I told you once, leave a message if you want to be added.

As Mondays go, this was a good one. I didn't sleep much last night, due to an empty bed- Doug was on travel and the cats are too hot in their fur coats to sleep upstairs, so I tossed and I turned, and was up at 5:30 even though I didn't go to bed until after 2.

Despite the 100 degree heat, I rode a respectable 28 miles (did 35 on Saturday, when it was even hotter), came home, did some work, then went to Dogfish Head for a meal, not having eaten since sometime yesterday afternoon.

Oh yes, I totally bonked on the last few miles of my ride, thanks for asking.

But it's too fucking hot to eat.

I needed to get out of the house, though, so went to DFH, the closest thing to a 'local' I have, and sure enough, found a friend at the bar. She and I had a nice chat, a couple of pints, and I ate some pizza while she downed a burger. I would just like to say, for the record, that I ate half my pizza. She ate all of her burger, along with the fries. Oh yes, I'm so smug and superior.

Truth is, I've been so wrapped up in trying to write this 'thing' that I'm writing, I can't focus on food. Even the fact that I'm writing about food doesn't make me hungry. It does make me drinky and smoky, though, neither of which are good. Especially on a Monday, for fucksake.

I just wanted to say fucksake, is all.

Oh, and the weather. 100 degrees, four days in a row?  Where are we, Sri Lanka?

The best part about riding a bike is that you create your own breeze and your sweaty skin is happy about it. The benefit of  plowing miserably up a hill is the knowledge that eventually, you get to descend, which creates an even more intense, 30 mile-an-hour breeze.  Wearing a heart monitor is essential when it's this hot- your body expends an enormous amount of energy trying to keep your organs (especially your brain) cool, so it's important to ratchet it back a notch or two.

Lastly, I'm going to make this LJ friends-only. I know I've been a loser LJ friend for the past 6 years or so, but that may have to do with the fact that my RL friends and my husband were also active here. Now, most people don't post, and the people I'm suddenly writing for are, shall we say, behind a different firewall.

I've got something to say. I just need the proper audience.

That is all.

xo

The power company finally got us back on the grid at around 4 AM, approximately 36 hours after being knocked out by any number of enormous fuck-off oak trees that were sent flying by Wednesday's storm. The Internetz is still down, but I'm making do with a Sprint mobile wi-fi card today. Yesterday, I had to go into the office for electricity and net connectivity. What a pain in the ass trying to get ready in the dark is. Plus, no way to dry my hair, etc. But I took care of that in the locker room at work, eventually.

It was really hot in the house, but the food in the fridge and freezer seems like it survived.

No music, no 'net (except for my iPhone), no electric guitar, and I had to read the paper with a flashlight--- all of that is a pain in the ass. But hey, my carbon footprint was reduced for a little while, right?

Now I'm going to attempt to change my guitar strings for the very first time. That should be comical.

While I bend to that task, you should watch this vid. I may be awhile.

Phantom Planet's video for 'Do The Panic' from their album, Raise The Dead

Last summer, my husband got a case of motorcycle envy, after listening to his buddies talking about their adventures riding around in the Shenandoah countryside. So, he bought a motorcycle. It's a BMW, like the other guys' - Let's be clear: we're not talking about the Harley crowd. There are no leather halter tops and cut-off shorts, no ponytails and wallet-chains. And most importantly, no 900 decibel noise pollution motors.

Doug took the motorcycle safety course last fall and got his license but I haven't been out riding with him yet because 1) I figure he needs to get some practice riding by himself first, 2) His being out with friends gives me some alone-time, and 3) I didn't have a helmet or any gear.

Now, number three has been eliminated. I got a jacket and gloves last week and a helmet this past Saturday, along with a pair of pants. The jacket and pants are ballistic nylon, I guess, and have armor inserts at key places. No, no tank tops for me. I'd prefer to stay alive, preferably with my skin intact.

And yes, the jacket is pink. And black and white, but I had to have the pink, just because. As soon as I actually go for a ride, I'll get a photo of the biker-chick version of me and let you all see how ridiculous I look. 

 

If anyone's a pro-cycling fan, don't miss the CSC Invitational on Sunday. It's a fun day if the weather's nice.

The pro women's race starts at 10:15, men start at 12:15. Bring a chair.

http://www.cscinvitational.com/

This is dedicated to my good friend, *****. Personally, I think we can all use a little drama now and then.

Hmm, well, for some reason, (fucking lawyers and such), this vid was pulled. But you can click here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKG1fKA6ayQ

It's a groovy song called "Drama Queen" by Switches.

I was up half the night because Pain-in-the-Astro <---

decided to contract a urinary tract infection. He was in and out of our bed all night, as he kept having to go down to the basement to the litter box. You'd think he might just sleep on the sofa in the next room rather than go up and down two flights of stairs, but either he's really dumb or he wanted to make sure we knew he had a problem.

Poor kitty. I know he's in distress. There's blood in his urine and he's straining to go. So, we were up at 4 AM, Doug having to be at the airport at 6 AM anyway. I packed up the cat and the husband and set off for the emergency vet, via DCA, which happens to be on the way. I'd managed to get a urine sample out of Astro before we went to the vet so didn't have to wait very long. They confirmed my diagnosis and said he had crystals as well as bacteria, so that means prescription diet, plus antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Problem is, he's intolerant of antibiotics. I can give him pills- it's not that. It's that he pukes 10 minutes later. So I talked to the vet about it and she said there really wasn't any choice, that he was going to have to take them whether he tossed them back or not. This is just great. Because I love cleaning up cat puke. Fucksakes.

Tonight should be better. Dan, Cyndi, Kyle and I are going to see the Raconteurs at the 9:30 Club. The thought of Jack White makes me happy, but I think I'm going to need a nap before going out.

Here's one from Radio 1's Big Weekend earlier this month:

We had a fabulous week in Tuscany recently, but it's taken me a couple of weeks to sort through 300 photos, which I still haven't done all that well but I've gotten it down to 80 or so. The first 10 should be enough to make you want to go there immediately.

Tuscany 2008

You know, when shit like this starts making sense, it's time for a change of scenery. WTF?

"Pickling'' is the process whereby a Python object hierarchy is converted into a byte stream, and ``unpickling'' is the inverse operation.

The pickle data stream produced by pickle and cPickle are identical, so it is possible to use pickle and cPickle interchangeably with existing pickles.

What I need is some Italian food and wine. A whole lot of wine. And hold the pickles.

A couple of weeks ago, I got stopped in the mall by a news crew doing a cupcake taste-test. Who am I to pass up free cake? I presented my cake-eating credentials (I come from a long line of cake-eaters), ranked the cupcakes, made some witty observations about frosting, and went on my way. The segment aired the other day, and that bitch Liz Crenshaw didn't even give me a speaking part! Instead, they put some lady on who said one was "cup-cakier".

But if you want, you can watch me stuff cake into my mouth. I'm at around minute 2:55. Oh, and the Georgetown Cupcakes were really fucking good. Totally worth the calories. Cake Love's were the worst. Just awful. The icing was like foam rubber and the cake was dry and tasteless. My rankings were:

1. G-town Cupcakes - fantastic frosting - Fluffy and light but rich with cream cheese and butter.
2. Betty Crocker
3. Safeway
4. Cake Love

http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=242993