A post in more than 140 characters

I've taken to Twitter & Facebook for that matter for my life updates. Now I have a smart phone I can use Twitter to update both @ same time & it makes it easier for me. Now I need to find a mobile blogging app & I'll start blogging a little more often.

Work Sucks right now! We've cut back to 3 days a week. Part time job hunt starts this week. More time to train =more fitness. Less work= less $$. Less$$ + more fitness= stuck at home not racing. I'm sitting on some good legs right now. Trained more this week than I have in just about any week this year.

My CX season is now cut back to 5 races. Since I won the Masters overall last year I get to race the DeStad series for free. I guess 5 races is better than zero races. That also means no Hermann CX under the lights next Saturday. My season will be starting @ the end of September. Going to race the open cat in those 5 races & hopefully will place in enough to cover my State CX entry. Definitely motivation to race faster I guess. No race winnings, no state.

Just have to write this season off as a life lesson & do something about getting in a better situation with work. Hopefully the economy will pick up soon.

Good Friday Update

Its been awhile since I've posted so I figure I'd better update. Last week took a rest week after two straight weekends of MTB racing. My body took a beating as well as my Kona. Getting old is not conducive to MTB racing.

I also started my new job last week. Well Kinda of. Part of my severance stipulation was I had to work three days @ the old place & two @ the new. This week it was the reverse; two @ the new & two @ the old. I got a free pass thanks to the holiday so all ties are now done with the old defunct company(I hope). I'll be making less money but the commute is a little shorter & the place is climate controlled & fairly clean. A real selling point bonus for a guy in maintenance. It's nice not to have to dress in all my Carhartt's to stay warm & it will be even nicer not to sweat my ass off all summer.

I got the first mow of the season in last Monday. It has begun my seasonal fight with the weed whacker. Technically I didn't weed whack last week but if history shows anything I'll have to fight the weed whacker all season. To make things even more interesting I'm going to put out a garden this year too. Hopefully the last freeze is done & I'll get it going this Saturday. Just what I need more yard work. Yeah! Actually I'm pretty excited about fresh home grown veggies.

Training: A recovery week means FTP test this week. Got that out of the way on Tuesday. One whole watt increase. I know massive but a watt is a watt. Wanted to get in a nice ride today but the weather isn't going to cooperate so it looks like more trainer time. No racing this week. Next week hopefully will be another MTB race in Neosho @ the Tour de Tick. Then another week or two off & off to the Syllamo Revenge. A 50 mile MTB race isn't too bright but I got given a free entry so its hard to turn down. Plus I already got my first stupid move of the year out by racing in the mud & snow two weeks ago so its open season on stupid Scott tricks.

The Low down on the Job Front

That's that folks another casualty of the recession mess. My place of employment is suspending operations permanently on March 27. The bankruptcy papers are filed, the plant dis-assembly has started. Fortunately I have another job @ a division of the parent company. I'll have to tighten the belt since I'm taken a pretty good step down in pay, but what the hell a job is a job in this market(rent a racer program). Hopefully on to better things. To make up for the pay cut they are going to send me to all kinds of schooling. Who knows maybe I'll get my official engineering pocket protector instead of the home made one I use now(yes I wear a pocket protector). I'm taking a week off then starting my new J.O.B. as a flunky. No decision making for this kid, that'll be a nice change of pace.

First MTB race in 13 years Sunday!

POS Field Service Technicians provide scheduled service work

"POS Field Service Technicians provide scheduled service work." Hell I can do that. Turns out POS is something to do with computers. Here I thought I found a job where they tell you how they are going to treat you up front.

Yes I'm looking at Careerbuilder.com again, bad news here on the work front. Can't say more till later.

A wee bit icy out

Last night was an adventure getting home. A drive that normally takes me 25 min from Strafford took me over an hour. Wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't for all the morons on the road. I saw one guy heading East in front of Utility Trailer going side ways down I-44. He hit both side of the road & managed to straighten it out. Never even slowed down after he got it going East again. Moron!

This AM I figured I'd better leave earlier than normal in case the commute was another hour+, so I got up at 3:45 to be out the door at 4am. Damn that's early(I normally leave at 4:30 for work so not a huge stretch). I-44 wasn't too bad. I did hit a little traffic which I passed easily enough. I''m not sure why people think its safe to drive on icy roads 35 mph with less than a car width between them. I passed quite a few twos & threes all bumper to bumper. Morons!

