Amber thinks it's annoying when I don't update

So I'll update in pictures:
Mia hasn't been feeling good this week. Strep, not strep, maybe strep, maybe viral. Medicine it is an exact science.

I rode this bad boy. It hurt.

Quick quiz: Name those pedals, bonus if you can name the year they were made. I have brand new set of cleats for them.
Amber got a free hair do by trading a massage with the hair lady where she works. Me likey!

I've entered the 9th layer of cooperate hell.

Pickin on the Dead

I should have turned around as soon as I rode into the parking lot of McBride last night. Always a bad sign when Farasy & Hogan are already there. It gets worse, up rolls Cale, followed by Metrz (3 hrs into a 6 hour day), then the icing on the cake Huff. Being way out of shape I should have realized I was in over my head & went home but nope I took off with them. I then spent the next 1:30 chasing & staring @ what ever wheel I could grab. Just before Z I cracked, one hill too many. I limped home listening to the Grateful Dead's Pickin on the Dead. I got a pretty good laugh @ its irony. What a difference a year makes.

I'm sitting here this AM drinking my coffee rethinking any illusions I might have had about racing anytime soon. They all went up the road last night. I got my ass handed to me in a big way. Its starting to grow old that Hogan is in on the handing.

This pic is for Skippy, who was noticeably absent last night. This is the dungeon I work in . That picture on the wall is the closet thing to a window I have. Fluorescent hell. But I do have 2 monitors.

Another week in review

It seems lately all anyone has time for are weeks in review in the blog world. Once again I too am stuck doing a quickie recap.

Monday nothing interesting.

Tuesday was a bad day for Mia. She got bit 3X! at daycare. When Amber picked her up she got a note explaining why kids bite & lots of apologizes. The bite marks looked like dental impressions they were so perfectly shaped. What got me pissed was after the first bite they let the kid get near her not once but twice more to bite her.

Wednesday was may regularly scheduled XRay day. Not good. Not much healing if any. The Dr. dropped a bomb shell on me by telling me he'd like to leave the plate in till next February!!! The kicker being the plate is causing scar tissue so the popping I'm getting will get worse though its nothing to worry about. But I might need rotator cuff surgery because of it. So I'm drawing a line in the sand. When I go back in six weeks we're setting a date to get this out since I don't want the cure to cause more damage.

After my appointment I went to lunch with Amber. She called the daycare to check on Mia & she'd been bitten again!!! They said the kid was being kicked out of the daycare & he was being given one on one supervision for the rest of the day. We said screw that & went & got her. Nothing like paying for full time day care & only having your kid go for 2 hours plus get assaulted.

I did make it out for the Wednesday night ride. I was greeted by Stokes who looked like he'd been mugged. He took a bad spill on the Greenway's the day before & was pretty beat up. You couldn't tell by how he was killing everyone. He did get a bit skittish whenever gravel was on the road. I managed to ride over & back & not die. That was my longest ride since January. Last week was also the first time since the first week of the year I've ridden more than 160K in a week. I'm on a roll because I've topped it twice now in a row.

Thursday was the monthly review meeting @ work. Nothing like a lot of stress to make your day. After two weeks of running spreadsheets I got to give the numbers to the man. That public speaking class in college sure comes in handy.

Friday Amber had a big night out on the town while I stayed home with Mia. Aren't I a good husband & father?

Saturday I took Mia for a ride in the trailer. Then we took her for her first haircut before heading to the lake for a Father's day dinner with my parents.



Sunday I got out for my fourth, that's right fourth, ride of the week. Later we headed down to Amber's grandparents for a Father's day B B Q.

Pretty big week. Hopefully this week I can update a little more regularly. I also need to get a pic of my work space since Skip is flaunting his. I have 2 monitors too. Doesn't everyone in this day & age?

Weed Whackers

Friday night Amber & I attended the MacAnutt's outdoor movie night. I was finally able to be in the same place as Skip so was able to get the weed whacker I was promised over @ his blog.

Saturday AM I got up bright & early a commenced to pulling on the starter cord. 1000 pulls later I weed whacked my yard with it. In the process I got a pretty good blister & the thing to run fairly descent. It now idles like a champ & runs for more than 5 min (told you I could do it Skip). It lacks a little on top end power but I think a lot of that has to do with my mix.

