Monday, November 17, 2008

Jury Duty

Starting Last Wednesday, I was sentenced to jury duty. Let me tell you, jury duty is not that bad.
Tuesday evening I called the special number to see if I had to report in the morning, but my number wasn't called. On Wednesday I worked from home until 12:15 until I had to call the jury number again, still no need for me to go to the court house. I continued working on Wednesday and was really productive.

Wednesday evening I called the jury line again for my Thursday assignment, nothing. When Thursday morning rolled around I decided to take Gretta on a nice walk and play with the neighbor dogs. We had a great morning together. When I got back to the house I checked my work email, but it seemed like there wasn't a lot happening at work, so I did some work around the house. At 12:15 I called the jury number again, still no need for me. I checked my email again, still nothing urgent to tend to. For the rest of the afternoon I worked around the house and periodically checked work email.

Thursday, 6:30 pm check in; No need to report Friday morning. Since I haven't rode my bike in 2 days, and there is no need to report to jury duty, I decided to meet the guys at Colossal for breakfast and ride into work with the group. Upon arriving at Q, I turned around and took the long route home. I could've stayed and worked for a bit, but since I had to check in at 12:15 I didn't see too much use. At 12:15 I called the jury line again, still no need to report. In fact they also said there was no need for me to report Monday morning. I have got to say, Jury Duty has been a pretty good gig.

Honestly though, I am trying to stay productive and work from home when possible; but it is really hard to not get distracted and do person stuff. Today I want to stain our new dining table and hang some curtains. Oh yeah, and I have to call the jury line at 12:15. Only 8 more days of jury duty to go.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Product Review

A couple of weeks ago I bought some new cold weather riding gear to make this winters commutes more tolerable. Unfortunately none of the tights I ordered fit, but I did get a jacket that I am really stoked about, the Pearl Izumi Gavia jacket. Last week I rode with this jacket when the temps were in the high 30's. All I had on underneath was a sleeveless base layer and I could barely feel the wind through the jacket.

This morning was my first ride in sub-freezing weather and the jacket was awesome. When I left the house it was around 29 degrees. I had a light short sleeve base layer, a thicker long sleeve layer, the Gavia jacket, and a summer riding vest on and I was comfortable the whole way. The jacket kept me warm and insulated and also allowed my chest and arms to breath really well.

I am looking forward to testing my new purchase in more fridged temps. I am sure the novelity of my new jacket will wear off when the temps are so cold I can't feel my toes, but until then I look forward to putting the jacket to the test.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Another Colossal day

If all mornings would start with Biscuits and gravy, I would be a very happy man. Probably a very overweight man too. Yesterday I got an inside tip that Colossal was serving B&G this weekend, so Joe and I planned to meet for an early breakfast. Little did I know that Frank and Joe were going to ambush me at breakfast and talk me into racing after breakfast.

Sure enough I was easily persuaded and 20 minutes after eating I was on the road heading to the cross race in Blaine. With temps in the 30's, and dropping, it was a perfect day for a cross race.

We arrived in time for Joe and Frank to race and also gave support to other QBP'ers who raced the C's. I raced in the B's and had an average finish for myself, coming in 9th. Starting in the back of the pack is less than ideal, but I made a lot of ground on the first lap. From lap 2 and on I pretty much rode by myself, doing all I could to bridge the gap up to the next rider ahead of me. I didn't have any luck.



The race was a lot of fun. The course was challenging, their were a good number of spectators, and racing in the cold weather really made me feel like I accomplished something today.

Oh, and the Biscuits and Gravy, they stuck with me all morning, even though I had to hold them down for awhile about half way through the race. If I had to do it all over again, I would still have ate the B&G.

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