9 Days

Saturday, not a usual day for blogging but I'm just sitting here watching Julia eat her bagel while her mom gets ready to go out. We're off to the mall this morning to get some more work pants for me. It's been 4 years since I've bought any new pants. After that we're going to swing by Dynasty on route 22 and get some dim sum. I'll ride when we get home.

Today is the first of 9 days in a row out of the office. I'm on-call next week so I'll work at home all week. So no waking up at 5:00 for me for a while, thankfully. And since I'll be up until possibly 1:00 some nights I won't be plowing out full days starting at 7:00 am. In other words, I should be able to get my ride on this week.

Ok, the bagel is done and my wife is almost ready to go so time for me to get some pants *before* I go eat.

Fantasy Football

It's the time of year again when the days get shorter and colder and they play football on the weekends and dorks like me put together teams of random players to compete for mythical championships. Fantasy football.

Last night I had my first draft. Since joining Facebook I've gotten in touch with a few of my old high school friends - the good ones who I hung out with senior year in between the heavy high school drinking and heavy college drinking. Turns out there was an opening and they asked me to join. It's a free ESPN league. Me - sure, why not?

It took about 1:15 to do the draft and I'm glad I didn't autopilot it. One of the guys bowed out and the autopilot feature sucks, let me tell you. So I had the first pick and took Addai. Oh, gotta mention it's a keeper league so the top guns were off the board already. Larry Johnson was my keeper, I got Addai, the Patriots starting RB, and Kevin Smith.

My WRs are Andre Johnson, the GB guy I think, Marvin Harrison, and Javon Walker. TE is Winslow with LJ Smith behind him. K is the Pats kicker. Defense is SD and NE. My QB I think is Delhomme. Obviously I went with the "late non-dead QB" theory. I may have grabbed Aaron Rogers as his backup. I'm sure there are a few other players I missed.

In all, it's a much less knowledgeable league than the normal one I'm in so I was able to get, for instance, LJ Smith and the Pats defense in 2 of the last 3 rounds. The league isn't so much about football though. It's about getting together (online) and talking trash. It was fun to BS with these guys that I literally have not seen in something like 16 years if not 17 or 18.

I have a Facebook auto-draft this weekend which I won't pay attention to. I'm sure that will be a cluster fuck of waiver moves just like any auto draft. Then the big one is Tuesday night which is a conference call at 8:00 or 8:30. After last night I'm wishing it was just all online because it straps you in at 1:30 and you have to get your pick on or take the next best ESPN player listed. If we get the thing done Tuesday in 2 hours it will be a miracle.

Plus, the talent pool will be totally stripped come the 12th round of our draft. Rookie RBs will go 3rd round. It's funny how different leagues have different ways to play out.

In the draft last night I had the first pick, and in Tuesday's I'll have one of the top picks. I'm hoping I get 1 or 2 because I want LT or AP. The 2 spot is better since it allows someone else to have to choose, but that will invariably be LT. I will take the 1 spot and deal with the consequences of having 1, 20, and 21 if it plays out that way. Probably that translates to LT and 2 solid WRs but you never know.

Work work work Friday. Today is going to be a bitch.

A Cup of Coffee

With a title like "a cup of coffee" you might have some instant reaction to what this blog entry is about. You might think it refers to something short-term, as in the way it's used in baseball. Or you may think something else, I can't read your mind, ok? Anyway, it means what it says, a cup of coffee.

Here's the situation. I'm standing on the platform in Summit waiting for the connecting train and it's about 55 or 60 degrees out, in all a beautiful morning. It's a bit chilly, and I'm a hair taxed because I woke up at 5:00 to ride for an hour. But in total I feel good, the day is good, it's all, well, good.

But I see this woman drinking a cup of coffee and I think to myself that a cup of coffee right now would make this picture complete, almost perfect. I'm a bit thirsty because I rushed out of the house early today*. So the idea of any liquid is appealing. Add the chill in the air and the idea of hot liquid is even more so. Throw on the slight tiredness from waking up early and riding and the caffeine boost sounds really enticing.

* They're repaving our street so all of the sudden at 7:20 I look out the window and I think, oh shit, this street is going to be closed really soon. So I gotta get the fuck outta here. I hope Nat doesn't get stuck in the house all day but she may not be able to get out once they start laying tar.

I'm totally cool with the inconvenience of the road work because our street needs to be repaved. Hopefully they will put those paver stones along the edge of the street too and finally our little dead end street will step up into what the rest of the town looks like.