All it took was a hammer, a punch, a die grinder, & a screwdriver to make it work. Let me explain my process. The hammer & punch were to knock away the stupid guard around the adjustment screws for the carburetor. The die grinder was to cut screwdriver slots into the aforementioned screws to allow me to adjust the carburetor with a screwdriver. The screwdriver was to adjust the carburetor which needed some love, plus a good cleaning. Thanks Skip for providing me with some Saturday morning entertainment. Also thanks to Cale & Erin for having us over Friday night.

A day that will live in infamy

One year ago today was a day that has haunted me every day for the last year. Because of one stupid dog I've basically lost a year of my life. I've not been able to boat, climb, or ride like I have in the past. On the up side I've spent a lot of time with Mia. I've been doing things around the house that I probably wouldn't have: IE the deck, the paint, mow my yard. A lot of good has come out of it besides all the pain that I have to deal with on pretty much a regular basis. When will this end? Got me, but hopefully soon. If not they can add mental effects to my list of injuries. It's killing me every time it rains & I can't go boating!

When I show up to the Wednesday night ride tonight it will be with some trepidation since shortly after it starts will be when I hit the deck & turned down a different fork in the road.

Ryan I still want that weed eater.

a few odds & ends

A few odds & ends is all I like to have the deck done. Just need to put a guardrail on the stairs & fix a few minor things. For all intensive purposes its done though.

The seats are comfy for lounging & drinking a cold one.

The weather is killing me

The weather is really putting a crimp in the finishing of the deck. Every night this week that I've attempted to work on it its rained or I've had something else going on. I figured I'd get up this AM & knock it out in a few hours & spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the fruits of my labors. Instead I woke up to this:
Crap! On to plan B. Cut as much wood in the garage as I can & work on the weed eater. I'm sitting here now waiting for the compressor to fill up so I can use my air tools. Once again I'll strip the weed eater down & rebuild it. I've said it before I won't let it beat me. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I can have the deck finished.

This past week I've taken a small hiatus from my 3 day a week training plan. Got to rest up & all. When the deck is off my plate I'm going to try & get some miles in. Cross is only 4 months away.

More Deck Construction pics

Ashton helped lay out the joists. Notice the tape measure wrapped around her arm? She really did help though. I put a mark on her tape & she then "measured" the layout.

Cutting off the joist tails with a corded saw after the cordless saw had had a "good run". A "good run" to my dad is 2 boards.

I know how everyone likes to look @ my backside.

We're starting to grasp how big this thing is

Now the "fun" part. Laying the decking. 25lbs of screws later we'd be done.

Look closely & you'll notice I forgot to reapply sunscreen & my back is starting to get a little red. It ended up getting a lot red. Jus my back though since I spent 4 hours bent over.

My dad the day after. Mom said he spent most of the day sleeping on his deck.

Memorial Wknd Update

Amber & I have been talking about adding on to the deck since we bought our house two years ago. We finally pulled the trigger on it this weekend. I took Friday off & my niece Ashton came to help. Thursday after work we loaded up my dad's trailer with most of the required lumber. I saw most since we ended up going back to Lowe's several times. Most was because of a big design change yesterday.

How the deck used to look. Plain 12'x12'.

After Ashton & I removed the guardrail. Just before the rain storm that put down the digital camera for two days while it dried out. oops!

Mia kept a close eye on the work progress her dad & both grandad's were making.

This was today after I got the guardrails on the new addition. 8' out from the old deck. 28' wide & 12 ' out from the side of the house that had no deck. The front has no guardrail yet because I'm making the guardrail into benches. If you look closely you can see the pattern I made.

We decided the deck needed flow to the yard so I added 8' wide stairs in the center of it. Lucky likes his new place to chill out. I'll post pics of the actual construction once my mom emails them too me. Then you can see my dad, my dad in law Rick, & myself in full construction mode. As soon as I get the deck finished off we'll be sure to have a deck warming party.

BDAY Party wrap up

We had a great party for my girls Saturday to celebrate their Birthday's.

Mia's "smash Cake" she wasn't real interested in eating it. She doesn't like sweet things.

Lots of people showed up. Amber was way too stressed. Everyone ate too much but seemed to have lots of fun. Lucky & Lacy haven't been that tired in a longgg time. They chased, fetched, tackled, & got tackled by all the kids in the back yard. I got my neck sunburned raw bar-b-quing for everyone. 24 burgers, dozen hot dogs, & a dozen brats. Very few left overs.