Actually the worst part of my commute was the outer road at Strafford. Holy Crap it was bad. Even with the Volvo in 4WD I was sliding all over the road. Only half of the plant made it in. Most of the people who work here live out in the sticks so I can imagine how bad the country roads are.

I got to spend my first hour here shoveling ice & spreading salt. Managed to break a sweat since I was a little overdressed. I was wearing just about every piece of Carhartt I own. I look like a catalog ad but its nice to be warm when its 20F outside. I just wish Carhartt made riding clothes.

Knobbies part Deux...psssssttttt!

Two days in a row on the MTB. Got out after work. Put my headlamp in my pocket just in case it got dark on me. Last year Amber & I got a new water proof/impact resistant camera to replace the one that didn't survive the trip to the Dave show. Its nice since you can throw it your pocket & forget about it. That means more pictures.

It got dark on me because its not a ride @ Sac without the beloved thorn. Front tire this time. Cheap tubes are going on the shelf & Conti's are being ordered this AM. Conti's tubes have better rubber & removable valve stems so you can put Stan's in them. In the winter I always stick a vest in my pocket just in case. Once the sun went down in got really cold in a hurry even with the insulated skin suit on. The vest made the trip back to the car bearable.

BRRRR! Found out the head lamp needs new batteries as well.

A little tuning & the R7 is damn plush. Reading is a valuable skill.

Friday at work I fixed a problem on a machine that had been going on for over two years. According to the operator 5 different maintenance guys have tried unsuccessfully to fix it. It took some head scratching & a lot of beating my head against the side of the machine. Give a guy a print, a meter & a little common sense & you can fix anything.

Not my actual opponent but the same model. Did I mention the manual is in Japanese not English?

Updates on other than cross, well sorta of

No riding this week in two parts due to the weather & my stomach. The weather has been for shit. Right now its 54F but according to the Weather Channel in an hour its supposed to be 38F, nice. Its actually warmer outside right now than in the plant(no joke). My stomach is still trashed from last weekends bought with the flu. Not sick but definitely not right. Oh well hadn't really planned on riding this week anyway since I need a mental health week or two.

As for the J.O.B. looks like I have a job for sure through January & the layoff is cut back to a week. That's for now. Been changing on an almost daily basis. Which has been contributing in part to my continued stomach problems. Very stressful not knowing. Hopefully today I find out if I get loaned out for that layoff week to go fix stuff at another divisions plant. If that works out it will be a nice break to be elsewhere for awhile since fixing stuff really does relax me. Its the puzzle aspect of it I guess. Either way it'll be a vacation of sorts if I'm laid off for a week or helping out elsewhere.

The January CX races are tempting but the wheels are hung up for now. I'll take a few more days off completely then start back up with some running(that 50k in February sounds tempting). Maybe get back on the Single Speed sometime in January. Keying your season around Cross sure gives you some flexibility in the winter years, for now anyway. Once Nationals goes to January I'll have to figure out how to stay motivated for an extra month, but for now its couch surfing time.

Merry Xmas enjoy the Sh@# Sandwich

Today right after lunch(bad news is best on a full stomach I guess) we had a big company wide meeting; all 33 of us. The economy sucks, Merry Xmas your getting an unemployment vacation for the holidays. December 19 everyone gets laid off for 2-3 weeks. I say laid off because they say we're getting called back, but after the meeting they pulled out the logging axe & started lopping off upper management heads. OUCH! two so far, probably 2 more before done(only 5 left) One being the guy I share an office with. Going to be lonely next week. I'd guess there will be no return without upper management. I've known for several weeks that it was probably coming but its a real slap in the face when it actually happens. Cross season ended at noon. Happy holidays my ass. What sucks is I work with a lot of guys who have nothing to their name, I hope they can at least stay warm for the holidays. I guess its good they waited till after deer season so they at least have food in the freezer(I think I'm one of 3 @ work who doesn't deer hunt).

Daily nightmares

I have nightmares about opening a cabinet & seeing the above. Look closely there is even a cobweb. That PLC is almost as old as I am. My project for the next couple of days is bring this machine into at least the last 2 decades.



Now I have to do a lot of rewiring, a lot of cleaning & a little of the above. Shouldn't be too bad, it will be the 3rd one of these machines I've updated. Practice makes perfect.