When I get to work I think I'll have a coffee. It won't be the same though because the moment will have passed. But one can always hope.

Monday Afternoon Comments

ChrisG

"Well, I smoked a cigar Friday night, while sipping Eagle Rare bourbon on an oceanfront patio in Sea Isle City. First ceegar since a New Years Eve wedding, 96-97. Of course, the wagon is only at my house during the week. I'm intrigued by the team news, seeing as how I'm all out of the loop and whatnot."

As you know by now we had 2 people jump ship in the last day, first Gerilynn and then her boyfriend Mike. Both left on good terms and I had a discussion with Mike on the phone. It all went well and the reality is that they're both young, up-and-coming racers who want to get pretty serious about racing and our team brings blow up dolls to races and nails them to trees. So it goes. I agreed with Mike that it's a better fit for him to jump over to Bulldog so best of luck to them. Life is too short to hold a grudge. The reality is that we may all end up on the same team someday.

Jake

"i got snickered in grafton, ma. and will be actively getting on (or off) a wagon as of today. no beers were harmed in the making of this post either."

So it turns out that Jake is addicted to chewing tobacco which he is now giving up. I wish you luck with that because it's a pretty rough thing to be addicted to. I myself never smoked a whole cigarette, and have thrown up after trying both cigars and chewing tobacco. So luckily I never had any of those vices.

Walter

"If I remember correctly, I made a complete jackass of myself this weekend. I think its time the wagon to get parked at my house for a spell."

Well I'm not totally done with the concept. But I'm thinking that I like my own advice to Jake. I think I'm going to go on the wheelbarrow, so you can have the wagon. I think I like the idea of a wheelbarrow because there's no gate to it. With the wagon you have to actively open and close the gate. With a wheelbarrow you just lean over the side in temptation and it falls over and dumps you out. I think that works better anyway.

For all intents and purposes I'm in the wheelbarrow again for a few more weeks I think. I may grab another 6 pack of some sort of hoppy IPA before the warm weather ends but I'm ready to kick back with some good solid cold weather stouts and porters right now.

Wagons

Went to Orion's yesterday and I jumped off the wagon for a few hours. I'm not going to say I fell off because it's not like it wasn't a willing exit. I had a beer and a big glass of wine. Neither the beer nor the wine was worth getting off. No big deal either way. The thing about wagons is that there's a reason they put a gate on the back. There's a distinct need for things to be put on and taken off.

On a related note I'm now going to start eating a vegetarian diet except for most dinners, some lunches, and the occasional breakfast.

The weekend was decent but very fast. We had our first team rider defect to another team yesterday, though it came as no surprise as we had known for a month it was possible. Here's the thing about people. They can't keep their mouths shut. People talk, and talk, and talk. So there really is no such thing as a secret. Personally, I hate secrets because it forces me to try and remember what I can and cannot say to different people. That's just hard to sort out at the age of 36.

This is Monday morning, and I feel extremely good today. Saturday's ride was a lot of fun though I went over at least 3 if not 4-5 times, so I'm sore all over. I can't wait for Ben to post the video of this so I can see what a bunch of assholes we look like trying to ride the log rollers.

That's all I got this Monday morning, at least for now.

Sunday Comments

Terren

"Well, I don't know if your ticket lady is hugely obese but some extremely large folks smell because they don't clean underneath the folds. I believe that was how penicillin was discovered actually."

Hugely obese...no, I don't think quite that. She weighs more than me for sure but she's not the kind of person you think of when you see an all-you-can-eat sign. But still, there are plenty of hidden and unwashed places on a woman who is 5-5 and 225 pounds.

Mike aka Darkhorse Cycles

""every time i'm in georgia i eat a peach for peace" duane allman i try to do the same, except in new jersey, or new york, but i do go to georgia every once in a while......oh whatever they are yummy!"

Hells yes peaches rock. I've probably had at least 15 in the last 2 weeks. Love 'em love 'em.

FatCat

"The entire Vinny response is an absolute gem. LMFAO. However, I do think you're walking a dangerous path taking pics of the people. Although getting caught doing it would certainly add to the data. Cycle 87... got caught taking another picture today and the usual expletives followed. That makes, to date: Expletives 7x, threatened law suit 1x, phone number 2x (both Males), cheesecake pose 1x... Could be interesting data no doubt."

As you've seen by now the experiment is on hold. Before long the train will be stacked with people again and we can resume the observations. On Friday I sat solo which never happens in the morning.

And for you Facebook users, I hope to be immediately uploading the pics from the cell directly!