Tonight I came home from a VERY bad day @ work to find the best thing ever. My garage returned to me from its previous role as storage shed for our old furniture. I got Amber new furniture for her present this year & we had to put the old in the garage till the Victory Mission could come get it. Now I have all kinds of space.

This weekend is the great deck expansion. I'm adding on almost 250 sq feet of deck space. Straw boss will be my niece Ashton. Pictures too follow.


*******OH Yeah Wednesday Night ride is @ 5:30 @ McBride for those of you have trouble finding the message board. I'm also now the owner of www.ozarkcyclingclub.com so hopefully I'll have it up & running soon.*************

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my girls. Mia on Wednesday & Amber Yesterday. We're having a house full to celebrate on Saturday. Mia's getting a "smash cake". We gave her a cup cake last night but I had to help her smash it. She wasn't thrilled with how sweet it was.

All her cousins, aunts, & uncles are coming to wish her a happy belated bday. After we plan on celebrating Amber's bday. Amber keeps saying something about Patron, so it should be a fun night. I don't think she'd mind if my readers wanted to swing by to wish her a happy bday. If you'd like to come by give me a call & I'll give you directions.

Mother's Day WKND

To celebrate Amber's First Official Mother's Day we loaded up & went to my parents house to surprise my mom. Dad had the pool all heated up so we were able to let Mia try her hand @ swimming. She likes it as long as no one splashes. After that we went out on Mom & Dad's new pontoon. Snazzy. My nieces & my brother in law Eric even did a little tubing.

Getting ready to head out.

Granddad let Mia Drive.

Wipe out!

Ashton(left) showing off while Nina holds on for dear life.

Making headway

Last night I actually felt some progress be made in my legs. I rode all of the Wednesday night long loop. I figured I'd get dropped but managed to hang on with Curt & Peter. I even took the Jamesville climb. I had to dig really deep to do it but I found some reserves in my legs. Curt got me @ the Boaz sprint. I was able to cover his jump but just couldn't get that extra gear. All in all 62 kilometers averaging just over 30kph. Last year I was doing that loop @ 35+kph by myself. I have a lot to work to do but I'll take what I can get. A few more weeks & I should be able to stop driving over & ride over. It really bothers me driving to go ride, especial with gas @ $3/gal.

Lots going on this weekend. Going to be non stop fun. Don't forget to tell your mom you love her on Sunday.

Making space

Mia & I have been hanging out a ton lately. Lots & lots of fun. Last night we walked about 2 miles around the house. She throws a fit if I let her walker get stuck, so I guide it as she walks behind it. Its more of a run though, she is my kid after all.

I was inspired by the pics of Bryon's home shop. Mine was getting a little crowded so with Mia's supervision I modified one of the shelving units into more bench space. I used the newly finished under stairs storage to better store our camping, climbing, & boating gear. Now I have access to my toolbox & its bounty of fixing goodies. Next up is some peg board to hang my more used tools @ my beck and call.
Two bikes @ the ready. One for pulling Mia in the trailer, the other for getting my butt handed to me on the weekly Wednesday night ride. I don't even want to think about the TT bike yet, thus its lack of wheels while hanging on the wall. I did put the finishing touches on the SS MTB this wknd. Once my arm strength is back I'll be spending sometime on it as well.

3000 clicks a day

Where have I been hiding? Good question. I feel bad Skip had to call me out on not updating the old blog. Have been pretty busy lately at work. Being on the computer non stop @ work I kind of lose interest in sitting at it when I get home. I had to manually transfer a ton of data from the old system to the new. It takes about 3 mouse clicks for each task. That adds up to about 3000 mouse clicks a day. My right forearm has been getting a hell of a work out. Good thing I have developed it over the years. There I beat (no pun intended) all of you the the punch. LOL!

On the collarbone front got bad news on Monday. Have to have the plate in another 6 weeks+. Plus my range of motion isn't where it needs to be so I have to go to therapy. To add insult to injury I found out today because of my new insurance I have to switch to Cox. That means a new Ortho. So I can't start therapy till I go see whoever my current Dr. sends me too. Way too complicated. The only other option is pay up front & get reimbursed. Not sure I'd like to part with $30k for another surgery.

On the riding front I've been doing some. I rode just over 100k last week! The good thing about going metric is it sounds like more. This week I'm already ahead of that pace. Who knows maybe I can get in some sort of shape & go make a fool of myself at State TT. I really should try & defend my jersey. I got out last night for a shorten Wednesday night ride with Roger & Peter. Road smartly & kept the HR down so not too kill myself. It sucks being out of shape. I've rode less than a 1000 kilometers this year. That's about what Mertz rides in a week.
I now have no excuse not to ride. We went a saw Roger over @ A&B and bought a trailer.

