BUSY Weekend

This weekend was very, very busy, but extremely fun. Friday afternoon my sister dropped off the twins for us to take to meet my mom. When I got home from work we loaded up & went to the greater greater metro area of Seymour to meet my mom so she could take Mia & the twins for the weekend.

Saturday we loaded up the Volvo, drove across town to pick up Amber's cousin & boyfriend to go to the STL with us to watch the Dave Mathews Show. JP was already up there to meet up with some friends of his wife(see JP isn't my gay lover(see comment in a previous post)). Once up there & after me playing a little mind game with Amber & her cousin. Very gullible girls those two. I yelled there's Dave as we were driving past Busch Stadium & I thought they were going to jump out of the car. Made me laugh.

After getting checked into the Hyatt Regency Riverside hotel(very fancy but over priced) we loaded up a taxi & headed over to the Brewery for some free beer & I guess the tour. Its been several years since I took the tour but the outcome is still the same. Free beer & an attempt to get more than the alloted 2. We were successful on both counts.

After the tour we headed on over to the show. For some reason the Black Crowes only played for 45 minutes so we got to hear most of their set while standing in various lines. Dave came on almost straight away & did not disappoint putting on an awesome show that lasted several hours. They even had a HD screen behind the band that was bigger than the side of a tractor trailer. Busch Stadium is a great venue for concert. With the stage in center field you get the back drop being the arch & all the high rises. Pretty cool.

Sunday I got up & around to head over to the Tour de Winghaven. Cool course but needs to have the fields separated. 130 guys in a cat 3/4 race is retarded. Some of the worst, if not the worst, bike handling/sketchiness I ever seen. People can be outright dumb. Throw in a super hard head wind & everyone puts on their idiot caps. Plus it was like 102 degrees. I pretty much rode around in the pack. I did bridge up to a break that I thought might go clear but they chased us down after a lap. Ended up 18th in the field sprint. Which is all right since I was a little overheated & starting to dehydrate. Went through 2 bottles in an hour. Knew I should have carried the 3rd one. It was a chip race so got to see my lap placings. 57,36,45,2,5,61,67,53,51,18 see what I mean about riding around in the pack? Funny side story is that I got told I was looking skinner than past years before the race. Thing is I'm 5-8lbs heavier than I normally am. I guess its the Slimen Unis. Black is slimming.

After the race I had to haul butt home since I had SRC's box tickets (suite 1 on the first base line)for the Cardinals game Sunday night. Made it home in time to get to the game at the top of the second inning. Was a good time & the cards came back from a 6-2 deficit to win with a walk off 3 run homer in the bottom of the 10th. That was my first walk off homer game so that was pretty cool.

Needless to say I'm a little tired today. I'm also still suffering a little from getting a little dehydrated Sunday. All that coupled with the rain made me drive to work this AM. Feel like a slacker but can't totally cook my legs since Sunday is the AR State TT. Really want to do a descent time to see where my form is at for the MO State TT. What sucks is this will be the 3rd straight weekend in a hotel bed.

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.

Slimen Unis

New team kit showed up this AM. Looks cool all black with old English Lettering.I'm sure TM will rate it high on his list of cool kits in the peloton. Boulevard Brewing Sixth Glass has signed on as a sponsor so even cooler unis will be out this summer.
I have a love/hate relationship with this beer. I found out the hard way you should only drink one bottle at a time (10.5% alc by vol). I'm still saying the tuna played a key roll in it taking me down though.

BDAY Celebration

Friday I decided to start my celebration of my Birth as soon as I got off work. So on the way home I stopped & picked up a sixer of Bass for breakfast. It goes without saying I was a little hung over when my Mom showed up to have dinner with me. I'm a gamer though so switched buzz' to Starbuck's to man up for the later trip to Patton Alley.

Mom & Me

Patton Alley Pub.
This is my favorite drinking establishment. Any place with a beer menu is all right by me. Plus Bellhaven & Young's Double Chocolate Stout on tap!

Amber is a tricky one sending out an email a month in advance. I unknowingly posted we were going downtown. OOPS great minds work a like I guess.

Most of my lame friends had excuses not to come. My best good bud Darin made an appearence. Shane & Carrie even showed for a few drinks. Shane broke out his Hero Powers. Who knew he could teleport & go invisible.

Amber's Uncle Jeremy, her mom, her Aunt Penny, her cousin Ashlea all showed up to wish me well.

Mark & Mindy came by to give me some special presents.

Only those two would think to give some one Mandelay.

I swear its this big.
I drunk
Amber & Uncle Jeremy. He's a downtown Gamer. Works & Plays in the Downtown area.
Mac Daddy Darin
Artsy but still drunk
Gotta love gifts.
Working out @ the YMCA is paying off. Jeremy was working his ass all night getting free beers from dudes.

Not a clue?

A little too close to the hiney for Darin's tastes.

Our waitress. She had some sort of nervous disorder that kept causing her to arch her back.

Needless to say we all had a good time closing down the place. Amber was pretty rough Saturday AM as was her mom. Me I'm a gamer & was A OK! Thanks to everyone for showing up & helping me celebrate my start to middle age.