17 Days till CX

Holy Crap its getting close & all I can think about is getting wet.

All day today @  work it was all I could think about was going boating.  Luckily I was insanely busy rewiring 3 control cabinets.  10 hours flew by.  Otherwise I would have gone nuts checking guages.  Don't get me wrong Cross first & fore most but a guy has to cross trane right?  

I even hit the trainer so hard last night Amber got to witness my body telling me to harden the F up. 

 

Yep dry heaves followed by a near pass out.  I've got it in my head to do all my intervals (except secrect cx ones) on the trainer for consistancy via the wattage.  It'll either work or it won't.

Google caused quite a stir with Chrome.  I have it @ home & work.  Haven't got to play too much with it yet.  Did manage to get it to hang up tonight though.   I think it may be more flash than anything.  Will take a lot to get me to convert from Firefox.  But I will give it a chance.  I'm definetly one to try new things  ie intervals on the trainer, wattage, all crazy talk just a few years ago.

62 Days TIll CX Season

I always say Robots & Ninjas will be the end of all of us. I think the Ninjas infiltrated my work & sabotaged one of my robots. I got to spend all day yesterday trying to get the damn thing to do what I wanted it to. After about 8 hours of programming & tweaking I threw in the towel & called in R2-D2's makers to come & try & remove the demons the ninjas stuck in it.

R2-D2

Off to State TT, almost time to start thinking 46t instead of 54t.

Clif Notes

Here's the quick & dirty Clif Notes version of the last 4 weeks.

1) I got a new job...yes that's 2 this year. This job doesn't have a physcopath for a plant manager. I used my degree to diagnosis this idiot(first time I've ever used it). I'm now working for a division of SRC out in Strafford. I really like this job. Even though I have to work 5 10 hour days. I also got a shiny new stainless steel toolbox to celebrate the new J.O.B.

2) Amber & I went to the SRC 25th anniversary party. 3 Dog Night & the Doobie Brothers plus lots o beer. Good time. Jack Stack knows how too take care of his employees. Rumor has it he wanted Jimmy Buffet but he wanted a cool million to perform.

3) I got a new two me road bike. Will remain a secret what & how equipped because frankly its none of your business how I set up my rides.

4) My grass is growing to much & I've started working on my cobbles again.

5) Mia has grown two like make-up especially nail polish. My next major project will be to replace the carpet in my bedroom with hardwood. Thanks to Mia painting it red with "beautiful" nail polish.

6) Jimmy needed something made so he called me again. It pays to have friends with skills. By the way Jimmy I have it about done.

7) We went to Rock n Ribs. Not as fun this year. I already puked once for the year so held back on my beer intake. No repeat of the shopping cart incident. Which I had forgotten about, but JP remembered. I did pull a Mr. Wizard moment & fix the tent heater because it got chilly.

8) Speaking of JP I went & cut down his dead ice storm limbs for him. Pays to have in laws with skills. That's a 2 way street since he cooks the best tri tip in the SPR! But I do have to mention who invites someone over for hard labor & doesn't have mass quantities of good beer?

9) My back has decided to act up once again. I'm normally 6' tall, but lately I've been about 5'4"from walking around bent over in agony.

10) Damn its rained a lot & I've only been boating once. Need to remedy that. but new job has factored into that some.

Let's see that about brings everyone up to speed. I need to post some pics but the digi cam is about due to be replaced.

Post XMAS ????

I got a gift card to A&B for XMAS (really my bday it was a little late). I'm going to retire my old semi slicks & purchase some new tread with it. What should I get? Remember I'm running tubes & refuse to run tires over 2.1. I've always like Conti's but I'm looking for something that's a good all round tire for the mixed conditions Sac has. Suggestions? I'm thinking Continental Speed King or Mountain King Protection though both are 2.2 so I'll have to change that 2.1 rule.

I'm once again gainfully employed. Start in around a week or so. I'm taking over the helm of the maintenance department at Buckhorn. I guess its about time to do the grind again. I low balled myself though, should have asked for more since I think I could have gotten it. Oh well. The plant is in the Partnership complex so I'll be TM's neighbor. Not going to be able to commute by bike either since Mia has to go back to daycare for a few hours everyday now since Amber is working 2nd at her new Massage digs. I'll have to do the 2 a day split workout routine again.