Mia likes it!

A lot.

Only 2 weeks to go till she turns 1. Just chillin out waiting for the party.

I have been doing some things around the house. I finally got around to framing in the under stairs storage closet. That's a home made door frame. Our house had a door in a stupid place which I took down & have been storing in the garage. I cut it down, rehinged it, made a door jamb & hung it. Still need to add trim & some paint but not too bad.

We had wellness checks at work today. Had blood drawn, got my BP checked, weighed(150 lbs) & my body fat checked. 11%. It was from a scanner so think its off. If I had to guess I'd say I'm really around 8%. All for now.

Mia's starting to walk

Here's a quick video of Mia using a walker my Grandad made me 36 years ago to learn to walk with.

Don't call me Skip

Yes I know its been over a week since my last update. I had a very busy week. I did manage to get out on Wednesday & do part of the Wednesday night ride. My bike shifted like Hogan had worked on it. Let it sit idle too long. The ride wasn't pretty & I took the shortcut. All in all for my first ride back after surgery it was OK. Not as bad as it could have been, but not as good as I would have hoped for. Tested my legs on the trailer park hill. They're crap. Lungs are pretty bad too. My shoulder gave out about the hour thirty mark. The last thirty I was doing some interesting moves to stay on the bike & finish. Hopefully I can start getting on a semi regular basis & build some base.

Saturday had an all day training session for work. Listening to speakers for 8 hours while wearing a tie can be tiring on a guy. I did say tie. It was mandatory. Company policy is if you have corporate level training you have to look the part. Saturday night went to Rock n Ribs. Drank to much is all I'll say about that.

New job is going well. I head off to work every morning looking all executive like. To add to that now I have a brief case(soft sided) to lug around my company laptop. Our CMS (computerized maintenance system) is web based so I can do part of my job from anywhere with a wireless connection. Once the transition is complete I think my new position will be pretty cool.

I have no new pics of the Mia. I'll try and correct that this week.

Week 1 in the land of night time sleepers

Week one has come and gone with me working days. I have a long road ahead of me to be able to sleep like a normal person though. My body is still on a reverse schedule. Though I'm not complaining, much.

Tuesday & Wednesday I was in Harrison shadowing my counterpart @ Pace. They too have my current employer as a maintenance provider. Sounds like I might be doing quite a bit of plant hopping in the near future for training purposes. Yesterday was a very hectic day since I had to make up for the two missed days by doing 3 days worth of work in one day. Yikes. I have some serious eye strain from staring at the computer.

Its official my toolbox has left the plant & taken up residence in my garage. I got told Thursday without a doubt I was not to work break downs except to perhaps point. That is pretty hard for me since I usually find it easier to just do it myself than try & explain how to do it. I'm going to really have to work on that one.

On the riding front there still is no riding being done. The weather today might motivate me to get on the trainer though. Still can't make myself get back on the road since I have no desire to start getting in shape, then have another forced lay off when this damn plate & screws come out. The good thing is my mobility in my arm is improving almost daily. I can now swing my arms so I might just start running again & get a jump on cross season.

Monday Mia turns 11 months old. Time sure is flying. We're already planning her 1 year birthday party. Sounds like we're going to do a kids party, then that evening have an adults party to celebrate Amber's birthday.

Happy Easter

End of a long run

That's it. Last night was it for me working nights. Monday I start a normal shift. So after almost five years of nights I get to sleep like a normal person.

Mia is pretty happy about it.

I've been getting some help with my typing.

Dinner was extra good last night.

The big news

Thanks to Cale having mystical seeing powers my first part news is out of the bag. Yes I have a day job now. Hopefully Monday after 5 years of nights I'll be moving to days. I've been offered a promotion which gives me a ton more responsibility. Once all the final details are worked out, hopefully by week end. I'll move to days & start training for my position as scheduler/planner. Full on office job so no more working out of my toolbox. Guess I'll bring it home. I'll have less time to turn out custom parts. That'll give me a reason to buy a mini lathe & start my home machine shop.

