking with a limp, but I think I'm doing pretty good. Especially if you consider that I haven't walked since January.

I'm also allowed to bend more than 90 degrees at the waist so I'll be able to tie my shoes. I even have permission to ride a stationary bike and, if that works out, a real bike. I don't have a stationary bike but I'll give it a try at my physical therapy appointment tomorrow.

Back at work

2008-04-02T18:41:00.002-05:00

I have been back at work since March 14. I was talking to my brother on the phone today and I realized that I hadn't posted that yet. Work is going fine. My office is handicap accessible. Now that I am using my crutches it is easier to get around.

I have an appointment with my hip doctor tomorrow. I'm starting to think that I won't get permission to put my full weight on my leg. One of the possibilities is that I will allowed to put 50% of my weight on it. This would allow me to stand in one place but it wouldn't let me walk. That would be very disappointing.

I didn't fall for any April Fool's pranks yesterday, but there was an actual news story which I thought was a hoax: Wal-Mart backs off the Shanks. Does that count as being fooled?

Crutches

2008-03-29T23:46:00.002-05:00

I'm still using crutches. I hope to be free of them after my next doctor's appointment on Thursday. I have aluminum crutches, which are lighter and easier to adjust than the old wooden ones. On disadvantage, though, is that they are a lot louder than wooden crutches. With each step, the handles click and rattle. If I were a ninja, I'd never be able to work with them. Ninjas probably use bamboo crutches that also shoot poison darts.

Physical Therapy

2008-03-26T19:15:00.002-05:00

I've started going to outpatient physical therapy twice a week now. I've got a new set of exercises to do. Some of the exercises are probably because I'm able to do more and some are because the therapist likes them. I rolled onto my stomach for the first time since the accident. This may not seem like much, but it was exciting to me.
I asked my therapist about doing the MS-150 in September. I got a long pause that I didn't like. When I pressed her, she said that it wasn't out of the question, but she didn't know enough about my condition to give a prediction. I still hope to do it, but I'm not going to sign up yet.

Making Progress

2008-03-19T19:37:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday I went back to my hand doctor. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had been frustrated by the lack of visible progress in my hand's range of motion. My doctor, on the other hand, was happy with how I was doing. I don't have to wear the splint anymore. I can also use my right hand for the walker and crutches now so I removed the arm rest from each of them. I won't have to go back unless I am not making enough progress on my range of motion. I still have a list of exercise to do at home. Using the walker without the armrest is making my wrist tired but I'll get used to it.

Not what I had hoped

2008-03-13T19:41:00.002-05:00

I saw my hip doctor today. He gave me permission to go back to work but not much else. The only change in my hip precautions is that I can now put 30 pounds of pressure on my left leg. This really doesn't allow me to do anything new. I will see him again at the beginning of April and I should get more freedom then.

If you haven't heard enough about acetabulum fractures yet, I have a couple of links. This one is a series of pages that give a lot of information about acetabular fractures, surgery, and potential complications. I also found an illustration of the type of surgery that I had.

The more I learn , the more I realize that I have to temper my expectations. I had been told that it would take three months for my hip to heal. Well, the bones may be healed after three months, but it is going to take time after that to regain my strength. One thing I read said that I could expect up to 80% of my strength and movement back after 6 months, and up to 100% after 1 year. I just have to remind myself that the phrase "up to" is not a guarantee.

I am not going to be riding my bicycle for a while yet, but Helen is picking up the slack. She rode close to 4 miles on Grant's Trail today. Maybe we'll be able to do some rides together once I'm back in the saddle.

Helen got a bike

2008-03-12T19:20:00.004-05:00

My wife got a bicycle today. She had been planning to get a bike someday. Since we had been in the bike shop a few time recently, she found one she liked. Helen hasn't ridden a bike since she was a kid but you don't forget how. She is still getting used to shifting and using the brakes.

I want to be well

2008-03-10T15:13:00.002-05:00

I'm ready to be better now. I feel like my recovery has hit a plateau.

My hand made a lot of progress right after they took it out of the big splint. I think that this made me fell like it would be totally healed soon. Since then, progress has slowed down. I'll ask more questions about what to expect when I talk to my hand doctor next week.