My second part big news is I'm done with cycling. Instead I'm going to start training for Ninja Warrior. If you haven't seen it your missing out. Greatest show ever! In 17 challenges only 2 people have met the challenge of Ninja Warrior. I'm pretty sure once I rehab my shoulder I can become number 3. This show has become HUGE in Japan. Competitors build replicas of the obstacle courses to train on. I'm going to start building mine & get in shape. Then look out Japan here I come.

Here's a sampling:

13 steps

That's the number of steps in my house. That's also the number of stairs Mia crawled up yesterday. Let me back up a little. Until yesterday Mia had been going to the bottom of the stairs & just looking up. This week she figured out how to stand up at will. Yesterday morning I'm on the couch watching Headline News & Amber went upstairs to check her email. Mia got real quite so I knew she was up to something. I turned around & Mia had crawled up 2 stairs. I installed the stair gate & we then spotted her to see if she could climb them all. Yep climbs like a monkey.

Pics & big news later. No Amber is not pregnant.

I'm shrinkingggggggggggg

Tried on my new unis last night & noticed the right sleeve fit tighter than the left. Broke out the old tape measure to confirm. Right arm a massive 12.5". That's right welcome to the gun show! Left arm has shrunk to 11 7/8". That a 5/8' loss in muscle mass on my bad wing. I know 5/8' isn't much but to a guy with massive guns like myself every little bit hurts. Hogan even made the comment @ the Dogwood his kid could kick my ass. I have no doubt he could if he could catch me. I discovered I could run fast by running away from people who wanted to kick my ass.


The Dogwood was Sunday. Pretty good turn out. I hated not racing but I drove a wheel truck behind the 3's race. Pretty entertaining with an uphill crash & 2 wheel changes. In the last 4 years I've raced twice & drove a truck twice. Was a little put off with all the whining & bitching going on. I was hoping seeing everyone & watching a race would remotivate me but it had the exact opposite effect. Made me upset with the whole scene. Kind of glad I'm not racing or riding for that matter right now.

New OCC unis are pretty cool. Curt did a bang up job. I like them even though a lot of fit issues were being voiced. I guess some people put some weight on this winter? Not me, mine are a little loose. Go figure. The shorts came the wrong color but I guess that was @ the other end & they are fixing it & giving us a free pair in the process. Makes me happy.

Cool new design.

OOPS. Somebody in OCC still likes Shane. I do what I can.

Another trip to the Ortho

This trip to the Ortho took a round about route. My originally scheduled appointment got cancelled & rescheduled. They chose a time for me which of course was in the afternoon. That sucks for me since everyone else's PM is my AM. After many attempts to talk to a human to reschedule, I gave up & decided to just get up & go. Best laid plans and all I slept through that appointment so I had to call & reschedule once again. This time I got to talk to a human but the only AM appointment wasn't until April. That wouldn't work since I get new insurance in April which is through Cox. The only accommodating appointment of course was in the afternoon.

OK long story but I managed to get out of bed & drag ass to the Doc, really his PA. Lots of good news. The best being I have a screw backing out. This explains why the bone stimulator was hurting so bad to use. I actually quit using it because it felt like it was trying to suck the plate out of my body. Not a nice feeling. Really it was trying to suck a screw out. You can actually feel the screw head starting to stick through the skin. The PA says nothing to worry about since it is considered "normal". How "normal" will it be when I'm walking along & a damn screw shoots out of my shoulder? Guess I'll have to wait & see on that one.

Get to start some range of motion exercises. Opted out on the Physical therapy route since I can do most of it @ home with my Massage Therapist... AKA Amber. Lots of stretching my arm. The PA actually raised my arm above my head. Amber didn't know if I was going to pass out or punch the PA. Luckily it didn't hurt that bad so I wasn't forced to hit a lady. On my own I can only raise my arm to straight out so I've got some work to do.

Amber's been working her hiny off lately so I've been watching Mia a lot. Amber is a few more regular clients away from being able to become a full time contract Massage Therapist. With Amber working two jobs & me working nights it makes it rough on the parents. Unfortunately we've broken down & put Mia on a waiting list for daycare. We've been trying to avoid it but a guy has got to sleep some time. I guess we can't complain we've kept her out of daycare for 10 months. If I didn't work nights we would have had to put her in all ready. I guess that's one small bonus for nights.

Still in job limbo. Each day they have been supposed to tell us gets postponed. If they postpone it much more I won't have any employees because they'll have given up waiting & gone else where for employment.

****** As of 7:30am I've been rehired for my current job. That was a fun couple of weeks.