I'm hoping that the hip doctor will let me put weight on my left leg after my appointment this week. I know it's possible that I'll have to wait for the next appointment. Even if I can put weight on it, I will still have some restrictions. At the very least, I expect that he will give me a release to go back to work.

I'm trying not be depressing here (or depressed). It's just disappointing to discover that I don't have mutant healing powers like Wolverine.

Goals

2008-03-07T13:18:00.004-06:00

I didn't set any specific cycling goals for this year. This is good because I would not have been able to meet them after the accident anyway. I did meet all of the goals that I set for last year: 6000 miles, the super randonneur series, and riding a century each calendar month.

Riding a century every month was harder than I thought it would be. Most of the centuries were solo because there are very few organized centuries around here (none for October through March) . For me, the hardest part about riding a solo century is getting on the bike. Once I've started, it's not very hard to finish. But in a lot of months, I kept putting it off until almost the last weekend because of laziness or other commitments. This meant that sometimes I was riding in less than ideal conditions.

Of course, my cycling goals for last year were things that were under my control. My goals right now are dependent on things that I can't control. I can't go back to work or put weight on my leg until I get my doctor's permission. The settlement with the other driver depends on the insurance company and lawyers.

I am very pleased with my lawyer so far. I am hopeful that we will be able to prove that the other driver is 100% at fault. She has talked to the witness and has looked at the sequence of lights. Everything that she has found out so far looks good. It also matches exactly with what I have been saying. After what I have been reading, I am not surprised that the Coca Cola driver lied about the accident. Telling the truth would be tantamount to admitting fault and he may have been worried about losing his job if he did that. That doesn't mean I am condoning the fact that he lied, just that I understand why he did it. What I don't understand is why he didn't give me his insurance information while he was in the hospital, and why he told his insurance company that he didn't know who I was. If this case were to go to trial (unlikely) maybe that could be used against him.

RSS Feed

2008-03-01T18:41:00.001-06:00

I added a link for an RSS Feed to the sidebar. If you don't know what an RSS Feed is, don't worry about it.

Let slip the dogs of war

2008-02-29T23:04:00.003-06:00

I went to Maplewood Bicycle yesterday to deliver Girl Scout cookies and let them know I was doing okay. I took in the front wheel to show them how strong it was (or how weak the fork was). As you can see below, the carbon fiber fork just snapped off. Stewart had sold me that wheel as something that would stand up the the commuting and rando riding that I do. I guess he was right.

Stewart recommended a lawyer if I needed one. I had talked to Brown and Crouppen but I didn't have a good feeling from them. The seemed like they were pressuring me to sign before even understanding my case. I called the lawyer and he referred me to his wife since he practices in Illinois. I met with her today and was impressed by how she described how she would handle my case. She let me know what the good points and the bad points are about my case. I signed with her and she is starting to work on the case. She let me know that this is a slow process and that I won't see any signs of activity for a couple of weeks.

You win some, you lose some

2008-02-27T08:54:00.001-06:00

I received my issue of American Randonneur in the mail yesterday. Included with it were the 2007 results. It was nice to see my name in the list of 2007 Super Randonneurs. Randonneurs USA definition of this is:

A special medal awarded to those randonneurs who successfully complete a challenging series of brevets (200, 300, 400, and 600-kilometers) in a year. A hard-earned honor unto itself and worthy of being any randonneur's goal for the cycling season, the Super Randonneur series of brevets is usually needed to enter a 1200-kilometer event.

Helen mentioned that I would not be earning that award this year. I told her, "Of course not, one of the brevets is on Rachel's birthday." Actually, I'm just hoping to be cleared to ride a bike by April 12 (the date of the first brevet). I don't plan on doing any century-plus rides for a while after that.

I guess I'll have to buy a new bike eventually. I've still got the hybrid, but I've gotten used to riding a road bike. I'm sure that Mary Kay at Maplewood Bicycle will be willing to sell me another one. Should I get another Trek Pilot? Before I bought the Pilot, I was considering a touring bike like the Trek 520. Things like my 4 day, 520 mile MS-150 ride seem like they would be better for the 520. I certainly have plenty of time to think about it.